Oddjobs

The 1990s saw hip-hop's influence extend well beyond the confines of the traditional large metropolitan areas (New York, Los Angeles, Houston, Atlanta, et al.), initially spreading into the suburbs, where it infiltrated every socioeconomic strata and crossed every cultural boundary, then ultimately finding its way into smaller regional niches, such as, in the case of the progressive rap combo Oddjobs, Minneapolis and St. Paul. With the equally forward-looking artists of the Rhymesayers Entertainment enterprise, the group not only helped to put Minnesota on the hip-hop map but, inspired by previous mavericks like De La Soul, the Beastie Boys, Hieroglyphics, and Freestyle Fellowship, also helped to tie rap's coastal-based, old-school past with its visionary, post-modern, untethered future.

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