This coming Sunday (July 14) Fat Beats Records will celebrate its 25th-anniversary with a special New York City concert. In many ways, the Sony Hall event is a homecoming and a deserving pause for recognition to a keystone in Hip-Hop's independent movement. Non-Phixion, The Juggaknots, The X-Ecutioners' Rob Swift & Mista... Read more

The Arsonists are a five-member Hip-Hop group that made strong waves during the 1990s. The squad included Q-Unique, D-Stroy, Freestyle, Swel Boogie, and Jise One. They began as a Brooklyn-based Hip-Hop crew known as Bushwick Bomb Squad, but they took on their fire-starter moniker when their first 12” was released... Read more

The Arsonists' impact lives on, years after the New York City graffiti-inspired collective parted ways. While D-Stroy is making big noise on DJ Premier beats, care of Doo Wop mixtapes, Freestyle, Jise One, and Q-Unique stay working. From The Passion Of Jise, Jise hopped on a Q-Unique chop of a... Read more

Brooklyn's Q-Unique and Ill Bill have a lot of career overlap. Both are MCs who also produce. Both hail from crews that were courted by major labels in the mid-1990s before finding homes in the indie circuit with The Arsonists and Non Phixion, respectively. Both men have had career booms... Read more