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As Davis and Blackalicious continued to draw attention to their roots, Bess used the momentum as best he could. Since the inception of Quannum in 1997, one of the main goals had been to branch out and bring new artists into the fold. "Solesides was very insular," Davis explains. "We didn't recruit other artists or groups. But with Quannum, the first thing we did was reach out to the artists that we respected."
The first such group was Shimura's baby, German funk-fusion band Poets of Rhythm. Next, Mosley brought in Portland's Lifesavas. That group's resulting album, 2003's Spirit in Stone, was both sonically infectious and heart-rendingly honest.
By late 2003, Quannum was becoming a finely tuned machine. The label had put out a string of releases, relocated to San Francisco's SOMA district, and had even taken on a new employee, Lydia Popozich. "What Isaac had done extremely well is put in place a solid infrastructure," Mosley says. "He saw what Quannum could be, and he brought a level of expertise and experience that allowed for Quannum to be successful."
But while the machine may have been ready, the market was quickly drying up. Nia was perhaps the last great release to come out of independent hip hop's golden years. Thanks to a perfect storm of P2P downloading networks, a rejuvenated mainstream hip hop scene, and a sudden glut of indie wannabes, the market for indie hip hop virtually collapsed. And so as they geared up to release Shimura's debut, Later That Day, in October 2003, Bess and crew got crafty, setting their sights on a new market, one virtually untapped by hip hop artists.
Realizing that Later's lead single, the bombastic, vibrant "Calling Out," had crossover appeal, Bess, Shimura, and Popozich decided to market it to rock stations, namely the Bay Area's own Live 105. "Because the music we make is so varied, it has the potential to exist in any genre," Shimura observes. "It's just a matter of putting the right pieces in the right place."
Bess contacted Live 105 Music Director Aaron Axelsen in December 2003. Although he was initially supportive of the track, Axelsen had a difficult time picturing the song within Live 105's regular altrock format. So he gave it to DJs Disco Shawn and Party Ben of the Saturday night electronica show Subsonic, where it received the occasional spin.
In the meantime, Bess and Popozich put on a full-court press, fliering the city with posters asking listeners to request the song. Soon the calls starting coming in, so Axelsen dropped the song into the station's regular rotation.
"There's a large part of the Live 105 audience that likes hip hop music, though they don't go for the Jay-Z and the bling-bling artists," Axelsen says. "But there is a segment of hip hop -- like the Roots -- that appeals to our audience. And quite frankly, Lyrics Born had delivered a great song. It was the sort of song that transcended boundaries and really captured the moment."
Axelsen prominently featured "Calling Out" on Live 105's Homegrown Weekend, an annual event in early spring that dedicates a full weekend to promoting local music. Around this time, an unlikely break came when Coke used the tune in a commercial during American Idol. The single quickly caught fire, and went on to be the No. 1 request on Live 105 for three months, an amazing feat for a hip hop song on a rock station.
Says Bess, "Live 105 is probably our greatest promotional success."
Two hours before show time at February's DNA Lounge event, Parker, Mosley, Daumont, and Bess are resting backstage. Parker is in a near-trance, nodding his head to the music of the opening DJ while he eyes the ceremonial pre-show joint. Daumont is trying to get some sleep and is curled up in a ball behind Mosley, his head tucked beneath a jacket. Watching the Quannum brain trust lounging around in this somnolent state, you'd never guess that these guys are on the brink of their biggest year yet.
Trying to further cross over into a rock audience, DJ Shadow recently remixed Top 40 rockers Keane. He's also set to release an as-yet-untitled full-length on Universal within the next year. Shimura is gearing up to put out a new album, Same !@#$ Different Day, in April, which Axelsen has already enthusiastically referred to as "so freaking good." Meanwhile, Blackalicious' The Craft is set to drop this fall, and Daumont and Mosley, operating as Maroons, have plans to put out a full-length follow-up to last year's critically acclaimed EP, Ambush. In addition, Shimura's wife, Joyo Velarde, who provided Later That Day with so many great hooks (including the one for "Calling Out"), is readying her Quannum debut for late 2005. The Lifesavas are also planning a follow-up, though a release date has not been set. As for spiritual godfather Jeff Chang, his recently published book, Can't Stop Won't Stop, has been hailed by The New Yorker as "one of the most urgent and passionate histories of popular music ever written." Chang remains close to the group, and the Quannum artists even recorded a mix tape to accompany the release of his book.
If there's one thing that hasn't changed since the days of UC Davis, it's the group's unwillingness to compromise its vision of what hip hop should be. This rare integrity has served as a beacon to other kindred spirits. "I remember being impressed with their courage to step outside what most indie rap was doing," remarks Peanut Butter Wolf, founder of acclaimed indie hip hop label Stones Throw. "It may have subconsciously had an effect on my willingness to do what I wanna do, rather than what people expect me to do, with my label."
