Self Scientific

Chance Infinite (Aaron Johnson) and DJ Khalil (Khalil Abdul-Rahman) first crossed paths at a Southern California basketball camp, where they channeled leftover drive into music rather than solely on-court play. By 1994 they had cut a demo under the name Numbskulls, which led to a one-off contract with Loud Records the following year. Finding the label’s support lacking, the pair immersed themselves in Los Angeles’s underground circuit, hawking mixtapes directly to listeners. They later joined Frank “Nebula” Correa in establishing S.O.L. Music Works, Inc. Momentum built once hip-hop tastemakers began spinning their track “Return,” whose lyrics urged a return to the genre’s earlier foundations. That single also appeared on the duo’s first full-length project, The Self Science, which arrived in 2001.