X Clan

Numerous Afrocentric rap crews with a political focus issued albums throughout the late 1980s and early 1990s, yet Brooklyn-based X Clan stood apart as one of the most forceful. The collective issued two exceptional LPs—To the East, Blackwards in 1990 and Xodus in 1992—before disbanding. Core personnel comprised Grand Verbalizer Funkin Lesson "Brother J" (born Jason Hunter), Lumumba Professor X "The Overseer" (born Lumumba Carson, son of activist Sonny Carson), the Rhythm Provider "Sugar Shaft" (born Anthony Hardin), and Grand Architect "Paradise" (born Claude Grey); additional contributors included powerful MC Isis, also known as Lin Que. Outside the studio the members participated in Blackwatch and openly backed multiple pro-Black causes.

Their outspoken politics and signature red-black-green attire frequently overshadowed the music itself, which showcased Brother J’s commanding delivery and instructional lyricism atop in-house beats that reworked the familiar Parliament/Funkadelic source material with uncommon ingenuity. The two albums proved comparably potent, each reaching number 11 on the Top R&B/hip-hop album chart. Prior to the breakup, Professor X and Isis both issued solo side projects. Afterward Brother J assembled Dark Sun Riders, whose lone album appeared in 1996; the previous year Sugar Shaft had died from AIDS-related illness. The lineup briefly reunited near the close of the 1990s, though no commercial recordings surfaced by 2003. Professor X succumbed to meningitis in March 2006.