Lyrics Born (a.k.a. Asia Born) is Tom Shimura (b. 1972), originally from Berkeley, California, though through his childhood he lived in Tokyo, Japan, and Salt Lake City, Utah. He began his hip hop career while at college at UC Davis, where he was a DJ at the college station KDVS. He is a founding member of the group of artists known as Quannum Projects. He is also one half of the group Latyrx with fellow MC Lateef The Truth Speaker.
Donald McKinley Glover (born September 25, 1983) is an American actor, writer, comedian, musician and rapper. Glover first came to attention for his work in the sketch group Derrick Comedy and is best known for his role as community college student Troy Barnes on the NBC comedy series Community. Glover was born on Edwards Air Force Base, California, and raised in Stone Mountain, Georgia. He graduated from New York University with a degree in Dramatic Writing in 2006. Glover is known for his work on the NBC show Community alongside Joel McHale and Chevy Chase.
Paul "Sage" Francis (born november 18 1977 in Miami, Florida) is a hip-hop artist based in Providence, Rhode Island. Noted for his intense flow and sharp wit, Francis has won acclaim both as a freestyle battler and as an unapologetically intellectual lyricist. Francis uses a broad emotional palette to address a wide range of personal, cultural, and political issues. His unconventional style and persona have given him crossover appeal, but at the same time alienated some hip-hop listeners.
Lowkey (born Kareem Dennis 23 May 1986) is a Poet, Playwright, Political Activist and award winning Hip Hop Artist of mixed British and Arab descent who has received airplay on numerous major radio stations including BBC Radio 1, 95.8 Capital FM, Kiss 100, Choice FM, BBC 1Xtra and BBC Asian Network and toured internationally, performing to crowds everywhere from Glastonbury and Trafalgar Square to Germany and Amsterdam. Background
22-year-old MC Skryptcha is the latest member of the Obese Records stable writing his way to the upper echelon of Australian hip hop. Taking his first lyrical strides in 2003, Skryptcha is blessed by the gifts of a musical family; a grandfather who spent the 60’s distilling in Sydney’s jazz movement and a concert pianist grandmother who became Australia’s first entrant into New York’s prestigious Julliard school of music, his instrumentally-charged upbringing laid the foundations for a distinct vocal talent that would ultimately evolve into his debut EP, Left to Write.
Lord Finesse is a Hip Hop artist and producer, hailing from The Bronx, New York. In 1989, Finesse, and his former partner DJ Mike Smooth, signed to Wild Pitch Records, home to other popular Hip Hop artists like Gang Starr, Main Source, Chill Rob G, Percee P, and O.C.. In 1990, the duo released their debut album Funky Technician. He was hailed for his strong lyrical ability and clever punchline delivery. The album featured production from future star beat-makers DJ Premier, Diamond D and Showbiz. Finesse became the leader of the popular New York underground crew d.
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".
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.
The Livewire Gang consists of many artists from various neighborhoods in North, East, and West Oakland; J Stalin, Shady Nate, Jay Jonah, Philthy Rich, Stevie Joe, Lil Rue, Lil Blood, Ruben Stunner, R.O.B., Ronald Mack, Kiwi, HD, and Mayback. Livewire Records was founded in mid 2004 during the splurge of the Hyphy Movement By West oakland native artist and rapper J Stalin. He created the label for him and his camp J Jonah and Shady Nate to debut there music, and a way to keep all there business within the family.
Jean Grae (real name Tsidi Ibrahim, also known as What? What? & Da Easter Bunny, born November 27, 1976) is a hip hop artist from New York. Born in Cape Town, South Africa on November 26, 1976, the daughter of South African jazz musicians (her father and mother are the celebrated musicians Sathima Bea Benjamin and Abdullah Ibrahim), she studied Vocal Performance at the LaGuardia School of Music & Art before majoring in Music Business at New York University. She also did some modelling during her teen years.