Molemen is a trio of Hip Hop producers

Hip hop production

Hip hop production is the creation of hip hop music. Though the term encompasses all aspects of hip hop music, it's most commonly used to refer to the instrumental, non-lyrical aspects of hip hop. This means that hip hop producers are the instrumentalists involved in a work...

 from Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

, Illinois

Illinois

Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...

, consisting of Panik (also known as His-Panik), Memo (short for Memoriza) and PNS. The trio runs Molemen Records, which features a stable of affiliated artists, including Vakill

Vakill

Vakill is an American rapper from Chicago, Illinois. Vakill is known through his association with Chicago Hip Hop collective The Molemen, and for his literate, witty, punch line-filled lyricism and detailed story-telling.-Early years:Raised on the South side of Chicago on 119th Street, Vakill was...

, DJ Presyce, Scheme, Astonish, Decay, and Longshot. Well respected in Chicago's Underground Hip Hop

Underground hip hop

Underground hip hop is an umbrella term for hip hop music outside the general commercial canon. It is typically associated with independent artists, signed toindependent labels or no label at all....

 scene http://www.allhiphop.com/reviews/index.asp?ID=1034, the Molemen have collaborated with numerous Chicago rappers, as well as artists from the East

East Coast hip hop

East Coast hip hop is a regional subgenre of hip hop music that originated in New York City, USA during the 1970s. Hip hop is recognized to have originated and evolved first in the East Coast...

 and West Coast

West Coast hip hop

West Coast hip hop is a hip hop music subgenre that encompasses any artists or music that originates in the westernmost region of the United States, as opposed to East Coast hip hop, based originally in New York alone...

http://www.discogs.com/artist/Molemen.

Recording history

The Molemen debuted in 1997 with an EP

Extended play

An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...

 titled Below the Ground, which featured the underground hit "Freestyle or Written" by Juice

MC Juice

Terry Parker, better known by his stage name MC Juice or simply Juice, is an American freestyle rapper from Chicago, United States. He beat Eminem at Scribble Jam in 1997. He was regarded in 2004 as one of finest freestyle rappers ever produced by Chicago...

, as well as early appearances by Vakill and All Natural. They returned in 1998 with another EP, titled Buried Alive. The EP featured one of the earliest appearances from future Chicago favorite Rhymefest

Rhymefest

Che Smith , known by the stage name of Rhymefest, is an American hip hop artist from Chicago, Illinois whose first official album, Blue Collar, was released on July 11, 2006. He co-wrote Kanye West's "Jesus Walks", which won a Grammy at the 47th Grammy Awards. In October, 2010, Rhymefest announced...

, along with another underground hit, "Vocabulary Spill", by Mass Hysteria. Both EPs were later re-released together on a compilation titled BelowtheGround.BuriedAlive. In 2001, the Molemen released a pair of compilations, Chicago City Limits, Vol. 1 and Ritual Of The... . The former exclusively featured Chicago artists, while the latter featured a diverse roster of guest emcees, including C-Rayz Walz

C-Rayz Walz

Waleed Shabazz, better known by his stage name C-Rayz Walz, is an MC from The Bronx, New York. He is currently a member of the Legendary NY hip hop Syndicate Stronghold. C-Rayz Walz has been a fixture in the New York hip-hop scene for years. He hosts many hip-hop shows and events, has appeared on...

, Slug

Slug (rapper)

Sean Michael Daley, better known by his stage name Slug or "'Sep Seven'", is an American rapper. He is from Minneapolis, Minnesota. Slug is best known as one fourth of the hip hop group Atmosphere, which he founded with Derek Turner...

 (of Atmosphere

Atmosphere (music group)

Atmosphere is an American hip hop group from Minneapolis, Minnesota. The group is composed of rapper Slug and DJ/Producer Ant...

), Rasco (of Cali Agents

Cali Agents

The Cali Agents are a rap group consisting of California rappers, Rasco and Planet Asia. The group released their debut album, How the West Was One , which featured the single "Good Life"...

), Aesop Rock

Aesop Rock

Ian Matthias Bavitz , better known by his stage name Aesop Rock, is an American hip hop artist and producer. He was at the forefront of the new wave of underground and alternative hip hop acts that emerged during the late 1990s and early 2000s. He was signed to El-P's Definitive Jux label until it...

, MF DOOM

MF Doom

Daniel Dumile is a hip hop artist who has taken on several stage names in his career, most notably MF DOOM, where the "MF" stands for metal face, and for tracks he has produced, metal fingers...

 and Grand Daddy I.U. The album was remastered for a re-released version in 2004, titled Ritual Of The... : Revisited and Remastered. In 2005, the group released another compilation album titled Lost Sessions, which featured a variety of tracks by outside artists produced by the group. 2006 saw two more Molemen releases, with Chicago City Limits, Vol. 2 coming first in May. A full-length album titled The Killing Fields was released on November 14, 2006. The album featured appearances from Chicago locals including Vakill, Mass Hysteria, Rhymefest, Mike Treese, and Juice, as well as Cormega

Cormega

Cory Mckay , better known as Cormega, is an American emcee best known for his vivid and poignant narratives about inner-city life.- Early life :...

, Brother Ali

Brother Ali

Ali Newman , better known by the stage name Brother Ali, is an American hip hop artist signed to Rhymesayers Entertainment.-Personal life:...

, Kool G Rap

Kool G Rap

Nathaniel Thomas Wilson , better known by his stage names Kool G Rap , Kool G. Rap, and Giancana , is an American rapper, from the Corona neighborhood of Queens, New York. He began his career in the mid-1980s as one half of the group Kool G Rap & DJ Polo and as a member of the Juice Crew...

, Grafh

Grafh

Grafh, born Philip Bernard, hails from Jamaica, Queens, New York. He made a name for himself on the mixtape circuit, where he garnered early support from influential mix-show DJ’s in New York. His skill, charisma, honesty, and determination were so obvious that he generated a buzz nationwide and...

, Felt, Saigon

Saigon (rapper)

Brian Daniel Carenard, better known by his stage name Saigon, is an American rapper and occasional actor.Saigon is currently signed to Suburban Noize Records and Just Blaze's Fort Knocks Entertainment record label. After years of delay due to former record label interference, his album The Greatest...

, Casual

Casual (rapper)

Jon Owens , known by his stage name Casual, is an American rapper from Oakland, California and one of the founding members of the alternative hip hop collective Hieroglyphics...

, Del the Funky Homosapien

Del tha Funkee Homosapien

Teren Delvon Jones , better known as Del the Funky Homosapien or Del tha Funkee Homosapien, is an American MC.-Early life and beginnings: 1990-1997:...

, Virtuoso and Mikah 9.E

Discography

Album information
Below the Ground EP Released: 1997 Label: Molemen Records
Buried Alive EP Released: 1998 Label: Molemen Records
Chicago City Limits, Vol. 1 Released: 2001 Label: Molemen Records
Ritual of the Molemen Released: 2001 Label: Molemen Records Singles: "Put Your Quarter Up"/"Persevere"/"Follow Me"
Lost Sessions Released: August 15, 2005 Label: Molemen Records
Chicago City Limits, Vol. 2 Released: May 29, 2006 Label: Molemen Records
Killing Fields Killing Fields (album) Killing Fields is an album by the American production triplet called the Molemen. The album boasts a wide variety of guests from New York as well as the midwest.-Track listing:# "Intro"#* Performed by DJ Presyce#* Produced by DJ Presyce... Released: November 14, 2006 Label: Molemen Records