http://www.jurassic5.com/

Nearly ten years ago, in 1993, Los Angeles was home to a burgeoning hip-hop movement. A little place called The Good Life Café was the host of an open-mic space in the heart of South Central L.A. for dozens of MCs and DJs. From 1991 to 1994 L.A.’s Underground music scene produced groups like The Pharcyde and Freesytle Fellowship but more notably encouraged its artists to constantly balance progressive styles and good music – an idea that still resonates with J5, the most successful group to emerge from that scene.

Jurassic 5 are an amalgam of two factions in the underground movement... “The Unity Community” (Charlie Tuna, Marc S.E.V.E.N. and Cut Chemist) and “The Rebels of Rhythm” (Zaakir and Akil). One night during a talent showcase at The Good Life, The Unity Community approached Rebels of Rhythm to commend their performance. The feeling was likewise and they agreed to hook up for a song and a little over a year later “Unified Rebelution” was finished. J5 established themselves and in 2000, they got in on a tour with Fiona Apple on their Quality Control release and shortly thereafter began work on Power In Numbers.

In an interview with Bomb Hip-Hop Magazine, J5's Zaakir cites the group’s strongest musical influences as being Cold Crush, Fantastic 5 and Run DMC who “made me really understand what real hip-hip was all about . . . Run DMC showed that you didn’t have to be dressing in all those sequin suits. You could just be you and do your thang!” This may be what sets J5 apart from other rappers. They don’t have ulterior motives regarding fortune and fame. What they actually care about is making quality music with a message that has the potential of both uniting and engaging people.

Hopefully the future of hip hop will be in tune with the sounds and messages of Jurassic 5. The group is optimistic that they will have quality successors. Continuing to spread the word that popular hip hop doesn’t have to contain generally negative messages or be extremely overproduced might be tough, but J5 has definitely paved the way.

-Julie Smith