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real hip-hop

Blackalicious

Gift Of Gab (Tim Parker) and Chief Xcel (Xavier Mosley) met at John F. Kennedy High School in 1987 in Sacramento, California and formed the group in the early 1990s. They released their first recording, "Swan Lake", on . The Solesides Crew consisted of the duo, as well as other friends of theirs they had met at University of California - Davis, including DJ Shadow, Lyrics Born and Lateef The Truth Speaker. The single was an underground hit, but label trouble prevented the duo from immediately capitalizing on their fame.

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Skillz

Skillz (formerly Mad Skillz, born Donnie Shaquan Lewis in Richmond, Virginia) is an African-American rapper. Known as a talented freestyle rapper, Skillz has not received widespread acclaim outside of the community, but within it is considered one of its best performers. He first made a name for himself by finishing in second place in a national freestyle competition in 1995, which resulted in a recording contract with Atlantic Records. Skillz' Atlantic debut, From Where???, and its single, The Nod Factor, were released in 1996, but sank without a trace.

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Artifacts

There are two artists known as Artifacts:
1. The Artifacts, a hip hop duo
2. Artifacts, a hardcore punk band 1.) The Artifacts were a throwback hip-hop duo from Newark, NJ. Their music reflected and emphasized three of the four elements of true hip-hop culture: MCing, DJing, and their specialty, graffiti writing or “bombing”; both Tame One and El Da Sensei are proficient at all three. With unique styles that play off each other well, Tame and El’s graff-rap was well received by underground audiences and continued in the Jersey rap tradition of Redman and Lords of the Underground.

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Chan

Chan
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Roy Kim, otherwise known as Snacky Chan or simply Chan, is a rapper originally hailing from New Jersey who established himself in Boston and is now based in New York City. He is signed to Dynasty Muzik and has collaborated with artists such as Jin and GZA. His first album, "Politickin w/ Chan" b/w "Big in Japan," was released in September 2001 on Detonator Records. Of the release, music critic Chairman Mao of XXL magazine said, "Chan is the rugged-est, most skilled Asian-American MC I've heard yet -- actually, he's pretty dope on any scale ..."

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