Lifesavas

Lifesavas is a hip hop group from Portland, Oregon with a classic hip hop sound. Their style exhibits tag-team rhymes, matter-of-fact storytelling and a soulful production. The emcee's styles and song writing skills are showcased in the arrangements of a funky collection of subject matter and concepts.

Formation

Vursatyl and Jumbo met playing basketball and ripping free-style in Portland city parks. Initially working on different projects out of the same makeshift studio, the two decided to join creative forces. Soon afterwards, DJ Rev Shines joined them, creating a trio.

Chief Xcel from Blackalicious discovered the Lifesavas and invited the group to perform in San Francisco with Blackalicious Quannum Projects.

Vursatyl was invited to perform backup vocals for Blackalicious during their live performances. Soon after, Jumbo and Shines joined Vursatyl on tour, opening for Quannum artists Blackalicious and Latyrx. That led to a record deal on Quannum Projects in 2003, where they released their debut album Spirit In Stone. This album features the singles of “Hello Hi Hey/What If It’s True?” and “Fever / Selector.”

Their second album, Gutterfly, was released on April 10, 2005, on Quannum Projects, featuring the singles “Gutterfly” and “A Seperent’s Love.”

Important works

Albums

• Spirit in Stone (2003)
• Gutterfly (2007)

Tracks appear on

• "Hello_Hi_Hey" on Molson Red Leaf Collection Vol. 1 (2004)
• "Government Cheese" on "We came from Beyond,VOL, 2(2003)"

References

External links

• MySpace
• Lifesavas tour blog
• Lifesavas bio, pics, audiostreams
• Live performance, first broadcast on KEXP, May 2007.