Darkleaf Biography

Darkleaf emerged from the Los Angeles underground in the early ’90s, after the legendary Unity Committee split in two. One faction became Jurassic 5; the other, Darkleaf. From the beginning, MCs Kemit and Metalogik, producers and MCs Longjevity and Jahli, and DJ Mixmaster Wolf wanted to be the darkest bees in the hive. Refusing to submit to the too-easy clichés and vapidity of mainstream hip-hop, Darkleaf developed a style that referenced Sun Ra, Chick Corea, and Jimi Hendrix, among others. Home recording, studio trickery, spoken word, complicated vocal interplay — Darkleaf’s palette was full. In 2002, F—- the People appeared on the California imprint Ubiquity. A dark, swirling album of disorienting rhythms and unsettling rhymes, F—- the People established Darkleaf’s uncompromising sound outside the depths of the L.A. underground.