Ground Control All-Stars Bring Hip-Hop To 'Sco
by JOHN MACDONALD

Under the guise of the Ground Control All-Stars, rappers Edo. G, Rasco, Aceylone and the Masterminds, will turn a run-of-the-mill Tuesday evening at the ’Sco into a jumping hip-hop party with their electric underground styles. 

The night’s opening act is Brooklyn MC Rustie Juxx at 9:30 p.m., with the headlining acts to follow later in the event. According to the show’s organizer, senior Jesse Cretaro, Oberlin should get ready for some “mind blowing hip-hop.”

Though New England isn’t the first place one would think a successful hip-hop artist would call his home, Edo. G is one of the few who cut his hip-hop teeth on the streets of Boston. Edo. G represents this unique hip-hop scene with straight-forward, personal lyrics and hard-noised delivery. 
With a line like “Either everything is working/Or you’re working for everything,” one can tell Edo. G hasn’t had everything handed to him on a silver platter. 

Perfecting his MC skills as a youth on the streets of Boston in the ’80s, Edo jumped from group to group before setting out on his own with two records on the Chemistry Records Ltd. label with Da Bulldogs. After that label went under, Edo joined Ground Control, the independent label that will be releasing his new album, The Truth Hurts, on April 17. 

Mentioning influences like KRS-one and Big Daddy Kane, Edo. G just wants his fans to “feel what [he’s] doing” this coming Tuesday. Arriving with his fellow Ground Control labelmates to turn out some solid rap artistry, this national tour will serve to blast-off his new album. 

Rasco, hailing from the San Francisco area, has been burning through the independent hip-hop scene ever since the 1997 release of his 12” The Unassisted. The following year, Rasco came through with his debut album, Time Waits for No Man, and later, an EP, The Birth. With a production crew showcasing the likes of Kut Masta Kurt from the King Tech Wake Up show, and Evidence of the Dilated Peoples, Rasco will bring his Frisco flavor to the flatlands of Ohio.

Coming out of Los Angeles, Aceylone will bring the party mentality of his recent release, Accepted Eclectic, to the already varied All-Stars mix of Edo. G and company. Telling his listeners to “master your high,” Aceylone brews an irresistible combination of party grooves and serious reflection. 
Representing the last center of hip-hop not already performing next Tuesday, the Masterminds will bring their own brand of New York hip-hop to the ’Sco next Tuesday. Composed of rappers Oracle, Kimani, and Epod, these three college graduates met at Wesleyan University and formed their mc crew in 1994. Bringing a distinctly ’80s sound, the threesome hopes to bring their own unique brand of rhyming to an already banging hip-hop event.

According to Edo. G, everyone who shirks some of their work to come to the “very, very amplified” show next Tuesday, “will leave there feeling real good.” I’m sure the rest of the Ground Control All-Stars would agree, but by reflecting their various styles and modes of self-expression, each one would say so in their own way.