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) 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 groups that refuse to confor ...
group originating from
Gainesville, Florida
Gainesville is the county seat of Alachua County, Florida, Alachua County, Florida, and the largest city in North Central Florida, with a population of 141,085 in 2020. It is the principal city of the Gainesville metropolitan area, Florida, Gaine ...
. 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 Star 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, Paris, Lakim Shabazz, C.L. Smooth and the early work of
Common
Common may refer to:
Places
* Common, a townland in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland
* Boston Common, a central public park in Boston, Massachusetts
* Cambridge Common, common land area in Cambridge, Massachusetts
* Clapham Common, originally com ...
.
The production backing the vocals of Akin and Cise Star is warm, soulful and organic, influenced by producers such as No I.D.,
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 alongs ...
and J Dilla. 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 and
Machinedrum
Travis Stewart, better known as Machinedrum, is an American electronic record producer and performer from North Carolina.EL-P,
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 New York City. He rose to prominence as part of ...
Atmosphere
An atmosphere () is a layer of gas or layers of gases that envelop a planet, and is held in place by the gravity of the planetary body. A planet retains an atmosphere when the gravity is great and the temperature of the atmosphere is low. A s ...
The Roots
The Roots are an American hip hop band formed in 1987 by Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter and Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. The Roots serve as the house band on NBC's ''The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy F ...
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 ...
Big Jus
Justin Ingleton, better known by his stage name Bigg Jus, is an American alternative hip hop artist from Jamaica, Queens. 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 ...
Push Button Objects
Edgar Farinas, (born December 7, 1974), better known by his stage name Push Button Objects (abbreviated PBO), is an American hip hop producer from Miami, Florida. He is one half of Ko-Wreck Technique along with DJ Craze. Push Button Objects has r ...
and many more. They have previously released albums on Botanica Del Jibaro, P-Vine, Project: Mooncircle, Home Tapes and
City Centre Offices
City Centre Offices is a record label based in Manchester, England, with an affiliate in Berlin, Germany. The label, founded in 1998 by Shlom Sviri and De:Bug magazine writer Thaddeus Herrmann, has released music from several notable acts, in ...
, 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 which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...
activism
Activism (or Advocacy) consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in Social change, social, Political campaign, political, economic or Natural environment, environmental reform with the desire to make Social change, changes i ...
philosophy
Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...
.
Discography
Studio albums
* ''Time Being'' (2003)
* ''
Evolution Fight
''Evolution Fight'' is an album by hip hop band Cyne. It was released on August 29, 2005, on the City Centre Offices label. It gained some moderate success underground and in the mainstream. It is considered a classic hip-hop album by many crit ...
Pretty Dark Things
Pretty Dark Things is the fifth studio album by American hip hop group, CYNE
Cyne, often stylized as CYNE ("Cultivating Your New Experience"; pronounced "sign"), is an American alternative hip hop group originating from Gainesville, Florid ...
'' (2008)
* ''
Water for Mars
Cyne, often stylized as CYNE ("Cultivating Your New Experience"; pronounced "sign"), is an American alternative hip hop group originating from Gainesville, Florida. The group consists of MCs Akin Yai and Clyde "Cise Starr" Graham, and producers ...
* Supersoul - "Sattva Guna (Make It Happen!)" from ''40 Acres and a Moog'' (2002)
* Nujabes - "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'' (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)