The Shape Shifters formed in Los Angeles as an alternative rap collective during the 1990s and gradually built a devoted cult audience across the following years. Their first full-length album, Planet of the Shapes, appeared in 1998 on cassette and gathered numerous four- and eight-track recordings made between 1993 and 1998; Nitrous Oxide Records later issued the project as a double-disc CD in 2000. The recording includes core members Circus (born Marcus Aureli; rapper, producer, sampling), AWOL One (born Tony Martin; rapper), Radioinactive (born Kamal Humphrey; rapper), Shumagorath (rapper), Actual Jae L.A. (aka L.A. Jae; born John Barnes; producer, turntablist), Mr. Fung (aka Mek One; producer), Transducer (born Mike McMullen; producer), DJ Rob One (born Robert Cory; turntablist), and Nicko the Greek (keyboards). Several of these artists later joined other projects such as Ex Vandalz, Stuffed Animals, and Three Eyed Cowz while taking on additional aliases.
After issuing the underground singles Triple Threat in 1998 and 2012 in 1999, the collective delivered multiple projects in 2000, among them the double-disc CD version of Planet of the Shapes, a second double-disc CD titled Know Future, and the album Adopted by Aliens. In 2002 the group put out Soul-Lows, a mixtape CD-R issued in several editions that each contained unique track listings, along with the DVD Terrorists from Another Planet; Circus also released his solo debut Gangstahz fo Gawd that year. Further activity followed in 2004 with the mixtape Soulows Two, the mixtape The Mix Tape CD, the 12" single Circuit City, the full-length album The Shape Shifters Was Here, and the Circus solo album Gawd Bless the Faceless Cowards.
