El Da Sensei stepped onto the hip-hop scene as one half of the Newark, NJ, duo, the Artifacts. The Artifacts first rose to fame with the hit "Wrong Side of the Tracks." After El Da Sensei and his partner Tame-One sent a rough demo to Bobbito the Barber at WKCR in New York, the group was signed to Big Beat/Atlantic Records. They released their debut album, Between a Rock & a Hard Place, in 1994 with "Wrong Side of the Tracks" as the lead single and video. After that initial hit, the Artifacts splashed the world with joints like "Come on With the Come On" and "Dynamite Soul," and went onto tour the U.S. as well as Europe and Japan. They had developed a fan base of hardcore hip-hoppers, being graffiti artists and hip-hop purists themselves; they sparked a new sub-culture in hip-hop called "backpackers." In 1996, the group followed up their debut with their sophomore album, That's Them. Although not nearly successful as the first album, many hip-hop fans claim the album is an "underground classic," spawning the underground hits "The Art of Facts" and "The Ultimate." Shortly after the release of the second album, El and Tame decided on an amicable break up. After the split, El Da Sensei went on his own traveling around the world and appeared on numerous compilations from Japan to Norway to Germany. During this time, he dropped the singles "Frontline" and "Got That" to let fans know he was still working.

In the fall of 2002, El finally dropped his debut solo album, Relax, Relate, Release, through Seven Heads Entertainment. The album featured guest appearances from Sadat X (of Brand Nubian), J-Live, Organized Konfusion (Pharoah Monch and Prince Po), Mike Zoot & F.T., Asheru, and others. ~ Quibian "Q" Salazar-Moreno

It took several years after their formation in 1996 before the Unspoken Heard began to make waves in the East Coast hip-hop underground, but the rapper/producer collective, based in the nation's capital, certainly did just that as the new millennium turned, and Asheru and Blue Black had a lot to do with the success.

Asheru (born Gabriel Benn), a Maryland native, and Blue Black (born Robert Jackson), who originally hailed from the Bronx, met and became friends while each was a student at the University of Virginia (majoring and eventually taking degrees in anthropology and sociology, respectively). Both men were long interested in rapping; they soon formed a duo and fell in with a group of similarly inclined students: the nucleus of what would ultimately become the "Home of the New Age B-Boy," Charlottesville indie label 7 Heads Entertainment (J-Live, Mr. Complex, Richy Pitch, Djinji Brown). Alternately setting up shop in Washington, D.C., and New York City after graduation, Benn took a full-time job as a middle school teacher and Jackson became involved in e-commerce, all the while working on music in their spare time. Blue Black was the first to represent the Heard in 1996 with the solo 12" Sun Up from Sun Down. He was joined by Asheru on the classic 1999 single Better/Smiley, which was bookended by a pair of Unspoken Heard EPs, Cosmology and Jamboree, all released on Seven Heads. Asheru and Blue Black both gave up their day jobs in 1999 to dedicate more time to recording and touring. (Benn additionally became an educational consultant, developing original curricula and conducting workshops; Jackson became a business consultant.) The result of their increased efforts in the studio was a literate, conscientious 2001 debut effort, Soon Come... Heavily indebted to the New York "new school" sound of the early '90s, especially the Native Tongues vibe, the album developed a steady buzz, landing it on a number of year-end best-of lists. 48 Months followed in 2003. ~ Stanton Swihart

With his intelligent, conscious lyrics and soulful grooves, Brooklyn-based rapper, DJ, and producer J-Live rose from the hip-hop underground at the turn of the millennium thanks to acclaimed releases like 2001's The Best Part and its 2002 follow-up, All of the Above. A former middle school language teacher, J-Live carved out a unique and respected recording career throughout the remainder of the 2000s, touring internationally, and continuing his educator role by teaching hip-hop classes and workshops. Also known as Justice Allah after adopting the culture of the 5% Nation, the Harlem-raised artist has founded two independent labels (Triple Threat and Mortier Music) where he has deepened his catalog with albums like 2011's S.P.T.A. (Said Person of That Ability) and 2015's His Own Self.

