Vrse Murphy - A man without a country, Frank.

Vrse first started pounding out beats with the palms of his hands on the stall walls of Shadow Mountain High School’s girls’ bathroom, and he’s been drunk on drums ever since. Errrah! A well-traveled gentleman and tennis fanatic, Vrse has developed an important self-help book titled, “How to be a #1 Rap Producer.” Chapter one begins with a key piece of advice: “Live a high-end sort of traveling Don Juan existence, in total seclusion for at least ten years, and learn how to make really good beats.” And Mr. Murphy has done just that, and kept the ladies joyously parading. If producing and recording “Retired” in his Bahamian bungalow surrounded by naïve native nudity took a toll on his rum stomach, then the wine cellar in Cremona, Italy that fermented “Sleepover” must’ve sharpened his pleasure senses to an acute science. Say word, and welcome to the big time! Later in Cancun, Mexico, Vrse joined up with Z-Man to form The Bachelors, and created a Dionysian community, a ripped ruckus of random acts of love-making, on this truly underground effort. But it wasn’t until the release of “Martini Breaks” (the instrumental version of “Sleepover”),that Vrse proved his prowess with pure instrumentation-the score to the film of our often retarded lives-and began lending melodic sound-scapes to prominent skate and snowboard videos (Thrasher, General Population, Lame, etc.). Vrse Murphy currently resides in Woody Creek outside of Aspen, Colorado, but was most recently seen mixing drinks in Park City, Utah (at the Sundance Film Festival) with the help of a banana-sized finger attached to an outrageously tall Scandinavian blondie with moon boots over her leg-warmers. If you want to employ Vrse Murphy to make horny, horny beats for you (his price is high, and his drinks are stiff), please email the maestro at: vrsemurphy@gmail.com. And please ladies, keep it discreet. He loves to call for Tom and hit the back-bars of Scottsdale, AZ, spoting his dad in the rafters. Welcome to the home of the Slurps!

Luke Sick - Engaged to be married to this rap shit.

“For who he was, he spent most his time with some hella good women.” Welcome to the bacchanal… for this is the point they all come to, these adolescent rebels. Defiance of parental authority, rejection of religion, of social conventions-hair buzzed or pulled out in clumps or bed-ridden and bent, filthy clothes, smoking too much, shouting obscenities, dropping out of school. Whether any specific incident in Luke Sick’s life set off such a full-scale rebellion against convention is unclear; the strictures of his mother and his early docility were likely to have brought him to it sooner or later. Still, few adolescent rebellions have yielded such a harvest of vitriolic verse. Nothing escapes him: God, the church, the family, the nation, the city of Palo Alto Goondocks, its citizenry and institutions and, above all, its women. For the main burden of these poems is scatological-the furious boy scrawling “Shit on God” on the sidewalks in front of the church is clearly their author. They are full of the bodily functions, of diseased flesh, of the filth and clutter of old age and poverty, of the equivocal role of woman and the image of the “monstrous whore.” Much of this is clearly Rimbaudian in origin-but the retarded modern boy turns a spotlight on it. The details are sharp and clear. Yet out of all this fury comes a conviction-of what it means to be a poet, and what a poet must do to create poetry “with sayings so dope, girlies keep them in they purses.”

The origins of this theory of illuminism, of degradation in order to obtain elevation, of objectivity as the reward of total experience, are perhaps traceable; what is staggering, though, is to think that these ideas of perverting all the senses, of finding a method that will yield visions of the unknown, of being “the one who will create God,” occur in the mind of a pedantic suburban Goonie. At what other age would anyone think so seriously of turning an abstraction into reality, of putting such a program into practice? And now all the tenacity, the rigorous purpose, the seriousness, and the strength of a twelve-year-old boy are devoted to becoming “the great invalid, the great criminal, the great accursed-and the supreme scientist!”-by leeching off his parents till damn near the age of thirty-very much like Tommy Chong’s character at the beginning of “Up In Smoke.” Email Luke Sick at lukesick@hotmail.com and he’ll tell you what for.

