Biography
The Anonymous is a hip-hop collective based in the Bay Area, California. They are Vesuvio (now known as Vesuveo), Able, Zinndeadly, and DJ Drez.
Their music features razor-sharp rhythmic offensives, crushing beats, lush soundscapes, and progressive turntable techniques.
The MCs expand the group's capacities by using radical approaches to broaden the scope of their lyricism. Each microphonist brings something unique to the table. They also collaborated with different artists, including Mystik Journeymen, Medusa, Awol One, Divine Styler and even with burgeoning superstar Eminem. This secures an extensive variety of themes and rhyme styles.
The Anonymous offer listeners something assertively different, yet comfortingly familiar.
Their story began in Philadelphia in 1988 when producers Vesuvio, from New York, and Zinndeadly, from Cleveland, met and began collaborating as college roommates. Together, they developed their style by incorporating samples of instruments, vocals, and sounds from all over the world — years before Timbaland, Dr. Dre, and others would do the same.
Bay Area MC Able joined the group in 1994. Together Able and Vesuvio put words to their lush soundscapes. One of the first inter-racial rapping duos, Able & Vesuvio were met by a mixture of skepticism and spirited support from die hard hip-hop crowds. Wearing their hearts on their sleeves, The Anonymous represented both a union of East and West coasts at the height of it's fracture and a clear alternative to the often vacant rap music of the late 90s.
After moving to Los Angeles, the crew released their debut album Swells of Abstract in 1995 and added DJ Drez and Mark Luv to their line up, forming the backbone of the group's 4-turntable live show while performing with Black Eyed Peas, Dilated Peoples, KRS-ONE, Cutty Ranks, The Rock Steady Crew, Medusa, and Biz Markie. The Anonymous released their second album Weep No More a year later and by 1996 had firmly established themselves on the West Coast underground scene.
In 1998, they released their third studio album, Green and Gold, featuring collaborations with Eminem, Rakaa Iriscience of Dilated Peoples, Cut Chemist of Jurassic 5, and Living Legends.
The Anonymous scored two Top 10 hits off the record: the title track Green and Gold (featuring Eminem) spent 15 weeks on the Rap Charts peaking at #9; and Dr. EZ's Cool Fantastic Part I/Dr. EZ's Cool Fantastic Part II, a double-part 13-minute song featuring 18 MCs, which rose to #1 on mix-show charts nationwide.
Dedicated, their fourth studio LP was released in 2006, includes 14 unreleased tracks all recorded between 1999 and 2000. Together, their four full-length releases and three albums of instrumentals, The Anonymous took hip-hop into new, uncharted territory while leaving behind a unique and inspired collection of music.
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