The Grouch

Rapper and producer the Grouch has been a valued underground hip-hop figure since he co-founded Living Legends, a loose collective of MCs and DJs from the Bay Area, Japan, and Europe. The crew set themselves apart from the vast majority of their fellow West Coast rap artists by favoring clear-eyed raps about everyday issues. They coupled this with a grassroots approach to the music business, choosing to self-release and market their prodigious output. The Grouch's extensive work as a solo artist and co-headliner -- from Don't Talk to Me (1995), his debut, through Thees Handz (2019), a collaboration with Murs -- has only reinforced the reputation he started building in the first half of the '90s.