You will never catch BLACASTAN rocking a mullet or a neon cardigan. Blacastan will never duet with a boy band or auto-tune his lyrics. His sound is not only the past, but a glimpse of an unpaved lane on the highway to hip hop's holy land, the physical embodiment of this rap shit the way it was meant to be heard. The second coming of the shit you used to watch @ 4:30 PM on BET in 1994. Classic material.
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.
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.
Brisbane favourite Unda Dwella is a solo rapper who's been a watcher and then active part of the Brisbane movement for over 10 years. A lover of rap since the moment he saw 'Beat Street' for the first time in grade 2 he's been obsessed ever since. Unda Dwella's stage presence and live performances have won him many supporters as well as being a strong supporter himself off the mic. Just gaining momentum and spreading beyond the river city look out for releases following the well received "Everyone Loves U.D." mixtape before year's end.
Dr. Octagon is one of Kool Keith's many alter egos. His initial release as Dr. Octagon was 1996's Dr. Octagonecologyst, on which he collaborated with Dan The Automator Nakamura and dj q-bert. After the name was dropped in favour of Dr. Dooom, it was widely believed that it wouldn't be used again until the release of 2006's The Return of Dr. Octagon, which Keith maintains was changed and released without his consent.