Aesop Rock, Hieroglyphics Crew

Hieroglyphics
The Oakland-based Hieroglyphics are an underground rap collective who, at their best, combine an offbeat sensibility with a strong grounding in battle rhyming, freestyling, and other hip-hop traditions.

Aesop Rock
Building on the rapping style of eccentrics Kool Keith and Del tha Funkee Homosapien, Def Jux headliner Aesop Rock became one of the hottest MCs in the post-millennial underground. After a pair of self-released LPs (Appleseed, Music for Earthworms), he recorded Float for Mush in 2000.

Musab
An original member of the Headshots, the crew that later went on to form the respected underground rap label Rhymesayers, Musab (who was known initially, both with Headshots and then with Dynospectrum, as Beyond) first started rhyming at age nine as a way to keep himself out of trouble.

Blue Scholars
Side by side with companion Seattle-based rap groups Common Market and Boom Bap Project, the Blue Scholars led the charge in proclaiming the Pacific Northwest as a breeding ground for "true school" hip-hop.