As the first white rap group of any importance, the Beastie Boys received the scorn of critics and strident hip-hop musicians, who accused them of cultural pirating, especially since they began as a hardcore punk group in 1981. But the Beasties weren't pirating -- they treated rap as part of a post-punk musical underground, where the... [+] Read More

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A Japanese-born duo relocated to New York and christened with an Italian band name, Cibo Matto's music mirrored the melting-pot aesthetics of their origins, resulting in a heady brew of funk samples, hip-hop rhythms, tape loops, and fractured pop melodies all topped off by surreal narratives sung in a combination of French and broken English.... [+] Read More

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One of the most influential rap groups of the late '90s, Company Flow laid the groundwork for nearly all the experimental hip-hop that followed. They were an instrumental force in revitalizing underground hip-hop as a whole, and in making Rawkus Records the new movement's most prominent indie label. Company Flow's sound -- dense, abstract lyrics... [+] Read More

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Conceived as the first "virtual hip-hop group," Gorillaz blended the musical talents of Dan "The Automator" Nakamura, Blur's Damon Albarn, Cibo Matto's Miho Hatori, and Tom Tom Club's Tina Weymouth and Chris Frantz with the arresting visuals of Jamie Hewlett, best known as the creator of the cult comic Tank Girl. Nakamura's Deltron 3030 cohorts... [+] Read More

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Conceived as the first "virtual hip-hop group," Gorillaz blended the musical talents of Dan "The Automator" Nakamura, Blur's Damon Albarn, Cibo Matto's Miho Hatori, and Tom Tom Club's Tina Weymouth and Chris Frantz with the arresting visuals of Jamie Hewlett, best known as the creator of the cult comic Tank Girl. Nakamura's Deltron 3030 cohorts... [+] Read More

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Brooklyn MC J-Live first garnered notice with the release of his 1995 single "Bragging Writes." Delivering his thoughtful lyrics with confidence and ease, J-Live's rapping was strong and his soul-inflected grooves immediately appealed to fans of underground hip-hop. A year later he followed up with another hit, "Hush the Crowd," and started to... [+] Read More

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Westchester-bred, Queens-based rap artist J-Zone (né J. Mumford) began his musical quest when he picked up and mastered a variety of instruments before he even made it out of elementary school. Growing up in suburbia, he specifically dreamed of a career playing bass guitar in a raw urban funk band and would scour record stores for hours to dig... [+] Read More

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After single-handedly redefining "warped" as the mind and mouth behind the Bronx-based Ultramagnetic MC's, "Kool" Keith Thornton -- aka Rhythm X, aka Dr. Octagon, aka Dr. Dooom, aka Mr. Gerbik -- headed for the outer reaches of the stratosphere with a variety of solo projects. A onetime psychiatric patient at Bellevue, Keith's lyrical thematics... [+] Read More

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Lovage is the name Nathaniel Merriweather, aka Dan the Automator, gave to the group he formed for his 2001 album Music to Make Love to Your Old Lady By. He was assisted by a variety of other performers, including Mike Patton (of Faith No More and Fantomas), Kid Koala, Damon Albarn (of Blur), Prince Paul, Jennifer Charles (of Elysian Fields), and... [+] Read More

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Experimental hip-hop outfit UNKLE was one of the original artists releasing material through noted U.K. label Mo' Wax, which helped launch the instrumental mid-'90s downtempo breakbeat revival eventually termed trip-hop. Though hardly the label's highest profile group (at least until the long-delayed release of their debut LP in 1998), UNKLE... [+] Read More

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Experimental hip-hop outfit UNKLE was one of the original artists releasing material through noted U.K. label Mo' Wax, which helped launch the instrumental mid-'90s downtempo breakbeat revival eventually termed trip-hop. Though hardly the label's highest profile group (at least until the long-delayed release of their debut LP in 1998), UNKLE... [+] Read More

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Naming themselves after the African root used to enhance male sexual performance, longtime collaborators Vernon Reid and DJ Logic united in 2002 as Yohimbe Brothers and released Front End Lifter, a dense album of guitar-fueled turntablism. The two New York-based artists first came together in the early '90s as founding members of the Black Rock... [+] Read More

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