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Written by Administrator
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Monday, 12 March 2007 |
 The independent label Quannum Projects was first conceived in 1991 as a collective by the artists Blackalicious, DJ Shadow, Lateef, Lyrics Born and the journalists DJ Zen (Jeff Chang) and Jazzbo (Joseph Patel), under the moniker “Solesides Records”.
Headquartered in San Francisco, Quannum has grown to be one of the nation’s leading independent labels, having sold over 2 million records since its inception. Before evolving into Quannum in 1997, Solesides released such seminal recordings as Shadow's "Entropy”, Blackalicious' "Alphabet Aerobics", Latyrx' Cali radio hits "Lady Don't Tek No" and "Balcony Beach", which featured Quannum chanteuse Joyo Velarde.
Quannum then went on to massive grassroots success with the release of Blackalicious’ debut Nia in 2000. That same year marked the arrival of a new group into the Quannum fold, Portland’s Lifesavas, whose debut album Spirit in Stone quickly became a hip-hop classic. The collective earned critical and commercial success with Lyrics Born’s masterpiece Later That Day… (2003) and the follow-up remix project Same !@#$ Different Day (2005), notably with the hit single “Callin’ Out”, which topped commercial radio charts on the west coast for months.
The Quannum family continues to expand with releases from such diverse artists as São Paulo’s Curumin, vintage keyboard guru General Elektriks, the electronic hip-hop duo Apsci, LA-based MC Pigeon John, the rock / soul / funk trio Honeycut and skateboarding legend / guitar hero Tommy Guerrero.
The label has secured numerous licensing deals and partnerships with companies such as Coca Cola, Motorola Toyota, Nike, Adidas, ESPN, EA Sports and hit HBO series Entourage and Six Feet Under.
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