El-P

El-P’s influence on the hip-hop underground isn’t always completely obvious, because he dwells in shadows of his own creations. The Brooklyn, New York-born MC and producer already had a strong dual voice on his group Company Flow’s 1997 album Funcrusher Plus: frigid, eerie beats, and a fluid, sinister flow. In addition to founding the Definitive Jux label and producing for many of its artists (Aesop Rock, Cage, Cannibal Ox, etc.), he’s released beautifully bleak solo albums like 2007’s I’ll Sleep When You’re Dead. After stepping down as Def Jux label head to focus on his own output, he released the 2010 instrumental mix-tape Weareallgoingtoburninhell Megamixxx3. A new album, Cancer For Cure, weaves dense verses of unsettling paranoia through his distinctive synth-spookery.

Updated 06/27/2012