Cyne, often stylized as CYNE ("Cultivating Your New Experience"; pronounced "sign"), is an American

alternative hip hop Alternative hip-hop (also known as alternative rap and experimental hip-hop) is a subgenre of hip-hop music that encompasses a wide range of styles that are not typically identified as mainstream. AllMusic defines it as comprising "hip-hop group ...

group originating from

Gainesville, Florida Gainesville is the county seat of Alachua County, Florida, United States, and the most populous city in North Central Florida, with a population of 145,212 in 2022. It is the principal city of the Gainesville metropolitan area, Florida, Gainesv ...

. The group consists of MCs Akin Yai and Clyde "Cise Starr" Graham, and producers David "Enoch" Newell and Michael "Speck" Gersten, and are currently signed to Hometapes.

History

Cyne (Cultivating Your New Experience) formed in the summer of 2001. The group consists of vocalists Akin and Cise Starr and producers Speck and Enoch. They are a Hip Hop group originating from Gainesville, Florida, USA. The group aim to create sincere Hip Hop music with a message: Their tracks are politically charged, with culturally introspective, motivational lyrical content influenced by artists such as

Public Enemy Public Enemy is an American Hip-hop, hip hop group formed in Roosevelt, New York, in 1985 by Chuck D and Flavor Flav. The group rose to prominence for their political messages including subjects such as Racism in the United States, American r ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, Lakim Shabazz,

C.L. Smooth Corey Brent Penn Sr. (born October 8, 1968), known by his stage name CL Smooth, is an American rapper. He is best known as the vocal half of the hip-hop duo Pete Rock & CL Smooth. Early life Corey Brent Penn Sr. was born on October 8, 1968, in ...

and the early work of

Common Common may refer to: As an Irish surname, it is anglicised from Irish Gaelic surname Ó Comáin. Places * Common, a townland in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland * Boston Common, a central public park in Boston, Massachusetts * Cambridge Com ...

. The production backing the vocals of Akin and Cise Starr is warm, soulful and organic, influenced by producers such as

No I.D. Ernest Dion Wilson (born June 23, 1971), known professionally as No I.D. (formerly Immenslope), is an American record producer, DJ and songwriter from Chicago, Illinois. He is known for his early work with Chicago-based rapper Common, as well a ...

Pete Rock Peter O. Phillips (born June 21, 1970), better known by his stage name Pete Rock, is an American record producer, DJ and rapping, rapper. He is widely recognized as one of the greatest hip hop producers of all time, and is often mentioned along ...

and

J Dilla James Dewitt Yancey (February 7, 1974 – February 10, 2006), better known by the stage names J Dilla and Jay Dee, was an American record producer, composer and rapper. He emerged from the mid-1990s underground hip hop scene in Detroit, Michiga ...

. The group’s first release was the 12” ‘African Elephants’ on the Beta Bodega label Rice and Beans in 2001. Since this initial release the group have released several Eps and 12”s, have collaborated with artists such as Daedelus,

Four Tet Kieran Miles David Hebden (born September 1977), known as Four Tet, is an English electronic musician. He came to prominence as a member of the post-rock band Fridge before establishing himself as a solo artist with charting and critically acc ...

and

Machinedrum Travis Stewart (born March 4, 1982), better known as Machinedrum, is an American electronic record producer and performer from North Carolina.EL-P Jaime Stuart Meline (born March 2, 1975), better known by the stage name El-P (shortened from his previous stage name El Producto), is an American rapper, songwriter, and record producer. Starting his career as a member of Company Flow, he has ...

KRS-One Lawrence "Kris" Parker (born August 20, 1965), better known by his stage names KRS-One (; an abbreviation of "Knowledge Reigns Supreme Over Nearly Everyone") and Teacha, is an American rapper from the Bronx. He rose to prominence as part of the ...

Talib Kweli Talib Kweli Greene (; born October 3, 1975) is an American rapper. He first earned recognition through his collaboration with fellow Brooklyn rapper Mos Def (now known as Yasiin Bey) in 1997, when they formed the group Black Star. Kweli's music ...

Dälek Dälek (pronounced "dialect") (stylized in all lowercase) is an American experimental hip hop group formed in Newark, New Jersey in 1998. The group's current lineup consists of MC dälek (vocals and producer) and Mike Manteca (aka Mike Mare ...

Atmosphere An atmosphere () is a layer of gases that envelop an astronomical object, held in place by the gravity of the object. A planet retains an atmosphere when the gravity is great and the temperature of the atmosphere is low. A stellar atmosph ...

The Beatnuts The Beatnuts is an American hip hop group and production duo from New York City. Its current members are JuJu and Psycho Les. JuJu (born Jerry Tineo on December 14, 1968) is a Dominican American from Corona and Psycho Les (born Lester Fernandez ...

