Lawless Element is an underground hip hop duo from

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

. The duo is composed of cousins

Griot A griot (; ; Manding: jali or jeli (in N'Ko: , ''djeli'' or ''djéli'' in French spelling); Serer: kevel or kewel / okawul; Wolof: gewel) is a West African historian, storyteller, praise singer, poet, and/or musician. The griot is a repos ...

(

West Africa West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Maurit ...

n for "Storyteller", born Alfred Austin) as emcee and Magnif (born Kavi Tapsico) as DJ,

producer Producer or producers may refer to: Occupations *Producer (agriculture), a farm operator *A stakeholder of economic production *Film producer, supervises the making of films **Executive producer, contributes to a film's budget and usually does not ...

and emcee. The duo of Magnif and Griot became engulfed in hip hop culture at the ages of 6 and 9, and spent their teenage years honing their skills on the production boards and on the microphone. At the ages of 16 and 19, the duo released their first single, titled "Mic Check", in 2003 on Running Man Records. The next year, the duo hooked up with fellow Detroit native,

J Dilla J, or j, is the tenth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its usual name in English is ''jay'' (pronounced ), with a now-uncommon varia ...

, to release the single "The Shining". In early 2005, LE worked with Dilla's

Jaylib ''Champion Sound'' is the only studio album by the duo Jaylib ( hip hop musicians J Dilla and Madlib). Half of the songs are produced by Madlib and feature J Dilla on vocals, and the other half are produced by J Dilla and feature Madlib on vocal ...

partner

Madlib Otis Jackson Jr. (born October 24, 1973), known professionally as Madlib, is an American DJ, music producer, multi-instrumentalist, and rapper. He is widely known for his collaborations with MF DOOM (as Madvillain), J Dilla (as Jaylib), and Fr ...

on the single "High", which landed them a deal with popular

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

rap label

Babygrande Records Babygrande Records is an American independent record label based in New York City, founded by Chuck Wilson. Babygrande is distributed by The Orchard and represented by the Creative Artists Agency in Hollywood. History Babygrande Records was ...

. Their debut album, '' Soundvision: In Stereo'', was released in September 2005 to generally positive reviews. ''Soundvision'' featured production from Magnif, J Dilla and Madlib and guest appearances from Dilla, Melanie Rutherford,

Phat Kat Phat may refer to: People *Huỳnh Tấn Phát (1913–1989), South Vietnamese politician and revolutionary *Lâm Văn Phát (1920–1998), Vietnamese army officer *Phat Wilson (1895–1970), Canadian amateur ice hockey player *Richard Temple-Nug ...

, Big Tone, P.Dot, SelfSays and Diverse. "Rules Pt. 2" was the album's lead single, and also became the duo's first music video. URB magazine gave the album 4 out of 5 stars and stated that it was "Heavily influenced by the golden age of

De La Soul De La Soul () is an American hip hop trio formed in 1988 in the Amityville area of Long Island, New York. They are best known for their eclectic sampling, quirky lyrics, and their contributions to the evolution of the jazz rap and alternative ...

Pete Rock Peter O. Phillips (born June 21, 1970), better known by his stage name Pete Rock, is an American record producer, DJ and rapping, rapper. He is widely recognized as one of the greatest hip hop producers of all time, and is often mentioned alongs ...

and

DJ Premier Christopher Edward Martin (born March 21, 1966), known professionally as DJ Premier (also known as Preemo), is an American record producer and DJ. He is considered one of the greatest hip hop producers of all time. He was half of the hip hop duo ...

" and that it featured "12 top-shelf tracks" The album also earned the duo Featured Artist status on the

Okayplayer Okayplayer is an online hip-hop and alternative music website and community, described by ''Rolling Stone'' as a "tastemaker" and "an antidote to dull promotional Web sites used by most artists". The community was founded by The Roots' drummer ...

website. Magnif has continued production work for a number of other underground acts, and released a mixtape titled ''SupaBeatMaker'' in late 2005. The duo has announced plans for their second album, tentatively titled ''Evil'', scheduled for released in 2008 on Babygrande Records. Magnif is also planning the release of a full-length production and solo album.

Discography

Albums

Singles

External links

Babygrande Records
{{Authority control Detroit hip hop groups 2003 establishments in Michigan