DJ Quest - (Space Travelers, Live Human)
A Mission District b-boy fixture, DJ Quest is one of the Bay Area's most reputable turntablists and has collaborated on many recordings by numerous artists including: Dan The Automator, Blackalicious, Rob Swift (Executioners), DJ Zeph, Sacred Hoop, and DJ QBert's Do It Yourself vol. 2 skratch sessions -practice dvd, as well as appearing in the Scratch documentary dvd. DJ Quest is one of the founding members of the original/seminal/archetype scratch crew (Bullet Proof Scratch Hamsters/Space Travelerz). Quest is also a member of the experimental jazz/hip-hop power group Live Human who have released multiple titles through Matador Records. He recently released the 12" single, "Bulletproof's Back b/w Ghetto Stash," through the Wide Hive label which has already become a cult classic in the cutty clubs of SF, and plans for a full-length solo album are in the works. And for those that don't know that he's the best in the world: Questo cuts it up def, period.

DJ Raw B
DJ Raw B is primarily known around the Bay Area for his 11 plus year stint as DJ/Producer/Co-Host of KUSF's hip-hop mix show Beatsauce. His efforts along withJ-Boogie and Wisdom have earned the trio several accolades including 1997 "Best of the Bay" (SF Weekly) 1998 Goldie Award (Bay Guardian), 2004 "Best of The Bay" (Bay Guardian). In addition to his work on the radio, the 31-year old crate digger has steadily been prescience on the local club circuit garnering a "Best Local Club DJ" nod from the Bay Guardian's Best of The Bay (2001). Raw B has also lent his prose to several live projects including Felonious' theatrical hit Beat Box: A Raparetta (Wishbone Ent.), Smashmouth's performance of "All-Star" in the movie Rat Race (Universal), a touring gig with the now defunct rock/rap group Brougham (Warner Brothers) and acting as a DJ for many hip-hop acts including Double Life, Mr. Lif, Azeem, and Sacred Hoop. Simultaneously, the sturdy turntable veteran has compiled many studio productions earning him spots on several compilations including Cue's Hip-Hop Shop Vol. 2 (Stray), Turntables by The Bay Vol. 2 (Hip-Hop Slam), Amoeba Music Compilation Vol. 5 (Hip-Hop Slam), and DJ Zeph's Sunset Scavenger LP (Wide Hive). His mix tapes Mixed Feelings, Golden Aged Crates, Moving Company, and Politrix Mix won't disappoint and you can also hear his scratching on several songs including Double Life's "Revolutions" and "Cycles Of The Mind", Brougham's "Don't Speak English" and "Can't Sleep It Off", Felonious' "Punchlines", Gennessee's "Creative Control", and Aram Danesh and the Super Human Crew's "The Spot". Well-rounded is the best way to describe this particular DJ. Check for his upcoming EP entitled Clean Cut. Ask about him.

Z-Man - (99th Demention, Gingerbread Man, Hiero, Refill Records, Bachelors)

Z-Man(One Block Radius, The Bachelors) brought us the good wine and we let him join the gang. Z-Man, who is currently recording and touring with the hip hop outfit One Block radius, released his debut album Dope or Dog Food? on Hiero Imperium/ Refill Records and the follow up "Don't Forget To Brag" with G-Pek on Gurp City Records last year, but we found him first as proved on the much anticipated but yet-to-be-officially-released album The Bachelors: Wine Cella (produced by none other than Vrse Murphy) which will only be available through this website in the near future. Look for Zs contributions to future Hoop releases, as well look for the Bachelors saga to continue on and on and on and on Oh my God, relly! Oh my lord! Word Billy.

Eddie K.

Ed, or 88 as he’s also known made his splash on Hoop vinyl early on with his contribution to Burgundy from the Retired album. Look for Ed to shine on our new shit as well, screamin Oiree! all up in yo earhole. Gurp City recording artist and veteran San Francisco street rapper Eddie K (88) makes his long-awaited debut on the front line with the upcoming springtime release of his new solo album, GURPOLOGY 101, produced in the Bay Area by G-Pek, DNAE Beats, Eddie K himself, and others. The first single SF Hyphy (featuring Baldhead Rick of I.M.P. and UNLV fame) will impact radio throughout the spring and become the ..1 summer slapper on the streets of the Sco where it has already leaked. Eddie K made his name in the streets and clubs recording and performing with the legendary and infamous DJ/seminal turntablist group Bulletproof Scratch Hamsters (which later became Space Travelers) as their sole rapper, but with this new LP, hes finally decided to secure his solo status. EK, baby, straight from the Sco, remarks Eddie K, Lakeview native, hot shit here act like ya know, exuding the extreme confidence that results when dues have done been paid, the foundation has been set, and a man with a microphone has his hungry eyes focused on just one thing: an explosive future!