Libretto

Libretto joined forces with Portland's Misfit Massive Crew, whose ranks also featured Sly da Brown Hornet, Vursatyle, Razor Shines, and Jumbo, and launched his hip-hop journey at an unusually young age. At six he already matched skills with other MCs inside Jordan Downs, one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in Los Angeles' Watts section. His father, a civil rights activist who served as Olympic coach for the U.S. track and field team at the 1976 and 1988 Summer games, relocated the family to Portland in the mid-'90s, yet the son's attachment to West Coast rap and the social awareness absorbed from his parent remained intact. Those influences helped him connect with the artists who later formed the Misfit Massive Crew. Performing both solo and with the collective—which also counted Quannum Project signing the Lifesavas—he appeared at local shows and toured alongside Dead Prez, Del tha Funkee Homosapien, the People Under the Stairs, Latyrx, Blackalicious, and the Beatnuts. In 2002 Libretto issued his first solo effort, the Dirty Thangs/Alma Mater single, through One Drop. He then moved to Dim Mak and delivered the Volume EP at the start of 2004 before closing the year with debut album Illoet, a title drawn from his own phrase for his style, "ill poet."