The Five Percent Nation of Islam was a popular inspiration for numerous thinking-man's rap groups during the early '90s, and Brand Nubian was arguably the finest of the more militant crop. Although they were strongly related to the Native Tongues posse in style and sound, they weren't technically members, and were less reserved about... [+] Read More

Yes No

Camp Lo is a rap group from the Bronx who melds hip-hop with jazz sensibilities and funk. After having a hit single, "Coolie High," from The Great White Hype soundtrack in early 1996, they released their debut album, Uptown Saturday Night, in February of 1997. The album was reissued two years later on Arista Records, and a second album (Let's Do... [+] Read More

Yes No

Parisian hip-hop devotee Laurent Daumail is one of a few but growing number of French artists updating hip-hop for the chill-out crowd, drawing on the beats'n'samples groundwork of producers such as Rakim, DJ Premier, and Prince Paul and combining it with broad, impressionistic strokes of dub, jazz, and soundtrack-y ambience. Like countrymen the... [+] Read More

Yes No

As Mondo Grosso, Japanese track-master Shinichi Osawa has acted alone and with various vocalists and collaborators -- ranging from Monday Michiru to N'dea Davenport to Tania Maria -- to produce some of the most stylish acid jazz, house, and R&B produced in his country during the '90s. Born in 1967, the man from Sakura Hills began recording in... [+] Read More

Yes No

Outside mastermind Matt Cooper collaborated with a multitude of musicians on several albums in the 1990s, beginning yet another acid jazz group in the early '90s and evolving into something much more than that by the decade's end. However, despite Cooper's resilience and prolific output, Outside never attained substantial success, remaining more... [+] Read More

Yes No

Palm Skin Productions specialize in darkside dub excursions, heavy on the downtempo breakbeats, jazzy flourishes and gut-bucket percussion. It's all the work of one Simon Richmond, though occasional collaborator Chris Bowden often appears on saxophone. Richmond first worked as a percussionist for the Talkin' Loud label's in-house session team K... [+] Read More

Yes No

Politik is one of the top underground rap artist in the local scene of Montgomery County, Maryland. He is also a producer, and has produced and worked with other underground artist such as J-Kam, AGB, French Connexion, Dpac, Mecca, and his group, Internazionale Alliance. Politik is dropping his first official Album EP late summer 2007. Politik... [+] Read More

Yes No

As a member of Brand Nubian, Sadat X (born Derek Murphy) was one of the key MCs who related messages inspired by the Five Percent Nation. Two years after Brand Nubian's third album, Everything Is Everything, he made his solo debut with Wild Cowboys, which built on his lyrical reputation on top of tough, jazz-inflected arrangements. The album,... [+] Read More

Yes No