CunninLynguists
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CunninLynguists consists of two individuals, Deacon The Villain and Kno, who aim to make music that reminds listeners why they starting liking hip-hop in the first place. Backed with quality beats and rhymes, gritty sounds, witty lyrics, an occasional curse word and low ends that jump out the trunk like Rae Carruth, the 'Lynguists recapture the soul in southern hip-hop, with what Spin Magazine calls "Outkast's tragicomic poignancy".
Their critically acclaimed debut LP, Will Rap For Food, released in October 2001, features guest appearances by Celph Titled, Tonedeff, and others. It has recently been re-released through Caroline Distribution.
CunninLynguists were joined by Floridian emcee Mr. SOS for their 2nd LP, Southernunderground, which was independently released April 1, 2003 on Freshchest Records. Guests included Masta Ace, Supastition and others, with production from Domingo (Big Pun, KRS-One, Eminem etc.), RJD2 (Cannibal Ox, Mos Def, Copywrite etc.), and Kno. Since the release of Southernunderground, CunninLynguists have received tremendous press in various outlets including The Source, URB, Spin, XLR8R, Import Tuner, The Onion, and others. The group toured throughout the USA, Canada and Europe in 2003 and 2004 alongside acts like The Pharcyde, People Under the Stairs, Raekwon and Brand Nubian. Southernunderground's success with such limited distribution and budget helped win Freshchest Records a distribution contract with Caroline Distribution and was the first project released after inking the deal.
Hailing from Versailles, Kentucky, Deacon has also established himself as a skilled producer, having appeared on Yosumi Record's internationally distributed Game Over 2 compilation as well as The Difference LP. His beats have been blessed by the likes of KRS-One, Masta Ace, King Tee, J-Ro from The Liks, Ruck of Heltah Skeltah and many others.
Kno, hailing from Georgia and described as "one of the top loop-miners east of the Mississippi" by URB Magazine, produced the majority of Will Rap For Food and Southernunderground. He has also recieved critical acclaim in The NY Times, Rolling Stone and other magazines for his remix of Jay-Z's Black Album, entitled Kno vs. Hov : The White Albulum, with copies of the project being personally requested by Black Album producers Just Blaze and 9th Wonder. Jerry Barrow, feature editor of The Source, also praised the album. Elemental Magazine suggested Kno "[will definitely be] known by all very soon", and JuJu of the legendary hip-hop group The Beatnuts (as quoted by allhiphop.com) feels the same: Kno is an up-and-coming producer to keep an eye on. He is currently working with Jurassic 5, Chapter 13, Immortal Technique and others.