underground hip-hop

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.

Rapper Murs & producer 9th Wonder have collaborated on four albums. • Murs 3:16: The 9th Edition (2004)
• Murray's Revenge (2006)
• Sweet Lord (2008)
• Fornever (2010)

Rapper, DJ, and producer Pete Rock first emerged in 1991 as one half of a duo with C.L. Smooth, debuting with the All Souled Out EP. A hit LP, Mecca and the Soul Brother, followed before the two went their separate ways in the wake of 1994's The Main Ingredient, with Rock remaining a prolific studio presence prior to the release of his solo debut, Soul Survivor, on Loud/rca four years later. Dropped from the label, he continued his career as an independent producer, and later signed to Rapster/Bbe in 2001 for PeteStrumentals.

Chino XL (born Derek Barbosa, April 8, 1971, in The Bronx, New York but raised in East Orange, New Jersey) is a rapper well respected among hip hop enthusiasts for his battling abilities. He is notorious for his usage of self-consciously over-the-top punchlines (which usually take the form of puns or similes) and for his exaggerated egotism. He is also well known to many for a brief feud with Tupac Shakur.