Freestyle Fellowship will be reuniting for the first-time in over a decade and releasing a new LP, The Promise, on Decon Records this fall. Yet, before the Freestyle Fellowship reunion project surfaces, Myka 9 will release his fifth solo-LP, Mykology, on 10/3/11 on SoundVise Records. Produced by Organized Elements and Myka 9 himself, it’s full of the meticulous and intelligent rhymes that Myka has become so revered for. Mykology’s first teaser “I Must Cross,†finds Myka poignantly dissecting the often-debated immigration crisis from a human rights perspective. The projects lead-single “Oh Yeah…Alright†finds Myka trading verses with Freestyle Fellowship member Aceyalone along with Casual, Sunspot Jonz & Kirby Dominant.
Myka 9 is a founding member of one of the West Coast’s most-influential and creative groups, Freestyle Fellowship, (which also includes Aceyalone, P.E.A.C.E., Self Jupiter and J Sumbi) and the group is still a very instrumental figure in the LA Hip-Hop community. Known for his rapid cadences and incorporating singing into his melodic jazz infused sound, Myka is one of the West Coast’s most stylistically advanced rappers and he has had an indelible impact on the underground hip-hop scene and freestyling as an art form. Myka is featured in the award-winning 2008 documentary This Is the Life, chronicling the music movement that was birthed at The Good Life Cafe in South Central Los Angeles. The Good Life is the open-mic workshop where he first performed with Freestyle Fellowship in the early 1990s.
Myka’s imprints on Freestyle Fellowship and the artists they would later influence is evident as Myka’s ‘7th Seal†from Freestyle Fellowship’s debut, To Whom It May Concern, (1991) has been dissected and combed over by fans, artists and critics alike for years in an attempt to crack the code and help shaped the next generation of West Coast emcees and sound that would emerge shortly thereafter (Hieroglyphics, The Pharcyde etc., and Myka even ghost wrote two tracks on N.W.A.’s 1987 debut album N.W.A. And The Posse). Released in 1993, Freestyle Fellowship’s second LP, Innercity Griots, is a landmark of LA Hip-Hop and genuinely considered one of the best Hip-Hop LP’s of the 90’s; and the group’s videos for “Inner City Boundaries” and “Hot Potato” from Innercity Griots took their sound and movement worldwide.
After the release of Innercity Griots in 1993, Freestyle Fellowship went on hiatus due to the four- year incarceration of Self Jupiter. Upon his release, the Fellowship reunited to record Temptations which was released in 2001. In 1999, Myka formed an underground super group, Haiku D’Etat (self-titled release), with Aceyalone and Abstract Rude; a track (“Non Compos Mentisâ€) from that self-titled release was featured in Tony Hawk’s “Pro Skater 4†video game (one of the top selling video games of the year).
Tracklisting & Credits for Myka 9 Mykology LP:
1.) “Bright Flashbacksâ€
2.) “Mind Rightâ€
3.) “Where Would You Beâ€
4.) “Oh Yeah…Alright†f/Aceyalone, Casual, Sunspot Jonz & Kirby Dominant
5.) “Heyâ€
6.) “Breathin’ Down Your Backâ€
7.) “I Must Cross†f/Viveca Hawkins
8.) “Trimmingâ€
9.) “Tell Meâ€
10.) “Face Of A Waterfallâ€
11.) “Don’t You Goâ€