For nearly a decade, LA Symphony built an iconic underground following with a rap style that walks the line between purist and pop. With such a strong foundation in place, this multi-ethnic group—featuring CookBook, FLYNN, Sharlok Poems, UNO mas and Joey the Jerk—is poised to break out huge with their new disc, Disappear Here. Skillfully crafting a positive lyrical foil to the violence and materialism of their hip-hop peers, LA Symphony (which represents the City of Angels from East L.A. and Long Beach to downtown and the Westside) pulls back the veil and reveals what’s inside the heads of these urban street poets.
Case in point, LA Symphony’s lead single “Timeless”—produced by Evidence of Dilated Peoples, mixed by Segal (Dr. Dre, Eminem) and featuring DJ Rhettmatic of the World Famous Beat Junkies—flows like a statement of purpose and an opportunity to put words into action. “I once heard Q-Tip say, ‘I am all about style, but I’m never about trends,’” notes FLYNN. “This song is about preserving what we do through all the fads instead of just following the latest production or rhyme styles. We do this by maintaining humanity and integrity in our music and by being vulnerable in a time when artists tend not to be.”
