I don't really get as much flack as I should for not promoting Staten Island artists, considering of course, that that's where I'm from. We got a couple good artists, and I've had the pleasure of working with most of them, so I don't wanna come off like a shameless self-promoter. Oh why not, there's Shyheim (check the two tracks I produced on his last album), NYOIL (who actually lives across the street, but I haven't done anything with him yet), Frank Lucas Jr. (listen to his debut single, "Business Man," produced by me and the homie Cue Trax), and a few others. Oh yeah, those Wu-Tang guys.

But breaking the mold of just the "rapper on an instrumental" thing we been stuck on for so long is a band called Aquavibe. The group is fronted by singer/songwriter/producer D1 and lyricists DyVerse the 1st (first MC on this joint) and Paradox (who was actually in the first group I ever put out, Phokuss), Bounce on drums, and D Lee rotating instruments. Aquavibe is an amalgamation of a bunch of different musical genres. I don't wanna just lump them in the Rap Rock category, because what they do is not only that, so we call what they do "Mix-Hop." It's all these different sounds- rap, rock, funk, electronica, pop- fused together. It's definitely not some generic T-Pain-assisted radio jingle (not that I have anything against that, but just saying).

Aquavibe's been gigging in the New York area and beyond for years, and you might have also heard their music in the Playboy: The Mansion video game, or actually played with them (pause) as characters in the game. They also just had their music featured in the indie film Blackout, which has been airing on BET recently (DyVerse also acts in the film).

Aquavibe released their second album The People's Groovement Vol. 1, a few months back. Check out their Myspace page, and listen to some of their tracks below. I think you'll like em.

"Temptation"

"Yesterdaze"

"Big Plans"

"Fever"

-Gooch

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