I felt like doing a throwback post today. I have touched on the Project Blowed collective in my Freestyle Fellowship post. Project Blowed is an open mic workshop based in Leimert Park in Southern California and is known for breeding some of the most skilled lyricists in hip hop. It was founded in the early 90’s and was spawned out of the Good Life Cafe, which was a health food cafe that held open mic workshops every Thursday. Serving as an outlet for young teens in the area, it taught the youth about healthy food choices while providing a platform for their creativity.

There were a handful of rules for the open mic workshop but the most interesting was there was no swearing allowed. This forced the emcees to be more creative and helped them evolve as world renowned lyricists; the emcees that came from Project Blowed and the Good Life always put substance, style, and creativity as the most important aspects of their art.

The Good Life Cafe gave starts to many notable hip hop acts like Jurassic 5, Volume 10, and Freestyle Fellowship. The Good Life started to garner national attention and even attracted the likes of mainstream artists such as Ice Cube, Kurupt, Snoop Dogg,  and Fat Joe. The group I’d like to focus on today is A.T.U. (Abstract Tribe Unique).

Spearheaded by a young, dreaded emcee by the name of Abstract Rude, the group also incorporated live dance interpretations by Tribe Unique, and were backed by the innovative production of Fat Jack. After twenty years strong in the rap game, they have released a ton of material and continue to be an innovative force in the underground scene. Noted for their psychedelic and spaced out music and dance interpretations, coupled with Abstract Rude’s soulful and skillful raps, the group gained steam in the alternative rap game; Abstract Rude was even signed to Grand Royal by Mike D of the Beastie Boys in the early 90’s.

Fat Jack provided rich landscapes for Ab Rude to weave soulful tales of family life, government corporation, the troubles and tribulations of life as a ghetto youth in South Central LA, and just straight up battle raps. The group is known for mellow songs as well as hard hitting raps.

Their first release, Underground Fossils, was a short, tripped out album filled with tales of the danger of slow traffic lights, life as a dreadlock, battle raps, and spacey instrumentals from Fat Jack. Their sophomore effort, Mood Pieces, further expanded on this format and is an incredibly cohesive album filled with cinematic music and great raps from Ab Rude. Their next release, South Central Thynk Tank, is another beautifully crafted album and further cemented their place in the hip hop scene. The group released two more albums, 2001’s P.A.I.N.T. and 2003’s Showtyme. Additionally, Fat Jack and Abstract Rude have also released multiple solo albums since they burst onto the scene out of the Good Life. The versatility of the group is undeniable and they continue to make their imprint felt. Although there are hundreds of songs from this group, check some of my favorites below.

I wish I could post all of the group’s songs but I feel as if I should stop here. Please believe that this is just the tip of the iceberg of the great material this group has put out. Cop the albums here ATU