Underground hip-hop (also commonly known as indie hip-hop or underground rap ) is an umbrella term for hip hop music that is outside the general commercial canon. It is typically associated with independent artists, signed to independent labels or no label at all. Underground hip hop is often characterized by socially conscious , positive, or anti-commercial lyrics. However, there is no unifying or universal theme – AllMusic suggests that it "has no sonic signifiers". "The Underground" also refers to the community of musicians, fans and others that support non-commercial, or independent music . Music scenes with strong ties to underground hip hop include alternative hip hop and conscious hip hop . Many artists who are considered "underground" today were not always so, and may have previously broken the Billboard charts .
10-566: SoleSides was an American underground hip hop label based in Northern California , founded in 1991. It comprised various DJs and MCs , the most notable being DJ Shadow , MC–producer Lyrics Born and duo Blackalicious . The members of Solesides all met via the radio station, KDVS, the 5000-watt community radio station of the University of California at Davis. During high school, Davis-natives DJ Shadow and The 8th Wonder used to frequent
20-517: A while". The Stretch Armstrong and Bobbito Show was a notable underground hip hop radio show that was broadcast on WKCR , and later WQHT , in New York City from 1990 until 1999. It featured rappers such as The Notorious B.I.G. , Big L , Jay-Z , and Eminem , as well as groups like Wu-Tang Clan , Mobb Deep , Onyx (hip hop group) and Fugees , all before they gained any popularity. In 1999, Prince Paul and Breeze Brewin' created one of
30-724: The Funky Homosapien , Roc Marciano , Danny Brown , Freestyle Fellowship , Hieroglyphics , Juggaknots , Jurassic 5 , Kool Keith , Little Brother, MF DOOM , Non Phixion , Planet Asia , RJD2 , MC TP, among many others. Additionally, many underground hip hop artists have been applauded for the artistic and poetic use of their lyrics, such as Aesop Rock , Aceyalone , Busdriver , Cage , CunninLynguists , Dessa , OhSo Kew, Doomtree , El-P , Eyedea & Abilities , Illogic , Onry Ozzborn , MF DOOM , Rob Sonic , billy woods , and Sage Francis , among others. Some underground artists produce music that celebrates
40-440: The book How to Rap are described as being both underground and politically or socially aware, these include – B. Dolan Brother Ali , Diabolic , Immortal Technique , Jedi Mind Tricks , Micranots , Mr. Lif , Murs , Little Brother , P.O.S Zion I and Madlib , among others. Underground artists with critically acclaimed albums include Atmosphere , Binary Star , Blu , Cannibal Ox , Company Flow , Del
50-491: The first rap opera albums, named A Prince Among Thieves . Rolling Stone gave the album a 4.5/5. In the late 1990s, progressive rap acts such as Black Star and Juggaknots helped inspire and shape the underground hip hop movement that would follow in subsequent decades. Artifacts (group) Too Many Requests If you report this error to the Wikimedia System Administrators, please include
60-450: The fundamental elements or pillars of hip hop culture, such as Artifacts , Dilated Peoples , People Under the Stairs , and Fashawn , whose music "recalls hip-hop's golden age ". In hip hop's formative years, the vast majority of the genre was underground music, by definition. Although The Sugarhill Gang gained commercial success in 1979, most artists did not share such prominence until
70-439: The mid-1980s. Ultramagnetic MCs ' debut album, Critical Beatdown (1988), is seen as one of the earliest examples of "underground hip hop". It was described that the album was characteristic of what would later be known as "Underground Hip Hop". New York underground rapper Kool Keith received notable success with his album Dr. Octagonecologyst , gaining more attention than any contemporary independent hip hop album "in quite
80-684: The re-sale market. Only 400 cassettes and 200 12" vinyl singles were originally pressed up and sold on consignment in record stores in the Bay Area. In 1996 the label won a "Goldie" award from the San Francisco Bay Guardian , being described as "Both a progressive crew of deejays and rappers and a fiercely independent artist-owned label...". SoleSides disbanded in the winter of 1996, and was reborn as Quannum Projects in spring of 1997. Underground hip hop Underground hip-hop encompasses several different styles of music. Numerous acts in
90-424: The six came together to form a collective of artists and hip hop lovers, naming the label SoleSides. The first release, was a 12" single, numbered "SS001", featuring DJ Shadow's instrumental odyssey, "Entropy" on one side and Lyrics Born (then known as Asia Born) on the other side with the song "Send Them". The white-label 12" was preceded by a cassette single version of the release and both have fetched high dollars in
100-429: The station to support Orus Washington's hip hop show. In college, journalist and then-grad student Jeff "DJ Zen" Chang , broadcast a weekly hip hop radio show that got the attention of DJ Shadow and The 8th Wonder, freshmen Xavier Mosely (Chief Xcel), Tom Shimura (Lyrics Born) and Joseph Patel (Jazzbo). They all shared a like-minded passion for hip hop that pushed beyond the sounds of mainstream commercial music. In 1991,
#411588