Busdriver / Hemlock Ernst

Busdriver is fixed as one of LA music’s most dynamic indie artists. From his years as a cypher phenom at Project Blowed to his years as a recording artist on Epitaph to his current role as co-head of Hellfyre Club, Busdriver has always challenged rap in the most particular and thoughtful of ways. BD’s first record, ‘Memoirs of the Elephantman’, was self released thru Afterlife records (a Project Blowed subcrew at the time) in 1999. Not until his second self-released record, ‘Temporary Forever’, came out in 2002 did Busdriver step on the world stage. Sleeper hit ‘Imaginary Places’ turned him into one of main beacons of left-leaning hip-hop at that moment. During this time he was also emceeing at the Hiphop/Drum’n’bass night Concrete Jungle with Daddy Kev, Myka 9, edit and DJ Hive.

After the new success of Temporary Forever, Busdriver signed with Mush records to do a collaborative album with beat/ production guru Daedelus and quirky rap talent Radioinactive in 2003. The project was called ‘The Weather’. Their album toyed with daringly disjointed production and dexterous rap, writing in a way that Busdriver hadn’t in the past. The project amassed a small cult following all its own and aligned Driver’s taste with the output of LA’s electronic music scene.

In 2004, Busdriver began his relationship with Big Dada by releasing with them the Daddy Kev-produced mini-LP, ‘Cosmic Cleavage’. This was followed by Busdriver’s official 3rd album, Fear of a Black Tangent, released via Big Dada in the EU and on Mush in the US.

Busdriver’s label dealings grew outside of the rap arena in 2007 when he signed to indie-punk mega-label Epitaph and eventually, it’s more indie-music driven sister label, Anti-. Through them he released ‘RoadKillOvercoat’ in 2007 and ‘Jhellibeam’ in 2009. Both albums featured production from Dj Nobody, Nosaj Thing, Free the Robots and Boom Bip.

During these years, rap producer culture was in flux in LA and the newly founded Low End Theory began gaining momentum. Producer eDIT (who becomes the head of Glitch Mob) featured Busdriver on ‘Crunk De Gaulle’ (also featuring TTC) off his Alpha Pup debut, Certified Air Raid Material. Computer Cooties came out in 2010 after BD parted with Anti-. It was a free mixtape featuring collaborations with Flying Lotus, Anti-Pop Consortium, Sister Crayon, Daedelus and Open Mike Eagle. He followed this by joining Hellfyre Club and forming Flash Bang Grenada, a two-man group made of Nocando (founder of Hellfyre Club and original resident of Low End Theory) and himself, created solely to let their musings on popular rap themes run amok. They released their debut ‘10 Haters’ in 2011.

In 2012, Driver released Beaus$Eros through Fake Four. The album was produced entirely by Loden and had features from Cocorosie and Mike Ladd. It was a departure from rap writing into microclimates of experimental pop. The record was coupled with Regan Farquhar aka Busdriver fronting a progressive power pop outfit briefly called Physiccal Forms.

That same year Driver released Arguments with Dreams, an EP marking a return to Big Dada. It was mostly selfproduced with stand-out appearances from Das Racist on “Firehydrant” and HFC members Nocando and Open Mike Eagle on “Wernor Herzog”.

In 2013, Driver helmed and oversaw the production of Dorner Vs. Tookie, the joint mixtape featuring efforts from all the members of Hellfyre Club (Nocando, Busdriver, Open Mike Eagle, milo, Rheteric Ramirez, Kail, VerBS, Taurus Scott, The Kleerz). While doing this Busdriver completed his 8th proper studio album, Perfect Hair. The album features production from Mono/Poly, Jeremiah Jae, Great Dane, Kenny Segal and Riley Lake with guest performances from Danny Brown, Aesop Rock and Mike Eagle. A follow up mixtape from Hellfyre Club in collaboration with producer collective TeamSupreme is planned for 2014. More recently Driver has done collaborations with Modeselektor, Son Lux, Latyrx, Kool AD, Lapalux, Sonnymoon, P.O.S, and others on various albums.


"Future Islands have been on a tear as of late. They were one of the breakout acts at SXSW (see SPIN's Stubb's party), wowed Letterman viewers with incredible dance moves, and their new album Singles is due out via 4AD on March 25. We also learned in our new profile of the Baltimore synth-pop group that frontman Sam Herring is a true hip-hop head who composes his songs by freestyle rhyming over the band's musical ideas. But Herring's rap skills don't end there — a few months back, he recorded a VHS video for lo-fi rap project Time Spent under his Hemlock Ernst moniker, and the results are damn impressive. Taped to, um, tape, the clip shows Herring casually walking into a room, sitting on a bed, and rhyming his life's story with ease. Though we're already psyched about Singles, we'd love to see more of Herring's hip-hop." - SPIN