Welcome to An Archaeologist's El Dorado, a monthly segment that brings you 3 - 5 artists you have had hypersomniac over. El Dorado, or commonly known as the lost city of gold, in this case are the artists you have been searching after. A lucky archaeologist such as yourself, now has the ability to study the specific human activity below through the recovery and analysis of the material culture I have provided for you. I now present to you the files of November 2014: Splyt, M.i, Gifted Gab, Cheech Bundy & Abstract.
Splyt
The Colorado Kid, Splyt (birth name Chris Vigil), grew up as a single child under a single parent household. Splyt's childhood was usually spent with his mom and grandma after his father left before he was born. After bouncing around from town to town in Colorado as a child, Splyt ultimately ended up living permanently with his grandma at the age of 11.
By the time Splyt was a high school freshman, the nomadic life shined through as he was enrolled in 12 previous schools. Early high school life proved difficult as he was once again the new kid on the block, however that would all soon change.
Although music had always played a large roll in Splyt's life, it wasn't until his later teen years that he really began to thrive on it. Hip hop and R&B were the go to choices and it showed as he became a Tupac fanatic, memorizing every line he could muster. Splyt, bearing the nickname CJ in high school, soon became "that guy" (don't worry, i'm one too) that would make mixes of music that hadn't turned mainstream yet for his friends to listen to. With the CJ moniker (pronounced to some as siege) in full effect, Splyt got noticed by a local rapper, whose stage name was none other than Siege. The local rapper soon got wind of Splyt and offered him his first ever hook on one of his tracks.
After high school, Splyt was awarded a full scholarship to the University of Colorado Springs. The then 19 year old met his father for the first time as his mother took him to court for unpaid child support payments. The first thing that came out of his father's mouth when he saw his child was, "I want a paternity test, that's not my kid". This really was a crushing blow to Chris, however he wouldn't even let something of that nature bring his dreams down. When he and his mother won the settlement, Splyt used some of the money to buy his first studio and began to record his own tracks.
Later in college, Splyt soon found his hypeman/visual designer Stryker and his DJ/manager, Dan. At that current time, they weren't aware of Splyt or of his musical ability, however they grew into almost a family of sorts and as some refer to as a group act.
Splyt almost feeds and draws inspiration from his past rejection and resentment in his negative moments in life. Not only can this be seen in his lyrics, but his work ethic is also effected by this. Working his ass of like trying to find a cure for infectious rhymes, Splyt channels his life experiences from his father and ex's alike to form fuel for his passionate lyrics.
M.i
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M.i....oh, where do I begin? This rapper from Austin, Texas was brought to my attention from a close friend a while ago through his project, Jack Johnson Sessions. If you aren't already familiar with M.i and his work or if you have no idea that tape above even exists, just stop reading right now and go listen (here). No seriously...this article isn't going anywhere, go listen to it now.
When you're all caught up, you'll realize that M.i isn't just your average radio rapper with a few lines about hoes, cars, and money this, money that. Someone that would even attempt to undergo a project like the one above and execute it to that extent is aces in my book.
M.i began writing, producing, recording, and mixing music since the young age of 14. From 2001 to 2009, M.i gradually grew a loyal fanbase with several projects. Since then he started to take off with the likes of the Jack Johnson Sessions, The Coldplay Sessions, Pushing Keyes, and The 7th Album. Pushing Keyes is arguably his second most recognized project as he teamed up with producer Tyler Keyes to collab on a solid blues/jazzy/hip hop album with features ranging from Blu, to Chamillionaire, to Oncue.
When M.i isn't busy with his "side hustle" (cook at Z'Tejas in Austin) he is doing everything under the sun with his one true passion, music. Recently one of hip hop and rap's best unsigned kept secrets released his self produced The 7th Album.
I highly urge you to take a listen to this guy if you haven't already, as he will without a doubt leave you baffled as to why he isn't in your collection.
Gifted Gab
Gabrielle "Gabby" Kadushin has always been pretty musically inclined. As an avid church goer, she would often listen to the choir, of which her mother was apart of. This quickly grew into a slight obsession and Gab turned her love for music into writing her own raps at the early age of nine. She first began with raps geared towards the girls she didn't like at school.
As Gab grew older, her passion only grew as she took inspiration from East Coast female emcees such as Queen Latifah, MC Lyte and Bahamadia as well as Bay Area legends Mac Dre and E-40.
The formerly known as, Gift uh Gab, released her first EP, Queen La'Chiefah, when she was 21 years of age. Gifted Gab's "wall-to-wall, classicist flow combines a combative, unrestrained love of self, codeine-dipped blunts and west coast lingo with an unflinching acknowledgement of death and those she’s lost".
