Jurassic 5 is an American

alternative hip hop Alternative hip hop (also known as alternative rap) is a subgenre of hip hop music that encompasses a wide range of styles that are not typically identified as mainstream. AllMusic defines it as comprising " hip hop groups that refuse to confor ...

group formed in 1994 by

rappers 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 ...

Charles Stewart (

Chali 2na Charles Stewart (born June 26, 1971), better known as Chali 2na, is an American painter and rapper, associated with the groups Jurassic 5 and Ozomatli. He is known for his bass-baritone and quick delivery rapping style. Personal life Early lif ...

), Dante Givens (Akil), Courtenay Henderson (

Soup Soup is a primarily liquid food, generally served warm or hot (but may be cool or cold), that is made by combining ingredients of meat or vegetables with stock, milk, or water. Hot soups are additionally characterized by boiling solid ing ...

aka Zaakir), Marc Stuart (Marc 7); and

disc jockey A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include Radio personality, radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at a nightclub or music f ...

s Mark Potsic (

DJ Nu-Mark Mark Potsic, better known by his stage name DJ Nu-Mark (born June 10, 1971), is an American hip hop producer and DJ. He is a member of Jurassic 5, as well as the owner of Hot Plate Records. He has collaborated with and produced for a variety of ar ...

) and Lucas Macfadden (

Cut Chemist Lucas MacFadden (born October 4, 1972), better known as Cut Chemist, is an American DJ and record producer. He is a former member of Jurassic 5 and Ozomatli. He has collaborated with DJ Shadow on a number of projects. Early life Cut Chemist grad ...

). The six piece crew that was formed, came out of the

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

venue Good Life. The group broke up in 2007,2na learning to swim alone
by Mike Devlin, ''The Times-Colonist'', September 23, 2010 shortly after releasing their fourth LP ''Feedback'', citing "musical differences," but returned to the stage in 2013 and released a new track in 2014. The members have continued to release music individually.

History

Jurassic 5 debuted nationally in 1995 from

TVT Records TVT Records (Tee-Vee Tunes) was an American record label founded by Steve Gottlieb. Over the course of its 24-year history, the label released 25 Gold, Platinum and Multi-Platinum releases. Its roster included Nine Inch Nails, Ja Rule, Lil Jon, ...

with their first single, "Unified Rebelution". Jurassic 5 released their first record, ''

Jurassic 5 EP ''Jurassic 5'' is the first official release by American hip hop group Jurassic 5. It is an EP that includes much of the material that would later appear on the full-length album ''Jurassic 5''. Release The first version of the EP to be release ...

'', in 1997. After Jurassic 5 put out their first record, it "cemented their position in the 1990s alternative hip hop movement, alongside artists such as

Company Flow Company Flow was an American hip hop trio from Brooklyn, New York City, consisting of Bigg Jus, El-P and Mr. Len. The group was at one time associated with the independent record label Rawkus Records. Rapper/ producer El-P and DJ/producer Mr. ...

, Black Star and

Kool Keith Keith Matthew Thornton (born October 7, 1963), better known by his stage name Kool Keith, is an American rapper and record producer from The Bronx, New York City, known for his surreal, abstract and often profane or incomprehensible lyrics. Kool ...

." The group later signed to

Interscope Records Interscope Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M imprint. Founded in late 1990 by Jimmy Iovine and Ted Field as a $20 million joint venture with Atlantic Records of Warner Mus ...

and the EP was repackaged with additional tracks and released in December 1998 as the full-length, eponymous debut album entitled ''

Jurassic 5 Jurassic 5 is an American alternative hip hop group formed in 1994 by rappers Charles Stewart (Chali 2na), Dante Givens (Akil), Courtenay Henderson (Soup aka Zaakir), Marc Stuart (Marc 7); and disc jockeys Mark Potsic (DJ Nu-Mark) and Lucas Macf ...

''. In a 2002 interview with ''The Sydney Morning Herald'', the group explained the origin of their name. Chali 2na revealed, "I played the song to my friend’s mother and she made a joke: ‘You guys think you sound like the Fantastic Five, but you sound more like the Jurassic Five.’ And we started laughing but, well, the name stuck." This was followed by their second album ''

Quality Control Quality control (QC) is a process by which entities review the quality of all factors involved in production. ISO 9000 defines quality control as "a part of quality management focused on fulfilling quality requirements". This approach places ...

'', which peaked at #43 on the ''Billboard'' 200. Jurassic 5 Chart History ''billboard.com'', Retrieved October 18, 2010. In 2002, they released their third album, '' Power In Numbers'' which peaked at #15 on the Billboard 200 chart. Jurassic 5 eventually toured without

, who left the group to pursue a solo career. The remaining five members released their fourth and final album, ''

Feedback Feedback occurs when outputs of a system are routed back as inputs as part of a chain of cause-and-effect that forms a circuit or loop. The system can then be said to ''feed back'' into itself. The notion of cause-and-effect has to be handled ...

