Antipop Consortium
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If anyone can lay claim as the godfathers of alternative hip hop, it's Antipop Consortium. The group, formed in 1997, by MCs High Priest, Beans, M. Sayyid and producer Earl Blaize, was among the first brave enough to introduce the sounds of UK electronic to hip hop, clearly taking influence from Warp Records artists like Aphex Twin and Autechre.
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While "conscious" rap had long existed, Antipop were one of the few American groups to mirror what was going on overseas, at the same time UK and German artists like Funkstorung began to draw influences from American hip hop.
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Tragic Epilogue showed a group of MCs at the top of their game, with impressive, often high speed delivery only matched by the creativity of their surreal, William Burroughs-meets-KRS One lyrics.
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The group released two albums on Dan The Automator's label 75 Ark, including heir seminal release, 2000's Tragic Epilogue. Tragic Epilogue showed a group of MCs at the top of their game, with impressive, often high speed delivery only matched by the creativity of their surreal, William Burroughs-meets-KRS One lyrics. Production was similarly inventive and the album garnered a great deal of buzz in the alternative music press, leading the UK's Warp Records, not a label that typically released hip hop albums, to sign them the same year.
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After the release of Arrhythmia on Warp in 2002, the group disbanded to focus on solo albums and side projects. Both Beans and High Priest enjoyed successful solo careers, and between them collaborated with artists as diverse as Alec Empire, DJ Spooky, Bill Laswell, MF Doom and TV on the Radio. In 2009, the group reformed for the release of a new album, Fluorescent Black.
