Through Pandora I've found another pretty sweet underground hiphop group called One Self. The beats are produced by DJ Vadim, a Russian DJ. His music is very trippy and sometimes reminds me of some of the samples Radiohead or Fiona Apple would use. Rapping over Vadim's output is Blu Rum 13 and Yarah Bravo. They aren't very well publicized so I couldn't find Blu Rum 13's most preferred saluatory moniker so we'll just call him Mr. Rum. Anyway, Mr. Rum has a smooth style that can get edgy at times. I would compare him to a cross between Mos Def and Common if I had to. In my opinion, though, Yarah Bravo is the straw that stirs the drink. Good female rappers are pretty hard to come by anyway but but her elegant and mysterious style complements Vadim's style.
Their best album is Children of Possibility. You can listen to the entire album here on Grooveshark (thanks to His Eminence for alerting me to this beautiful creation). If you just want a good sample, though, I would recommend "Fear the Labour," "Over Expose," and "Bluebird," with "Bluebird" being the best track by far. Enjoy
I'll have to check them out. Did you ever give Styles of Beyond a listen? I wrote about them on your last underground hip hop post. Their cd "2000 fold" is my favorite rap album of all time.
ReplyDeleteYeah, man. Styles of Beyond kicks ass. I started listening to them the day you recommended it.
ReplyDeleteActually, Eminence, I listened to that album again this afternoon while I was manually keying in homicide data from the 1980's (how appropriate) and they remind me a lot of Wu Tang Clan. What say you?
ReplyDeleteyeah they are the shit. Very good lyrics along the lines of a Nas and incredible beats along the lines of a Jurrasic-5. I dont know if you can call them "under ground" but if I had to name another one of my top 5 favorite rap albums of all time it would be "Bizarre Ride II" by "The Pharcyde" If you have not already heard of them I am jealous of how awesome it is going to be for your to listen to them for the first time.
ReplyDeleteMan, you don't even have to tell my about The Pharcyde. Laura and Walter turned me onto them years ago and they are really what kindled my interest in underground hip hop to begin with.
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