Busdriver, Elucid, Tanya Morgan, Jesucifer

Busdriver is fixed as one of LA music's most dynamic indie artists. From his years as a cypher phenom at Project

Blowed to his years as a recording artist on Epitaph to his current role as co-head of Hellfyre Club, Busdriver has always

challenged rap in the most particular and thoughtful of ways.

BD's first record, 'Memoirs of the Elephantman', was self released thru Afterlife records (a Project Blowed subcrew at

the time) in 1999. Not until his second self-released record, 'Temporary Forever', came out in 2002 did Busdriver step on

the world stage. Sleeper hit 'Imaginary Places' turned him into one of main beacons of left-leaning hip-hop at that

moment. During this time he was also emceeing at the Hiphop/Drum'n'bass night Concrete Jungle with Daddy Kev,

Myka 9, edit and DJ Hive.

After the new success of Temporary Forever, Busdriver signed with Mush records to do a collaborative album with beat/

production guru Daedelus and quirky rap talent Radioinactive in 2003. The project was called 'The Weather'. Their album

toyed with daringly disjointed production and dexterous rap, writing in a way that Busdriver hadn't in the past. The

project amassed a small cult following all its own and aligned Driver's taste with the output of LA's electronic music

scene.

In 2004, Busdriver began his relationship with Big Dada by releasing with them the Daddy Kev-produced mini-LP,

'Cosmic Cleavage'. This was followed by Busdriver's official 3rd album, Fear of a Black Tangent, released via Big Dada

in the EU and on Mush in the US.

Busdriver's label dealings grew outside of the rap arena in 2007 when he signed to indie-punk mega-label Epitaph and

eventually, it's more indie-music driven sister label, Anti-. Through them he released 'RoadKillOvercoat' in 2007 and

'Jhellibeam' in 2009. Both albums featured production from Dj Nobody, Nosaj Thing, Free the Robots and Boom Bip.

During these years, rap producer culture was in flux in LA and the newly founded Low End Theory began gaining

momentum. Producer eDIT (who becomes the head of Glitch Mob) featured Busdriver on 'Crunk De Gaulle' (also

featuring TTC) off his Alpha Pup debut, Certified Air Raid Material.

Computer Cooties came out in 2010 after BD parted with Anti-. It was a free mixtape featuring collaborations with Flying

Lotus, Anti-Pop Consortium, Sister Crayon, Daedelus and Open Mike Eagle. He followed this by joining Hellfyre Club

and forming Flash Bang Grenada, a two-man group made of Nocando (founder of Hellfyre Club and original resident of

Low End Theory) and himself, created solely to let their musings on popular rap themes run amok. They released their

debut '10 Haters' in 2011.

In 2012, Driver released Beaus$Eros through Fake Four. The album was produced entirely by Loden and had features

from Cocorosie and Mike Ladd. It was a departure from rap writing into microclimates of experimental pop. The record

was coupled with Regan Farquhar aka Busdriver fronting a progressive power pop outfit briefly called Physiccal Forms.

That same year Driver released Arguments with Dreams, an EP marking a return to Big Dada. It was mostly self-
produced with stand-out appearances from Das Racist on "Firehydrant" and HFC members Nocando and Open Mike

Eagle on "Wernor Herzog".

In 2013, Driver helmed and oversaw the production of Dorner Vs. Tookie, the joint mixtape featuring efforts from all the

members of Hellfyre Club (Nocando, Busdriver, Open Mike Eagle, milo, Rheteric Ramirez, Kail, VerBS, Taurus Scott, The

Kleerz). While doing this Busdriver completed his 8th proper studio album, Perfect Hair. The album features production

from Mono/Poly, Jeremiah Jae, Great Dane, Kenny Segal and Riley Lake with guest performances from Danny Brown,

Aesop Rock and Mike Eagle. A follow up mixtape from Hellfyre Club in collaboration with producer collective Team

Supreme is planned for 2014.

More recently Driver has done collaborations with Modeselektor, Son Lux, Latyrx, Kool AD, Lapalux, Sonnymoon, P.O.S,

and others on various albums.


Australian hip-hop


Tanya Morgan is a rap group. More than that, they're a great rap group as evidenced by the acclaim they've received from the likes of Billboard, Vibe, SPIN, XXL Magazine, XLR8R, Los Angeles Times, The Onion, NY Magazine and a bevy of other press outlets who have praised the group throughout the duration of their career. "Tanya Morgan are like the sons of De La Soul -- soulful, stressed, effortlessly smart flows, intricate production, the whole package," says SPIN Music Editor Charles Aaron.

Hailing from both Brooklyn and Cincinnati, Tanya Morgan formed on the message boards of Okayplayer.com in 2003 when Donwill, Ilyas Nashid and Von Pea were all solo artists trading demos and beat tapes. The three MCs decided to collaborate for a one-off project and settled on the name Tanya Morgan - an inside joke to trick hip-hop crate-diggers and sample-searchers into thinking the record was an old-school soul singer. After their debut album, Moonlighting, was endorsed by the likes of ?uestlove in 2006 and was received enthusiastically by fans, Tanya Morgan decided to keep working together and keep the name. In the wake of Moonlighting's critical success, the group released its follow-up, 2009's Brooklynati which saw the group reach more fans and beguile more journalists as it was widely regarded as one of the year's best hip hop releases.

Since Brooklynati, the group has reformed with Ilyas moving on to focus on his solo material and video production while Von Pea and Donwill continue to tour as Tanya Morgan, supporting the group's classic material as well as the members' first solo releases: Donwill's Don Cusack In High Fidelity and Von Pea's Pea's Gotta Have It, both released in 2010. 2011 will see more tour dates and work on the group's third full-length album, titled Y**Y**.