L.E.G.A.C.Y.

Owing to a string of bleak personal setbacks, Justus League rapper L.E.G.A.C.Y.—whose name stands for Life Ends Gradually and Changes You—pairs technically sharp yet somber rhymes with gloomy wordplay. While Rakim and Big L clearly shape his approach, he also draws heavily on the similarly grim lyricism of rock icons Jim Morrison and Kurt Cobain. The North Carolina MC entered the respected Justus League collective in 2001. He already knew the crew’s lead producer, 9th Wonder, from their days as coworkers handling reservations at a Holiday Inn, though neither was aware that the other made rap records. Once L.E.G.A.C.Y. became a member, the pair quickly recorded several tracks, a few of which surfaced on his 2003 mixtape Legsclusives. Drawing on motifs and dialogue from the 1996 film Fight Club, his first album, Project Mayhem—itself titled after a key element of that movie—appeared in the middle of 2005.