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Sage Francis Paul William "Sage" Francis (born November 18, 1976) is an American independent underground rapper from Providence, Rhode Island. He is the founder and CEO of Strange Famous Records. Early life and education Francis was born in Miami, Florid ...

Against Me! Against Me! is an American punk rock band, formed in 1997 in Naples, Florida, by singer and guitarist Laura Jane Grace. That same year, Grace moved to Gainesville, Florida, which is considered the band's hometown. Since 2001, the band's lineup ...

Holopaw Holopaw is an American indie band from Gainesville, Florida. The band was named after the town of Holopaw in Osceola County, Florida, although none of the band's members have ever lived there. One of its members, John Orth, collaborated w ...

Big Jus Justin Ingleton, better known by his stage name Bigg Jus, is an American rapper and record producer. He was a member of Company Flow along with El-P and Mr. Len. He is also one half of the duo Nephlim Modulation Systems with Orko Eloheim. Histo ...

, Mr. Lif,

ISIS Isis was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. Isis was first mentioned in the Old Kingdom () as one of the main characters of the Osiris myth, in which she resurrects her sla ...

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and many more. They have previously released albums on Botanica Del Jibaro, P-Vine, Project: Mooncircle, Home Tapes and City Centre Offices, creating a reputation as artists that stay true to the lyrical power and gritty cut and paste aesthetic of classic Hip Hop whilst managing to explore new sonic territory. CYNE's 2005 release ''Evolution Fight'' was named Album of the Week at ''

Stylus Magazine ''Stylus Magazine'' was an American online music and film magazine, launched in 2002 and co-founded by Todd L. Burns. It featured long-form music journalism, four daily music reviews, movie reviews, podcasts, an MP3 blog, and a text blog. Addi ...

'' for the week of August 29 – September 3, 2005. In 2007, CYNE released the ''Grey Matter'' EP on their website to be downloaded, free of charge. In 2014, the group released a studio album, ''All My Angles Are Right'', on Hometapes.

Style and influences

Their often socio-politically charged, culturally introspective, and motivational lyrics find influence rooted in

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

highlife Highlife is a Ghanaian music genre that originated along the coastal cities of present-day Ghana in the 19th century, during its Gold Coast (region), history as a colony of the British and through its trade routes in coastal areas. It encompasse ...

activism Activism consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make Social change, changes in society toward a perceived common good. Forms of activism range from ...

humanities Humanities are academic disciplines that study aspects of human society and culture, including Philosophy, certain fundamental questions asked by humans. During the Renaissance, the term "humanities" referred to the study of classical literature a ...

and

philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

Discography

Studio albums

* ''Time Being'' (2003) * '' Evolution Fight'' (2005) * ''Tour CD 2005'' (2005) * ''Starship Utopia'' (2008) * '' Pretty Dark Things'' (2008) * '' Water for Mars'' (2009) * ''All My Angles Are Right'' (2014)

Compilation albums

* ''Cyne (Collection 1999-2003)'' (2003) * ''Wasteland Vol. 1: Killmore'' (2011) *''Wasteland Vol. 2'' (2017)

EPs

* ''Movements'' (2002) * ''Growing'' (2004) * ''Running Water'' (2005) * ''Grey Matter'' (2007)

Singles

* "African Elephants" (2001) * "Midas" (2002) * "Out of Time" (2003) * "Due Progress" (2003)

Guest appearances

* Supersoul - "Sattva Guna (Make It Happen!)" from ''40 Acres and a Moog'' (2002) *

Nujabes , born , better known by his stage name Nujabes (; ), was a Japanese record producer, audio engineer, DJ, composer and arranger best known for his atmospheric instrumental mixes sampling from Japanese hip hop, hip hop, soul music, soul, and jazz, a ...

- "Lady Brown" and "High 2 Lows" from ''Metaphorical Music'' (2003), "Feather" from ''Modal Soul'' (2005), "D.T.F.N" from ''Hydeout Productions (First Collection)'' (2003), "Sky is Tumbling" from ''Spiritual State'' (2011) * Daedelus - "Drops" from ''

Exquisite Corpse Exquisite corpse (from the original French term ', ) is a method by which a collection of words or images is collectively assembled. Each collaborator adds to a composition in sequence, either by following a rule (e.g., "The ''adjective'' ''noun' ...

'' (2005) * Depth Affect - "One Day or So" from ''Arche-Lymb'' (2006) * Deceptikon - "Montana" from ''Greater Cascadia'' (2007) * Supersoul - "Satellites" from ''Plastic Rap'' (2007) * Seven Star - "Speak the Truth" (2008) * Haruka Nakamura - "The Sun" from ''Melodica'' (2013) * Ficus - "Level Up" from ''Black Foliage'' (2013) * Uyama Hiroto - Soul of Freedom from ''Freedom of the Son'' (2014)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cyne Alternative hip-hop groups American hip-hop groups Musical groups from Gainesville, Florida Musical groups established in 2000 2000 establishments in Florida