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The Stepkids

The Stepkids are three singer/songwriters. “A lot of what excites us about this band is this band itself,” says bassist and keyboardist Dan Edinberg. “It’s not either of us; it’s about creating an entity where the entity itself is what’s important.” As a result, every song on the Stepkids self-titled debut album is written with equal input from each member. “All three of us write and all three of us sing,” says Jeff Gitelman, who resigned from touring as Alicia Keys' guitarist to concentrate full-time on recording the Stepkids self-titled debut album.

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Percee P

Percee P (b. John Percy Simon, 1971) is an underground hip-hop artist from the Patterson Projects, South Bronx, New York City. He is known in the underground for selling his mixtapes himself at shows and in front of Fat Beats and for his many guest appearances on other alternative and underground hip-hop artists' releases. He has worked with such rappers as Big Daddy Kane, Kool Keith, Lord Finesse, Aesop Rock, Edan, Jurassic 5, C-Rayz Walz, Jaylib, Jedi Mind Tricks, Maestro Fresh Wes, Wildchild, and many more.

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Arabian Prince

Arabian Prince is the stage name of Mik Lezan (born October 12, 1964 in Inglewood, California), a rapper and hip hop producer, best known for being an original member of the legendary rap group, N.W.A. Born and raised in Inglewood, California, Arabian Prince released a solo album Situation Hot in 1985. In the following year, Arabian Prince joined up with the first gangsta rap group N.W.A. three years after graduating Inglewood High School in Inglewood, CA. He wanted to be an artist in N.W.A.

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Mayer Hawthorne

Mayer Hawthorne (real name Andrew Mayer Cohen) grew up in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and vividly remembers, as a child, driving with his father and tuning the car radio in to the rich soul and jazz history the region provided. “Most of the best music ever made came out of Detroit,” claims the singer, producer, and multi-instrumentalist, who counts Isaac Hayes, Leroy Hutson, Mike Terry, and Barry White among his influences, but draws the most inspiration from the music of Smokey Robinson, Curtis Mayfield and the legendary songwriting and production trio of Lamont Dozier...

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Aloe Blacc

Egbert Nathaniel Dawkins III (born 1979 in Orange County, California), better known by the stage name Aloe Blacc, is an American soul singer, rapper and musician. He began his recording career as an MC back in 1995 when he joined up with hip-hop producer Exile to form the mainstay indie rap group Emanon. Aloe released his debut solo album Shine Through on Stonethrow Records in 2006 and followed this up in 2010 with Good Things.

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Peanut Butter Wolf

As a young kid growing up in San Jose, Chris Manak soon realized he needed an escape from the realities of suburban life in the Silicon Valley. The age of nine was his coming of age. This was the year he discovered sports (Pittsburgh Pirates), video games (Pac man), girls (Anita Balderama), and hip hop ("Rappers Delight"). Alongside partner Sweet Steve, young Chris fashioned primitive mix-tapes (using the pause button) and ran amok at the local roller rink.

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James Pants

THE YEAR IS 2001 AND THE PLACE IS TEXAS. Stones Throw head honcho Peanut Butter Wolf is DJing while a sharply dressed young man approaches the DJ Booth with his Prom date in tow to formally introduce himself. Thus begins the story of James Pants. What began as a dream Prom night to see his hero DJ went to an internship at the label to eventually landing the ultimate fantasy by being signed to the roster and championed as the ‘next big thing’ by none other than Peanut Butter Wolf himself – on top of critics like Busy P, Urb, XLR8R, & Dazed & Confused Magazines.

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Guilty Simpson

Guilty Simpson is an MC from the hailed hip-hop scene of Detroit. Guilty was introduced to many through J Dilla who first included him on "Strapped" from Jaylib's "Champion Sound" LP. Since then, Guilty has risen higher and higher in Hip-Hop's collective conscience alongside peers like Black Milk, Phat Kat, Ta'raach and Frank-N-Dank. Originally to release an all-Dilla produced LP entitled "The Verdict", it was shelved for reasons that were not entirely clear.

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MED

There are at least two artists with this name. 1) M.E.D. aka Medaphoar is a hip hop MC who has recorded with Madlib, Wildchild, and Oh No. M.E.D's debut album was released on Stones Throw Records in 2005. Entitled Push Comes To Shove, the album features production from Madlib, J Dilla, Oh No (Madlib's younger brother), and Just Blaze. A CD entitled "Bang Ya Head" was released during Stones Throw's 2005 Tour and features M.E.D (known as Medaphoar) guest spots from 1998 to 2005.
M.E.D. made a dis track toward Canibus called "Lightwork."

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J Rocc

One of the original turntablists, J Rocc founded the Beat Junkies in 1992 with Melo-D and Rhettmatic, but has done just as much on his own as in a group setting. He began DJing in the mid-'80s with a California group named PSK. Soon after forming, the Beat Junkies became a seminal force in the rise of instrumental hip-hop, including core member Babu plus future stars Shortkut and D-Styles. In addition to numerous mixtapes and his own production for Stones Throw releases, J Rocc has been the DJ for Madlib's live shows since the early 2000's...