underground hip-hop | Musicosity

underground hip-hop

Jeru the Damaja

He spent his early years in the Brooklyn neighborhood of East New York, where he has been rapping at block parties since the early days of his youth. He first showcased his hardcore Brooklyn style to audiences on "I'm the Man," a track from Gang Starr's 1992 album Daily Operation. The following year he released his first single, "Come Clean", which was produced by DJ Premier and became an instant underground hit.

Edan

Edan (born Edan Portnoy) is an independent emcee, DJ and producer based in Boston, USA. He is a former member of the band Fiber 2001 and is known for his eclectic mix of classic mid-80s till early 90s hip-hop with 60s rock, funk and other styles. His mix-tape "Sound of the Funky Drummer" collects hip hop tracks sampling James Brown's "Funky Drummer", which has been called the most-sampled record of all time.

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R.A. the Rugged Man

R.A. the Rugged Man, real name R.A. Thorburn, is a rapper from Stony Brook, Long Island. He began his music career at age 12. At 18, he signed to Jive Records. R.A.'s legend, perpetuated by the P.R. biographies at his various labels, say he was dropped due to violent and disgusting behavior, but in interviews he disputes many of the more extreme stories told about him, adding that Jive just didn't know how to break new artists at the time.

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Cage

There is more than one artist with this name: 1. The Rapper: Cage Kennylz (born Christian Palko), commonly known as Cage, is an underground rapper based in New York City, United States. Cage's life has gone from watching his father shoot heroin, to addiction and violence and mental institutions to cutting an album for Columbia Records and being a rising star in the heyday of the NYC independent rap scene, to the final culmination and personal triumph that his most current release Hell's Winter has become.

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Tha Alkaholiks

Tha Alkaholiks, also known as Tha Liks, are an American hip-hop group from Los Angeles, California. Since the early 1990s they have produced funky, upbeat, hedonism-themed party music with a hardcore hip hop edge, powered by the beats of DJ and producer <a href="http://www.last.fm/music/E-Swift" class="bbcode_artist">E-Swift</a> (born Eric Brooks in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA) and the lively, comedic rhymes of <a href="http://www.last.fm/music/J-Ro" class="bbcode_artist">J-Ro</a> (born James Robinson in Los Angeles) and <a href="http://www.last.fm/music/Tash" class="bbcode_artist">Tash</a> (born Rico Smith in Cincinnati). Though commercial crossover success largely eluded the group, they maintained a dedicated following on their native West Coast, throughout the United States and worldwide.

Akir

Akir is an African- American rapper who is known for the political message in his songs. His single "Politricks" exposes political efforts to thwart minorities political voices. Akir was featured on Immortal Technique's Revolutionary Vol. 2 & in the Source's "Unsigned Hype" in January 2005. In March 2006 he released his debut album Legacy. Akir first entered the hip-hop scene as an on-air personality with WNMH 97.9 (Mass.) from 1994 to 1996.

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Hopsin

It would probably be easier if we told you what Hopsin doesn’t do, but Hop is an MC, producer, director, actor, and editor. And his journey has been anything but painless. Like many kids, Hopsin wanted to be “cool”. But as hard as he tried, he never graduated past being that “weird black kid” that rode around on a skateboard. He tried to get attention by making people laugh, but he always ended up being the butt of the joke. He wrote songs for girls to get them to like him, but got no love.

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Blacastan

You will never catch BLACASTAN rocking a mullet or a neon cardigan. Blacastan will never duet with a boy band or auto-tune his lyrics. His sound is not only the past, but a glimpse of an unpaved lane on the highway to hip hop's holy land, the physical embodiment of this rap shit the way it was meant to be heard. The second coming of the shit you used to watch @ 4:30 PM on BET in 1994. Classic material.

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Phat Kat

Phat Kat (a.k.a. Ronnie Cash), (b. Ronnie Watts) is a rapper from the east side of Detroit. His career began in the mid 90's as part of 1st Down, which consisted of Phat Kat on vocals and Jay Dee on production. The group was short lived however, possibly because of insufficient support/promotion from their label, Payday, but the two continued to collaborate on many occasions afterwards, starting with an appearance on "Fat Cat Song" and it's remix, from Slum Village's Fan-Tas-Tic (Vol. 1). He also appeared on Jay Dee's Welcome 2 Detroit on the song "Featuring Phat Kat".

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La Coka Nostra

La Coka Nostra (or short LCN) is an American hip hop supergroup, comprised mainly of all former members of House of Pain, Ill Bill, former member of Non Phixion, and various other MCs and producers. Founded by Danny Boy in early 2006, La Coka Nostra is a new project that has reunited him, Everlast and DJ Lethal for the first time since House of Pain's split. The group's name is derived from the notorious criminal organization (La) Cosa Nostra, which means "This Thing Of Ours"...

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