Consider, if you will, three young lyricists. Better yet, three young artists. Hip-hop fanatics. Now, imagine that these three artists are of mixed descent – Mexican, German, Finnish, but all U.S. passport holders. Also, imagine that all three of them have lived all over the world, from Cuba to England, from Florida to Japan. Now imagine that they met four years back at an American university in Germany. What do we have? First of all, a lot of confusion. But, more importantly, we have a unit known as the Universal Apocalyptic Figures (UAF), a hip-hop group that understands that talking the talk means needing to walk the walk.Make no mistake about it, UAF is far from your average hip-hop group. A listen any number of records off their forthcoming debut album Welcome To Apocalypse may have you believing they’re all born-and-bred New York residents. But, no – remember, they’re universal. As group member Marcel Cartier puts it,“Universal to me signifies the fact that we are not local, not regional, but rather international. We’re good wherever we go, because we carry ourselves with pride and respect for all cultures. We’re apocalyptic because our music is progressive, maybe even what some would call ‘radical’. We’re flipping the page – in fact, we’re re-writing the book. And, we’re Figures, because we stand upright in this struggle. We don’t fall, even when they try to make us stumble.â€Cartier and his comrades, Kayohes and Kemz, are truly soldiers in a hip-hop world filled with those who would rather just talk about being soldiers. You know, give the image of walking the walk. UAF really is marching. Since 2002, they have been a consistent force in pumping out underground mixtapes. And now, even on the eve of the release of their debut group album, 3 other albums are already completed – a solo from both Kayohes and Cartier, and a side-project from the former along with affiliate Warpath, that will be released under the Raw Deals name.But, exactly what do Cartier, Kayohes, and Kemz out to accomplish with their first album? Or, bigger yet, with their career? Well, knowledge is power. Hip-Hop may not be dead, but it’s in a coma. And, as we’ve covered, UAF would rather not talk about “changing the game†or “bringing that shit backâ€. They’d rather just have the vehicle to do it. Ultimately, the hip-hop world will fall in line. At the end of the day, the whole world can’t be worse off as a result of it.
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