Born Jean-Jacques Cadet in Spanish Harlem, J-Live first garnered notice with the release of his 1995 single "Longevity" and its B-side, "Bragging Writes." With his strong, confident delivery and soul-inflected grooves, he immediately appealed to fans of underground hip-hop and with subsequent singles started to generate a palpable buzz. With tracks produced by luminaries such as Prince Paul, DJ Premier, and Pete Rock, the impending release of J-Live's full-length debut, The Best Part, was hotly anticipated and originally slated for release by Raw Shack Records, which had handled his first two singles. Over the next several years, however, he was beset by a host of troubles, with various label politics causing his record to get shelved first by Raw Shack and later by Universal-affiliated Payday Records. J-Live's ongoing saga became something of an underground legend, with a handful of high-quality bootlegs appearing and rumors that the artist himself was responsible for them. In the interim, he graduated from SUNY Albany and worked in the late '90s as a middle school teacher, first in Brunswick and later in Brooklyn, all the while continuing to embellish and refine his debut. He kept good company, making cameo appearances with Handsome Boy Modeling School and J. Rawls before finally releasing The Best Part on his own Triple Threat Productions label in 2001.

With his long-delayed debut earning its due acclaim, J-Live's career began in earnest and he wasted little time delivering his follow-up in 2002's critically lauded All of the Above, this time via the Coup d'État label. He compiled his early singles into the 2003 EP, Always Has Been, which was released simultaneously with a companion EP of new material called Always Will Be. J-Live released his third LP, The Hear After, in 2005 on the Penalty (Ryko) label, following up with the Reveal the Secret EP in 2007. Then What Happened? debuted on BBE Records the following year. During this time he continued to collaborate with a variety of different artists and toured heavily in the U.S. and abroad, where his distinctive emcee sets combined his ability to rhyme while accompanying himself as a DJ. He also became involved in leading workshops, classes, and speaking engagements, earning a reputation as a hip-hop teacher.

Following 2011's S.P.T.A., J-Live founded another independent label, Mortier Music, to release future singles and albums like 2014's Around the Sun and his two 2015 albums, How Much Is Water? and His Own Self. He returned in 2018 with the single, "Hating." ~ Timothy Monger & Martin Woodside

Better known as one-half of the '90s rap duo Organized Konfusion (the other half being Pharoahe Monch), Prince Po (or Prince Poetry) was born and raised in Queens. In 1991 Organized Konfusion's stellar self-titled debut album came out, and immediately made an impression on the hip-hop scene, but after six more years and two more albums, Monch and Prince Po decided to take a break (though rumors of reuniting were omnipresent), and each MC went on to pursue a solo career (the former went on to make a name for himself with his celebrated 1999 record, Internal Affairs). In 2002 Po met producer Danger Mouse while he was working on Jemini's Ghetto Pop Life, and they all got along so well that Po did a guest spot on the track "Copy Cats" and arranged for Danger Mouse to produce part of his upcoming solo album, Slickness. Released in 2004 on the British label Lex, Slickness helped to reestablish Prince Po as a premier MC, and in the summer of 2006 the follow-up, Prettyblack, came out. In 2014 he partnered with producer Oh No for the collaborative album Animal Serum. ~ Marisa Brown

As a member of Brand Nubian, Sadat X (born Derek Murphy) was one of the key MCs whose messages were inspired by the Five Percent Nation. Two years after Brand Nubian's third album, Everything Is Everything, he made his solo debut with Wild Cowboys, which built on his lyrical reputation on top of tough, jazz-inflected arrangements. The album, featuring production from Diamond D and Buckwild, was a solid solo debut that didn't quite scale the heights of his legacy with Brand Nubian. No Better Way, also released in 1996, improved on the debut and was produced by a cast that opened up to include Da Beatminerz and Pete Rock. Sadat teamed back up with Brand Nubian for 1998's Foundation, but he didn't appear again as a solo artist until The State of New York vs. Derek Murphy, an EP released on Relativity in 2000. With a full-time job as a special-education teacher, it took five years before his next album, 2005's Experience & Education, was released, but 2006 saw another full-length, Black October, land on the shelves. The sequel to his debut album, Wild Cowboys II appeared in 2010, then Love, Hell or Right followed in 2012. A three-year gap warranted the title of his next album, 2015's Never Left, then Agua landed in 2016 along with its accompanying single, "Freeze." Early 2017 saw the release of "The Devil Is Near," the first single from the Diamond D-produced full-length Sum of a Man. ~ Andy Kellman