'', on July 25, 2006. The album peaked at #15 on the Billboard 200. The group split in 2007. Reasons for the break-up were attributed to disagreements among members of the group. In 2013, the group re-formed, including the return of Cut Chemist, for the

Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival (commonly called the Coachella Festival or simply Coachella) is an annual music and arts festival held at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, in the Coachella Valley in the Colorado Desert. ...

and an international tour, primarily in the UK but also including dates in Ireland, Portugal, Spain, Japan and the United States. They played at Glastonbury in 2014 and had a Word of Mouth Reunion Tour during the Summer of 2014. In 2016, they released their first new song in a decade "Customer Service".

In other media

Jurassic 5's music has been used in several video games. In 2000, "Jayou" was featured in '' Grind Session''. Also in 2000, ''

Jet Set Radio (originally released in North America as ''Jet Grind Radio'') is a 2000 action game developed by Smilebit and published by Sega for the Dreamcast. The player controls a member of a youth gang, the GGs, as they use inline skates to traverse Tok ...

'' was released in North America including the track "Improvise" from the album ''Quality Control'' - though it only appears on the US pressing. All other pressings of the album have the track ''Concrete And Clay'' instead - and an instrumental version of the same song. The following year, the track "Great Expectations" from the same album was also included in ''

Mat Hoffman's Pro BMX ''Mat Hoffman's Pro BMX'' is a BMX video game endorsed by Mat Hoffman and the first game to be published by Activision under the Activision O2 label. It is similar to the ''Tony Hawk's'' series and competed directly with Acclaim Entertainment's ...

''. In 2002, "What's Golden" was featured on ''

ATV Offroad Fury 2 ''ATV Offroad Fury 2'' is a racing video game developed by Rainbow Studios and published by Sony Computer Entertainment, released exclusively for the PlayStation 2. It is a sequel to ATV Offroad Fury, and is the first in the series to support onl ...

''. The song was additionally included in the video game ''

Forza Horizon 3 ''Forza Horizon 3'' is a 2016 racing video game developed by Playground Games and published by Microsoft Studios for the Xbox One and Windows. It is the ninth instalment in the ''Forza'' series and the third instalment in its spinoff ''Forza ...

'' on the fictional radio 'Block Party'. "A Day At The Races" featuring Big Daddy Kane appeared in the 2003 skateboarding game ''

Tony Hawk's Underground ''Tony Hawk's Underground'' is a skateboarding video game and the fifth entry in the '' Tony Hawk's'' series after ''Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4''. It was developed by Neversoft and published by Activision in 2003 for the GameCube, PlayStation 2, ...

''. The song "In The House" from ''Feedback'' was featured in ''

NBA Live 06 ''NBA Live 06'' is a 2005 installment of the ''NBA Live'' series released on the Xbox, Xbox 360, GameCube, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation Portable, PlayStation 2 and Mobile. It was developed by EA Sports. The game features several game modes, inc ...

''.NBA Live 06 Soundtrack
, ''ign.com'', September 13, 2005 and "Work it Out" was in ''

NBA Live 07 ''NBA Live 07'' is the 2006 installment of the ''NBA Live'' series by EA Sports. It was released on Xbox, Xbox 360, PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, and Windows. Cover ''NBA Live 07'' features Tracy McGrady of the Houston Rockets as the co ...

'', while "Red Hot" was featured in ''

SSX on Tour ''SSX on Tour'' is a snowboarding and skiing game, the fourth title in the '' SSX'' series of video games for the GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox and PlayStation Portable. It was released in North America on October 11, 2005 and in the PAL region o ...

''.SSX On Tour Soundtrack Announced
, ''tvg.com'', by Jon Wilcox, September 12, 2005 "Sum of Us" and "High Fidelity" from ''Power in Numbers'' was included in the 2019 game ''

Trials Rising ''Trials Rising'' is a 2.5D fault-based racing game developed by Ubisoft RedLynx and Ubisoft Kyiv and published by Ubisoft. It was released for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One in February 2019, for Stadia in November 2019 ...

''. The group featured in the 2001 hip hop documentary '' Scratch''. They were also featured in online magazine, ''UrbanSouth''s elite list of underground hip hop albums.

Discography

Studio albums

Extended plays

Singles

Guest appearances

Music videos

References

External links

*
Official Interscope Records site
* {{Authority control TVT Records artists Hip hop groups from California Alternative hip hop groups Musical groups from Los Angeles Musical groups established in 1993 Musical groups disestablished in 2007 Musical groups reestablished in 2013 Interscope Records artists 1993 establishments in California