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Styles of Beyond - Easy Back It Up (Music Video)

1999 · Late-1990s West Coast Underground Hip-Hop (1998–1999) — Lo-fi independent music video era concurrent with the SpyTech Records scene; pre-digital-broadcast, VHS-to-web transition period for underground rap visuals · music video
Styles of Beyond - Easy Back It Up (Music Video) music video
1999Late-1990s West Coast Underground Hip-Hop (1998–1999) — Lo-fi independent music video era concurrent with the SpyTech Records scene; pre-digital-broadcast, VHS-to-web transition period for underground rap visualsWest Coast underground hip-hop / Los Angeles independent rap scene (1994–2002)

What this video is

Released in 1999 on SpyTech Records — an independent label founded by DJ Cheapshot and based in Reseda, CA — this video documents Styles of Beyond at the apex of their underground credibility, shortly before their broader exposure via connections to Mike Shinoda and Fort Minor. The track samples A Tribe Called Quest's 'Jazz (We've Got)' and Woody Herman's 'Pontieo,' anchoring it in the jazz-rap and boom-bap…

Why it matters

Styles of Beyond occupied a critical bridge position in late-1990s underground hip-hop: technically demanding lyricism, sample-based production rooted in jazz-rap tradition, and an independent release infrastructure that predated the internet distribution era. 'Easy Back It Up' is a canonical…

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