Growing up just a block away from The Notorious B.I.G., watching him go from local kid to rap superstar, Skyzoo couldn't help but dream big. He started making mixtapes in 2002, and in 2005, through a mutual friend, was introduced to Grammy-winning producer 9th Wonder. The North Carolina native was won over by the upstart MC's talents, and readily sent him beats to record over—which would soon become 2006's Cloud 9: The Three Day High, a mixtape that launched Sky into hip-hop's consciousness. His deft wordplay, confident delivery, and vivid imagery were all on display. Fans continued to flock following Cornerstore Classic in 2007 and 2009's Power of Words, each mixtape again showcasing Sky's skillset as a hood poet. It was September 2009's The Salvation, though, released through Jamla/Duck Down, that solidified the rhymeslinger into an elite class. “It all was leading up to The Salvation,” he says. “That was the album I had been planning since I was nine years old.” Landing at No. 14 on the Billboard Top 200 charts, the critically acclaimed release stood on a cohesive and engaging sincerity that explains the sizable fanbase Sky has cultivated. Still riding the wave of his debut, Sky returned in July 2010 with Live From the Tapedeck, an album produced entirely by !llmind. The summer of 2011 brought The Great Debater, a free mixtape of album-quality material that Sky treated his fans to as a follow up to two retail releases. The fanbase Skyzoo has been able to acquire stretches from the street to the workplace to high places, leading to memorable placements: “Popularity” was featured on the seventh season of the HBO hit Entourage; his music was featured in video games NBA2K11 and NBA2K12 (the first artist to be included in the franchise twice), as well as Grand Theft Auto 4: Lost and the Damned; his music has also set the tone for ESPN’s KIA NBA Shootaround; and the rapper has a longstanding relationship with Brand Jordan. Skyzoo has toured with Ghostface Killah, Raekwon, Pharoahe Monch, Sean Price, and Buckshot, as well as internationally in places like China. He’s collaborated with other respected artists including Pete Rock, Hi-Tek, Jake One, Flo-Rida, Maino, Little Brother, EPMD, N.O.R.E, Wale, Talib Kweli, Ace Hood, Sean Price, and Don Cannon. With his highly anticipated album Dream Deferred slated for a 2012 release, Skyzoo is focused on continuing to become the ultimate artist, able to make music with a lasting impact. Listeners can identify with his story; they can see the many sides of themselves in him. They play “For What It's Worth” on their way to a dead-end job. They bump “Necessary Evils” as they hustle. They blare “Speakers On Blast” when they party. No matter the mood, season, or circumstance, Skyzoo offers music to live to.

Massachusetts-born rapper Termanology quickly rose from underground obscurity to working with some of hip-hop's elite producers, particularly DJ Premier. Growing up in the streets of the predominantly Latino city of Lawrence, MA, informed the half-white, half-Puerto Rican MC's lyrics as he graduated from silly freestyles at age nine to full-fledged verses at the age of 15. He constantly had to travel back and forth from Boston to New York in order to pursue various opportunities, releasing his first material on vinyl in 2001. Closely tied to fellow Lawrence native and mixtape DJ Statik Selektah, Termanology earned the respect of Boston's hip-hop scene with several 12" releases as well as his Hood Politics mixtapes, which gradually came to feature more highly regarded lyricists like Royce da 5'9" and Guru. After releasing the collaborative LP Out the Gate with producer DC the Midi Alien at the onset of 2006, he caught his big break when distinguished producer DJ Premier, whom he met three years earlier, finally gave him one of his signature, scratch-laden beats. The result, "Watch How It Go Down," became an underground hit. Declaring himself the resurrection of his biggest idol, Big Pun, in the opening verse, the conscious hood anthem garnered the earnest MC tons of praise, landing him on the pages of many hip-hop publications, notably The Source's "Unsigned Hype" and XXL's "Show and Prove" columns. The DJ Premier-produced hit later appeared on the Hood Politics, Vol. 4 mixtape in November 2006. ~ Cyril Cordor, Rovi

Born and raised in Lawrence, MA, street lyricist Corey Isiah Christie, better known as just Reks, started out as a breakdancer in his teens and was part of a local B-boy crew called Funk Town Connection. By the time he entered college at University of Massachusetts-Amherst, Reks had built a reputation for himself in the local Boston rap scene, but then eventually quit school to begin recording for Brick Records. A few 12" singles, "I Could Have Done More" and "Fearless," arrived first in early 2001, before Brick issued his debut LP, Along Came the Chosen, later that year. A cult favorite in Beantown rap circles, the album earned Reks nominations for Hip-Hop Album and Artist of the Year by the Boston Music Awards. Even with all the accolades as well as press features running in Source, XXL, Vibe, and URB, Reks' career didn't ascend to the national stage. In fact, he self-released his second album, Rekless (2003), and had no distribution other than from the trunk of his car. In 2004, he turned to the mixtape circuit, releasing Happy Holidays (2005) and the Rash Music series, the latter of which was under his new group, M Diesel (which included Lucky Dice and Chi Knox). In this time period, he also hooked up with fellow Lawrence, MA, native and national mixtape guru Statik Selektah, eventually signing on to the DJ's ShowOff Records imprint. Reks made several appearances on Selektah's Spell My Name Right (2007) LP as well as on material by the DJ's up-and-coming prot??g?? Termanology. Executive produced by Selektah, Reks' ShowOff debut, Grey Hairs, arrived in 2008. ~ Cyril Cordor, Rovi