Gifted Gab is the first lady of the popular Moor Gang in the 206 (Seattle's answer to the Wu-Tang Clan) and can easily hold her own with the rest of the crew. When the non-alcohol liking, apple juice drinking, blunt smoking, Tupac fanatic, Gifted Gab told me she was "hella regular"....I smiled; how modest I thought...she is one of the coldest female emcees around.
Cheech Bundy
This dude...Cheech Bundy painting a self portrait of Cheech Bundy while looking into a mirror of himself, aka Cheech Bundy. If you're looking for a full detailed bio on Cheech, you're not going to find it here; this guy likes to ride in Scooby Doo's Mystery Machine and keep things "mystic".
What I can tell you is that the first song I ever listened to by this crazy cat is still my all time favorite, "ScissorKickCookieWiggle". Don't be a bitch and ask what it is, just look it up, listen, and thank Cheech and I later.
As per Cheech's request, (because of all you short attention span people) I'm going to keep it short while cloaking Bundy like Harry Potter.
inspirations: good weed & Johnnie Walker
daily life: write, record, engineer, edit, for myself and others
musical aspirations: keep creating dope different shit
favorite food: chicken wings are my fucking kryptonite
Now before you all space out and clear your memory like a goldfish, the track I mentioned above is on his project The Chronic L's of Cheech Bundy. The 12 track collection of music came about as Bundy was coming out of a shitty production deal. With "grade A chronic" and a "constant flow of Johnnie" Mr. Bundy was able to produce, write, record and engineer everything on the tape.
Next up for Cheech is a new project entitled, High Functioning Stoner, soon to be released.
Abstract
Originally born in Arizona, Abstract The Rapper, was adopted and moved at birth to a New Jersey family. Even as a mere infant, the rapper was almost living up to his stage name...
ab·stract
- existing in thought or as an idea but not having a physical or concrete existence
- consider (something) theoretically or separately from something else
- extract or remove (something)
As a young kid, Abstract had an ear for music; he gradually began to learn how to play the piano, as well as the electric guitar while listening to the likes of JET, The Arctic Monkeys, The Killers, and Green Day. His parents constantly painted vivid ideas and inspirations that can be heard through his music today as they were constantly playing The Beatles, The Monkeys, The Beach Boys, Billy Joel, Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan and Chuck Berry.
One year into middle school and Abstract and his family moved out to his current location, Jackson, Wyoming. Still not a huge hip hop/rap fan at the time, he slowly progressed to picking up the sticks and learning how to play the drums. While still being cemented in his rock roots, Abstract started to take a liking to the hip hop scene through movie soundtracks.
The city of Jackon, Wyoming is a big ski town and at the time his new found friends were huge into the actual sport as well as extreme ski films (which many were dubbed with upbeat hip hop tunes). This is where Abstract would get his first taste and craving for the genre.
It all started with a group known as the Swollen Members and their album Black Magic. From then on, an addiction started to spawn as Abstract continuously looked for new names and new hip hop/rap music.
Abstract's personal career could be dated back to as early as his first heartbreak. Throughout high school the young rapper would freestyle, however just for kicks. In his third year of high school, the girl he had been seeing at the time tried to convince him to start taking it more seriously and begin to write lyrics down. This however, wasn't in Abstract's agenda until the night of his heartbreak. After a year, the two mutually split and the day after Abstract thought it was all a huge mistake...he was the only one who thought so and from there his roots were beginning to spread. He recorded his first track on his laptop through his computer microphone, which needless to say didn't turn out so well.
As time grew on, so did Abstract's learning and understanding of how to create music through venting his thoughts.
Two years and a couple of mixtapes later, Abstract's current producer, Craig McAllister, messaged him and had the idea of him being on a house track he was working on. From that very point, everything clicked for the American/Scottish duo. Although they have never met in person, they have created three mixtapes and one album in the span of two quick years.
Today, Abstract listens to all kinds of hip hop artists ranging from Lupe Fiasco to Logic to Chance The Rapper. As a firm believer of not limiting himself to any particular item, Abstract doesn't refrain from anything lyric wise and produces a wide variety of sounds and styles just like his musical inspirations.
Currently, the young gun is all about recording, writing, and listening to his music as well as getting his hands dirty in the production game. He is in the works of a brand new EP entitled, We Are The Artist that should be releasing in the near future. Planned, is a move to Seattle to further heighten his musical career with live shows as well as with a degree in audio production.
Final Thoughts From Abstract The Rapper:
"Thanks every blog, youtube channel, every fan, every friend and every family member who has helped me get where I am and I'm really looking forward to making the move to a bigger city and finally really spreading my music in the flesh."
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