instrumental hip hop

While classically trained, it's easy to see the influences of jazz, hip-hop, and electro-funk in Lee's works. Over the span of his lengthy discography - and certainly on his latest release, Twelve Tusk Piano - we hear samples of instructional videos, soul singers, classic jazz horns, and popular cartoons from our childhood - all the while, his infectious beats and clever melodies mold a soundtrack for the world around us.

Good music is felt not heard. Gramatik apparently understood that at an age of 3 according to his mother as she used to catch him glued to the radio in his older sister's room whenever there was an old funk or rhythm & blues joint on, tapping his leg on the floor along with the beat. Damn, talking about a sign on what will your child do when he grows up! Parents got him taking piano lessons in the elementary music school when he was in 2nd grade, but he dropped out 2 years later because he wasn't feeling that whole classical music thing as that was the only genre they were teaching.

Read more about Gramatik on Last.fm.

XXYYXX is the name of Orlando, FL's 16 year old producer, Marcel Everett. Marcel works out of his bedroom creating harmonious music that provokes emotion and transmits vivid images of peace and still sadness. His music has been featured on XLR8R, The Needle Drop, Earmilk, Indie Shuffle, BIRP and many more. http://www.facebook.com/frofimusic
http://soundcloud.com/xxyyxx
http://music.reliefinabstract.com
http://xxyyxx.bandcamp.com

DJ Babu (born Chris Oroc) is a Filipino-American DJ and is a member of a crew of DJs called the Beat Junkies, a group which includes others such as Melo D, DJ Rhettmatic, and J-Rocc. DJ Babu introduced the title "Turntablist" in order to differentiate what he was doing (scratching vinyl records) from more conventional aspects of DJ-ing. He is a member of the hip-hop group Dilated Peoples, along with Rakaa and Evidence.

Read more about DJ Babu on Last.fm.