Aceyalone

A founding member of Freestyle Fellowship, Aceyalone helped shape the development of left-field hip-hop along the West Coast at a time when hardcore gangsta rap dominated the landscape. Once Freestyle Fellowship disbanded, he launched a solo trajectory that never produced mainstream breakthroughs yet preserved his respected position inside the West Coast underground. His first solo outing arrived with All Balls Don't Bounce in 1995, followed three years later by A Book of Human Language. Returning after a three-year hiatus, he issued Accepted Eclectic through the Ground Control imprint in 2001; the same label simultaneously brought his debut back into circulation. Project Blowed then handled Hip Hop and the World We Live In in 2002 and Love & Hate in 2003, the latter featuring guest appearances from El-P and Antipop Consortium. In 2004 Project Blowed acquired the rights to All Balls Don't Bounce from Capitol and reissued the project with an added bonus disc, restoring the long-out-of-print recording along with fresh material. Magnificent City, a full-length collaboration with underground producer RJD2, surfaced in 2006 alongside the limited-edition Grand Imperial, a set of remixes and otherwise unavailable cuts. Lightning Strikes followed in 2007, drawing inspiration from reggae and dancehall while Bionik handled production; the same producer oversaw 2009’s The Lonely Ones, shaped by Motown, soul, and doo wop influences. Bionik returned for Leanin’ on Slick in 2013, another retro-oriented release that included Cee Lo Green as a featured guest.