Company Flow was an American hip hop trio from

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, consisting of

Bigg Jus Justin Ingleton, better known by his stage name Bigg Jus, is an American alternative hip hop artist from Jamaica, Queens. He was a member of Company Flow along with El-P and Mr. Len. He is also one half of the duo Nephlim Modulation Systems w ...

El-P Jaime Meline (born March 2, 1975), better known by the stage name El-P (shortened from his previous stage name El Producto), is an American rapper, songwriter, and record producer. Starting his career as a member of Company Flow, he has been a ...

and

Mr. Len Mr. Len (Leonard "Lenny" Smythe) is a hip hop DJ born in the Bronx, New York. He moved to Hillside, NJ when he was 12 years old. He was a member, with Bigg Jus and El-P, of the underground hip hop trio Company Flow, which disbanded in the lat ...

. The group was at one time associated with the

independent record label An independent record label (or indie label) is a record label that operates without the funding or distribution of major record labels; they are a type of small- to medium-sized enterprise, or SME. The labels and artists are often represented ...

Rawkus Records Rawkus Records was an American hip hop record label known for starting the careers of many rappers. Rawkus started in 1995 with releases in hip-hop, drum and bass and fun-dustrial (Dystopia One). Label heads Brian Brater and Jarret Myer then s ...

Rapper Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...

/ producer

and DJ/producer

founded the group in 1992 in

Queens, New York Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long I ...

where rapper/producer

later joined.

History

Founding members

and

met when the latter was hired to perform as a DJ at the former's 18th birthday party. The two quickly became friends and formed Company Flow in 1993. They released their first vinyl single, "Juvenile Techniques". After El-P was introduced to Bigg Jus by underground rapper and indie label owner ANTTEX, the trio then released their follow-up, "8 Steps to Perfection" and then their debut EP, Funcrusher (Official Recordings), in 1996. Subject to a major label bidding war on Libra Records, Company Flow waited until they could get a contract on their own terms. They eventually signed to Rawkus, and helped revitalize underground rap with labelmates like

Mos Def Yasiin Bey (; born Dante Terrell Smith, December 11, 1973), previously and more commonly known by his stage name Mos Def (), is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and actor. His hip hop career began in 1994, alongside his siblings in the s ...

. Their full-length debut

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

Funcrusher Plus ''Funcrusher Plus'' is the debut studio album by American hip hop group Company Flow. It was released by Rawkus Records in 1997. In 2009, it was re-released on Definitive Jux. The album has been recognized as "a landmark independent hip-hop releas ...

was'' released in 1997 on Rawkus. After two years of pushing the album and touring, group member

decided to strike out on his own and the group amicably dissolved. El-P and Mr. Len followed up their debut with the instrumental album '' Little Johnny from the Hospitul: Breaks & Instrumentals Vol.1'' ( Rawkus). By 2000, the relationship with Rawkus had disintegrated. The label was accused of neglecting the group's talent and being financially dishonest. The staff was fired shortly before Christmas, and Company Flow announced their departure from Rawkus shortly thereafter. Separately, El-P and Mr. Len ended their own deals with Rawkus, effectively severing the relationship between the three and Rawkus. El-P started his own record label (

Definitive Jux Definitive Jux was a record label based in New York City. It was co-founded in 1999 by El-P and Amaechi Uzoigwe. History Definitive Jux was initially known as Def Jux. However, popular hip hop label Def Jam Recordings sued Def Jux over the nam ...

) and pursued a solo career before eventually forming

Run the Jewels Run the Jewels, also known by the initials RTJ, is an American hip hop super-duo composed of Brooklyn-based rapper and producer El-P and Atlanta-based rapper Killer Mike. They released their critically acclaimed self-titled debut studio album ...

with

Killer Mike Michael Santiago Render (born April 20, 1975), better known by his stage name Killer Mike, is an American rapper, actor, and activist. Mike made his debut on Outkast's 2000 LP ''Stankonia'', and later appeared on their Grammy-winning single " ...

. Mr. Len has done the same with his (Dummy Smacks Records). Bigg Jus has released work on

Big Dada Big Dada is a British independent record label imprint distributed by Ninja Tune. It was started by reputed hip hop journalist Will Ashon in 1997. It is best known for marketing of prominent British hip hop artist Roots Manuva, poet and play ...

and

Mush Records Mush Records is an American independent record label. It was founded by Robert Curcio and Cindy Roché in 1997. History Originally known as Dirty Loop Music, Mush Records started out as a recording studio in Cincinnati, Ohio, with the label for ...

. Bigg Jus stated in 2006 that he was working on material for a new Company Flow album, suggesting the possibility of the group re-forming. Company Flow reunited for a show on October 19, 2007 in

as well as a show on July 16, 2011, and supported Portishead at the inaugural British 'I'll Be Your Mirror' festival on July 23, 2011. Company Flow performed their final show as a group at

Coachella Coachella may refer to: * Coachella, California * Coachella Canal, in California * Coachella (festival), an annual music and arts festival in California * "Coachella – Woodstock in My Mind", a 2017 song by Lana del Rey See also

* Coachell ...

in 2012.

Discography

Albums and EPs

Singles

*"Juvenile Techniques" (1994) *"8 Steps to Perfection" (1996) *"Infokill" (1996) *"Blind" (1997) *"End to End Burners...Episode 1" (1998) *"End to End Burners...Episode 2" (1998) *"Patriotism" from ''

Soundbombing 2 ''Soundbombing II'' is the second installment in Rawkus Records' ''Soundbombing'' compilation series. Track listing Album chart positions Singles chart positions References

Hip hop compilation albums Albums produced by Da Beatmi ...

'' (1999) *"D.P.A. (As Seen on TV)" (2000)

Guest appearances

* (Compilation - Rawkus Records) - "Lune TNS" from ''Soundbombing'' (1997) * Boulevard Connection - "Jonny Rookie Card" from ''Sut Min Pik'' (1998) *

7 Notas 7 Colores 7 Notas 7 Colores is a Spanish hip-hop group of the 90's hailing from Barcelona. Biography 7 Notas 7 Colores emerged in Barcelona in 1993, when there were few rap groups in Spain. Its members were from different towns and neighborhoods around the ...

- "NYC-BCN" from ''77'' (1999) *

Mike Ladd Mike Ladd is an American hip hop musician from Boston, Massachusetts. He is based in Paris, France. ''The Guardian'' described him as "the king of the hip-hop concept." Early life Mike Ladd was born in Boston, Massachusetts. As a child, he live ...

- "Bladerunners" from ''Welcome to the Afterfuture'' (1999) * The Infesticons - "Night Time Theme" from ''Gun Hill Road'' (2000) *

DJ Krush , better known by his stage name DJ Krush, is a record producer and DJ. He is known for his atmospheric instrumental production which incorporates sound elements from nature and extensive use of jazz and soul samples. Early life Ishi was born i ...

- "Vision of Art" from ''Zen'' (2001)

Compilation appearances

* "Low Key" on ''

Tags of the Times 3 ''Tags of the Times 3'' is a 2001 alternative hip hop compilation album, released by Mary Joy Recordings. It also served as a soundtrack to a documentary of the same name. Takashi Futatsugi of ''Riddim'' named it one of the 12 best albums of 200 ...

'' (2001)

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1992 establishments in New York City Alternative hip hop groups Definitive Jux artists Hip hop groups from New York City American musical trios Underground hip hop groups