Lifesavas is a hip hop group from

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...

. Their style exhibits tag-team rhymes, matter-of-fact storytelling and a soulful production. The emcee's styles and song writing skills are showcased in the arrangements of a funky collection of subject matter and concepts.

Formation

Vursatyl and Jumbo met playing basketball and ripping free-style in Portland city parks. Initially working on different projects out of the same makeshift studio, the two decided to join creative forces. DJ Rev Shines joined them, creating a trio. Chief Xcel from

Blackalicious Blackalicious was an American hip-hop duo from Sacramento, California, made up of rapper Gift of Gab and DJ/producer Chief Xcel. They are noted for Gift of Gab's often tongue-twisting, multisyllabic, complex rhymes and Chief Xcel's soulful pr ...

discovered the Lifesavas and invited the group to perform in San Francisco with Blackalicious

Quannum Projects Quannum Projects (also known as Quannum MCs) is an American hip hop collective based in the San Francisco Bay Area. It has been active since 1992, when it was formed at UC Davis under the moniker Solesides Records. It is also the name of the i ...

. Vursatyl was invited to perform backup vocals for Blackalicious during their live performances. Soon after, Jumbo and Shines joined Vursatyl on tour, opening for Quannum artists Blackalicious and

Latyrx Latyrx is an American alternative hip hop duo consisting of Lateef the Truthspeaker and Lyrics Born. The roots of their partnership lay in the formation of the Solesides collective at the University of California, Davis. History The crew's char ...

. That led to a record deal on Quannum Projects in 2003, where they released their debut album ''Spirit In Stone.'' The first single was "What If It's True?" Their second album, ''Gutterfly'', was released on April 10, 2005, on Quannum Projects, featuring the singles "Gutterfly" and "A Seperent's Love".

Critical reception

Reviewing ''Spirit in Stone'', ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' wrote that Lifesavas "switch off between conspiracy-minded politics and mocking critiques of commercial hip-hop ... They keep a sense of humor amid their righteousness."

Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most well-known and influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and ...

gave the album an "A−", writing that the trio "leads with a sound, less catholic than that of their teachers De La Soul but still plenty absorptive—jazzlike, with a fluid Jamaican under-current." ''

Mother Jones Mary G. Harris Jones (1837 (baptized) – November 30, 1930), known as Mother Jones from 1897 onwards, was an Irish-born American schoolteacher and dressmaker who became a prominent union organizer, community organizer, and activist. She h ...

'' opined that the group "recalls A Tribe Called Quest at their nimble best ... This exciting trio combines crisp, punchy beats with brisk verbal flurries, generating densely textured sounds worthy of repeated hearings."

Works

Albums

* ''Spirit in Stone'' (2003) * ''Gutterfly'' (2007)

Track appearances

* "Hello_Hi_Hey" on ''Molson Red Leaf Collection Vol. 1'' (2004) * "Government Cheese" on "We came from Beyond, VOL. 2" (2003)

References

External links

Lifesavas tour blog

Live performance
first broadcast on

KEXP KEXP-FM (90.3 MHz) is a non-commercial radio station licensed to Seattle, Washington, United States, specializing in alternative and indie rock programmed by its disc jockeys for the Seattle metropolitan area. The station is owned by the non-p ...

, May 2007. {{Authority control Musical groups from Portland, Oregon Quannum Projects artists American musical trios American hip hop groups