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Its a weekend night and the bar is packed to capacity. Everyone from the old pals to the cute girls have a drink in their hand. A beautiful mix of old-school hip-hop and newly refreshed indy rock spills from the speakers and the mood is set. Lexicon, along with guitarist Jason Z, bassist Alex Pauley, co-writer Chris Lee and producer/dj C-Minus have captured that euphoric Friday night vibe that rewards those who toil through the workweek, longing for the youthful exuberance that this setting provides.
But this perfect scenario, like anything in life, didn't come easy. After releasing two successful indy hiphop albums and becoming one of the bigger names in the LA underground hiphop scene, Lexicon became frustrated. At first they were content in simply being a part of the scene they grew up admiring and idolizing -- they were more concerned with impressing the discerning underground heads than getting an industry buzz. But as the scene grew stale Lexicon knew that something needed to change. They wanted to seperate themselves from the muck and break through the ceiling they felt was put on top of the type of music they were making, so instead of building on the props they'd achieved in the underground scene, they tore it all down only to build it up again. And in the process, they committed an underground hiphop cardinal sin -- they added live instruments to their music. Calling upon for inspiration all of the rock and new wave music that blared from their dads speakers while they were growing up, Lexicon realized that by combining these elements with their deep knowledge of hiphop they could express themselves the way they wanted to and in addition make music exciting again for all of those kids out there who have hiphop and rock songs mixed together on their itunes playlists. The result is the upcoming record, "The Rapstars L.P."
Mixing their broad range of influences from the Beastie Boys to The Strokes to A Tribe Called Quest to The Police, brothers Gideon and Nick Black flawlessly flow their way through the rich music on this new record, resulting in wildly entertaining slice of life songs that are relatable to anyone. By spending their youth being schooled by the untouchable MCs of hip-hops golden age (1989-1994) and being force-fed the cutting-edge rock that their parents loved, the brothers have an inherent knack for wordplay and songwriting, resulting in vivid imagery and entertaining stories. Now known around LA for their extraordinarily energetic live shows and a genre-bending sound as sprawling as the city that shaped it, Lexicon, with "The Rapstars L.P," have supplied a soundtrack to life as it races by.
Stats
-Brand new, unreleased track "Snap" from upcoming "Rapstars" full length was featured prominently in this season of FOX's "So You Think You Can Dance."
-"Rock" will be featured in 3 highly anticipated movies in the fall of 2008 - "Fanboys," "Assassination of a High School President," and "Ping Pong Playa"
"Junk Food" was featured in MTV's "The Real World: Hollywood."
-"Rock" was featured in domestic and UK trailers for Disney's new animated movie "Meet The Robinsons."
"Rock" was also recently featured in "American Pie 5: The Naked Mile."
-"Big Money" recently hit number 2 on the Rap Attack and Rap Network College Charts
-Two songs, "Rock" and "The Official" were used in 2004s Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle. "Rock" was prominently featured twice, serving as a book-end for the main story line.
-"Rock" has been featured on UPNs Americas Next Top Model on 6 different occasions, and two other Lexicon songs have been used on the show as well.
-"Ordinary" has been featured in mutliple episodes of Viva La Bam, as well as CBS's "Close to Home."
-"Ready to Go" was also featured in "Close to Home."
-"Rock" was featured in a 2004 episode of CBSs Joan of Arcadia.
-"Nikehead" was prominently featured in the cult shoe documentary "Just For Kicks"
-"Rock" was also featured as one of the main songs in the videogame Backyard Wrestling II, There Goes The Neighborhood.
- "Rock," "Ordinary," and "It's the L" have been featured in a variety of MTV's reality shows such as "Pimp My Ride," "Made," and "Next."
-Two singles, "Its The L" and "Makin Music" landed in the top 5 of CMJs radio chart.
