Solesides was created in the early 90's by DJ Shadow, Latyrx (Lyrics Born and Lateef The Truth Speaker) and Blackalicious (Gift Of The Gab and Chief XL). Their first cut 'Send Them' by Lyrics Born (then called Asia Born) instantly illustrated that this crew was not going to travel the same well-beaten path as their contemporaries.
With raw production from Shadow and imaginative wordplay from LB, the cut stood out and set the standard. Since then, they have gone from strength to strength, stepping out with consistently innovative hip hop statements, notable for their distinctive verbalism (not to mention the singing) and off-the-hook beatwork.
EP's like Blackalicious' 'Melodica' and singles like Lateef's lyrically sublime dope 'The Wreckoning', Shadow's 'Hardcore Hip Hop' and Latyrx's funk nugget 'Lady Don't Tek No' are truly some of hip hop's finest moments. In 1997 the crew changed their name to Quannum Projects in a concerted effort to stretch their scope even more.
Changing from James Lavelle's Mo Wax imprint to Coldcut's Ninja label has resulted in this retrospective of the crew's Solesides work. Pretty much all of the crews' major work is included here (including the afore-mentioned cuts) and right from the intro and Gift Of Gab's old skool opener 'Rhyme Like A Nut', the quality of this music is obvious. Mixing funk, stone cold grooves, blunted head-nods and stylish lyricism in equal doses, this collection confirms that Quannum are one of the most innovative hip hop crews on the planet.
