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 (state), New York. Kings County is the most populous Administrative divisions of New York (state)#County, county in the State of New York, ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

, 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 with ...

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. 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.

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 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 DJ/producer Mr. Len 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 Is ...

where rapper/producer

later joined.

History

Founding members

and Mr. Len 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 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 si ...

, 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 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'' (

). 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) and pursued a solo career before eventually forming Run the Jewels 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. 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 "Coachella – Woodstock In My Mind" is a song by Ame ...

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'' (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 - "NYC-BCN" from ''77'' (1999) * Mike Ladd - "Bladerunners" from ''Welcome to the Afterfuture'' (1999) * The Infesticons - "Night Time Theme" from ''Gun Hill Road'' (2000) * DJ Krush - "Vision of Art" from ''Zen'' (2001)

Compilation appearances

* "Low Key" on '' Tags of the Times 3'' (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