Born from the ashes of gangsta rap Los Angeles, California is experiencing an indie hip-hop resurgence. Inglewood rap duo U-N-I are the talk of the Internet and guiding hip-hop's path in the city by juxtaposing music with customized fashion. The two MC’s have loaded up on accolades over the past 2 years-- being named “Best Breakout LA Artist” at the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards, featured in URB Magazine's “NEXT 1000,” XXL Magazine’s “New Kids in Town,” Billboard Magazine’s “Acts to Watch,” The Source Magazine’s “Unsigned Hype,” ending up on the “SoundBoard” of The Los Angeles Times and serving as the inaugural artists for Scheme Magazine's Schemer series--on the strength of their observant, life-affirming rhymes that revolve around everything from limited-edition sneakers to cosmic existentialism and old-school video games.
Though the two rappers--"Thurzday" (Yannick Koffi) and “Y-O” (Yonas Semere Michael)-- hail from an area of Los Angeles commonly associated with the trappings of violent ghetto life, their debut street album, Fried Chicken and Watermelon--powered, melodic and groovy, employing angelic strings, electro-bounce and Nintendo 64 scores--eschewed Dickies, lowriders and high-powered armory in favor of positing their lives against a greater Black experience that was at once earthly and universal.
Their progressive swagger and throwback fashion sense may initially compel comparisons to “hipsters,” but the duo’s truth is at once more complex and far simpler: Y-O has been sporting a vibrant mohawk for going on five years while Thurz notes that the group is innately fashion-conscious and not willing to sacrifice substance for style. Y-O explains, “What duo out of Cali you know looks like us? My man Thurz stays with the latest hats & kicks. I stay in thrift shops putting together $20 outfits & still walk the Red Carpet.”
True to their laid-back sneaker pimp theory, the aficionados flipped the Wu-Tang Clan’s “C.R.E.A.M” into the popular song “K.R.E.A.M.” (Kicks Rule Everything Around Me), complete with a Do The Right Thing inspired video, garnering the attention of major shoe corporations including Adidas and Puma and landing them in the footwear department of Slam Magazine. Their other visuals--the lazy, color-rich, slow-rolling “Beautiful Day” and the genre-jumping, kaleidoscopic “Soul Hop”-- continue to play in rotation on MTV Jams and VH-1, while the duo hit MTV2’s Sucka Free for a freestyle appearance.
U-N-I’s latest offering, A Love Supreme is put forth with a “recession-proof theme” for folks who have fallen on hard times in our struggling economy (soon to be available via free via download). The effort continues the band's mission of expanding and texturizing hip-hop's conversation: tackling the lust, love and hate of relationships (“Right Now,” “Desha Dayana”), tossing crafty, whimsical odes to black actresses (“Lauren London”), dramatically dealing with the mundane aspects of struggling artistry through borderline poverty and senseless crime on the sublimely dark “Halftime.” Where Fried Chicken and Watermelon was a spontaneous and easy-going trip backed by a handful of producers, A Love Supreme is a matured and intimate journey produced entirely by west coast producer RO Blvd., who is steadily garnering acknowledgement in underground movements for his boundary-crossing inventiveness.
These guys are truly one of my favorite indie hip-hop artists out there. If you are into acts like A Tribe Called Quest, Wu-Tang, Del La Soul, and the Roots, be sure to check these guys out at http://www.myspace.com/unimuzik
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