Mixed Blood Majority
{{Short description|American hip hop group}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2025}}
{{Infobox musical artist
| name = Mixed Blood Majority
| image =
| image_size =
| caption = Mixed Blood Majority from left to right: Joe Horton, Crescent Moon, and Lazerbeak.
| origin = Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S.
| genre = Hip hop, alternative hip hop
| years_active = 2013-present
| associated_acts = Cecil Otter, Toki Wright, Kristoff Krane
| current_members = Crescent Moon
Joe Horton
Lazerbeak
| past_members =
}}
Mixed Blood Majority is an American hip hop group from Minneapolis, Minnesota. The trio includes producer Lazerbeak of Doomtree, and rappers Alexei "Crescent Moon" Casselle of Kill the Vultures and Joe Horton of No Bird Sing.{{Cite web|title = Minneapolis rap trio Mixed Blood Majority enters 'Foxes Den' ahead of Dec. 4 album release|url = http://www.startribune.com/minneapolis-rap-trio-mixed-blood-majority-enters-foxes-den-ahead-of-dec-4-album-release/353094051/|website = Star Tribune|access-date = 2016-02-10|last = Riemenschneider|first = Chris|date = November 24, 2015}}{{cite web|title=Album of the Week: Mixed Blood Majority, 'Insane World'|url=http://www.thecurrent.org/feature/2016/01/18/album-of-the-week-mixed-blood-majority-insane-world|website=The Current|publisher=Minnesota Public Radio|access-date=2016-03-10|first=David|last=Safar|date=January 18, 2016}}
Star Tribune critic Chris Riemenschneider described the band as "innovative, gritty hip-hop" whose music "raises relevant, bleak social issues without bringing the party down."{{cite news |last= Riemenschneider |first=Chris |date=2016-01-25 |title= Another eclectic Current affair |url= |work=Star Tribune |location=Minneapolis–Saint Paul |page= E8}} The group has shared stages with well-known artists such as Sage Francis, P.O.S, Aceyalone, and Slick Rick.{{Cite web|url=http://www.ftoitox.com/mixedbloodmajority/|title=Mixed Blood Majority|website=F I X {{!}} Hip-Hop Collective|access-date=2016-05-22}}
History
Mixed Blood Majority began in 2012 as two separate projects, with Lazerbeak working individually with each rapper, before they decided to join forces on realizing that their shared interest in dark, propulsive hip-hop was a good fit with each other.{{cite news |last= Riemenschneider |first=Chris |date=2015-12-11 |title= Mixed Blood Majority |url= |work=Star Tribune |location=Minneapolis–Saint Paul |page=E4 }} Music writer Jack Spencer of City Pages wrote that the move to a trio with two rappers trading verses "removed some of the weight of carrying entire songs, which allowed for expressions and styles that the rappers' main projects would not have conjured."{{cite news |last= Spencer |first= Jack |date= January 23, 2013 |title= Mixed Blood Majority team up - New local supergroup release an EP combining their hip-hop talents |url= |work=City Pages |location=Minneapolis–Saint Paul |page= }}
The trio released their first album, Mixed Blood Majority, in 2013.{{Cite web|title = Mixed Blood Majority Review|url = http://www.reviler.org/2013/01/24/mixed-blood-majority-st-review/|website = Reviler|access-date = 2016-02-10|first = Ali|last = Elabbady|date=January 24, 2013}} It featured guest performance by rappers Cecil Otter of Doomtree, Toki Wright and Kristoff Krane.{{cite news |last= Riemenschneider |first=Chris |date= January 8, 2013 |title= Lazerbeak, Crescent Moon, Joe Horton mix it up as Mixed Blood Majority |url= |work=Star Tribune |location=Minneapolis–Saint Paul |page= }} Mixed Blood Majority was named one of the best Minnesota records of the year by the Star Tribune, which called it "dark, dense and devilish."{{cite news |last= Riemenschneider |first=Chris |date=2013-06-28 |title= Best local albums of the year (so far) |url= |work=Star Tribune |location=Minneapolis–Saint Paul |page=E1 }}
Their second album, Insane World, was released in 2015.{{Cite web|title = With Insane World, Mixed Blood Majority set out to make 'shit that cuts'|url = http://www.citypages.com/music/with-insane-world-mixed-blood-majority-set-out-to-make-shit-that-cuts-7870385|website = City Pages|access-date = 2016-02-10|first = Loren|last = Green|date=October 10, 2015}} The album was released by the Minnesota label F | X, which also put out albums from Moon & Pollution and Kill the Vultures. Insane World was named No. 15 in a list of the top 20 Minnesota records of 2015 in the Star Tribune's survey of Twin Cities music critics.{{cite news |last= Riemenschneider |first=Chris |date= January 1, 2016 |title= Twin Cities Critics Tally: Best in Local Music: 'Ones' is No. 1 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/250727728 |work=Star Tribune |location=Minneapolis–Saint Paul |page=E1, E3-4 |access-date=May 27, 2024}} The Star Tribune's review said that the album "wildly offsets the seething, bleary-eyed view of race relations and socioeconomics of co-leaders Crescent Moon and Joe Horton with some of the rowdiest, liveliest, most dance-floor-ready beats of producer Lazerbeak's career. It's as fun a record as it is scary, as visceral as it is provocative."{{cite news |last= Riemenschneider |first=Chris |date=2015-11-29 |title= The Five Spot: Our five faves at the moment |url= |work=Star Tribune |location=Minneapolis–Saint Paul |page=E2 }} Amoeba Music called Insane World "essential hip hop listening."{{cite journal |last= |first= |date=Spring–Summer 2016 |title=Moon & Pollution - The Box Borealis |url=https://archive.org/details/amoeba-music-we-like/amoeba%202016%20%281%29%20spring/page/n27/mode/2up |journal=Music We Like |publisher= Amoeba Music |access-date= 2023-07-01}}
Discography
= Albums =
- Mixed Blood Majority (2013)
- Insane World (2015)
References
{{reflist|1}}
External links
- {{Bandcamp | mixedbloodmajority | Mixed Blood Majority }}
- [http://www.ftoitox.com/mixedbloodmajority/ Mixed Blood Majority] on F to I to X
- {{SoundCloud|mixedbloodmajority}}
- {{Discogs artist|Mixed Blood Majority}}
{{Kill the Vultures|state=expanded}}
{{Authority control}}
Category:American hip-hop trios
Category:Musical trios from Minnesota