Jurassic 5 (stylized JuraSsic 5) 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 formed by rappers Charles Stewart (

Chali 2na Charles Stewart (born June 26, 1971), better known as Chali 2na (), is an American painter and rapper, associated with the groups Jurassic 5 and Ozomatli. He is known for his bass-baritone voice and quick-delivery rapping style. Personal life ...

), Dante Givens (Akil), Courtenay Henderson (

Soup Soup is a primarily liquid food, generally served warm or hot – though it is sometimes served chilled – made by cooking or otherwise combining meat or vegetables with Stock (food), stock, milk, or water. According to ''The Oxford Compan ...

, Zaakir), and Marc Stuart (Marc 7); and

disc jockey A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include Radio personality, radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at nightclubs or music fes ...

s Mark Potsic (

DJ Nu-Mark Mark Potsic, better known by his stage name DJ Nu-Mark (born June 10, 1971), is an American hip hop producer and DJ. He is a member of Jurassic 5, as well as the owner of Hot Plate Records. He has collaborated with and produced for a variety of a ...

) and Lucas Macfadden (

Cut Chemist Lucas MacFadden (born October 4, 1972), better known as Cut Chemist, is an American DJ and record producer. He is a former member of Jurassic 5 and Ozomatli. He has collaborated with DJ Shadow on a number of projects. Early life Cut Chemist gr ...

). The six-piece crew came out of the Los Angeles venue Good Life. The group broke up in 2007,2na learning to swim alone
by Mike Devlin, ''The Times-Colonist'', September 23, 2010 shortly after releasing the LP ''

Feedback Feedback occurs when outputs of a system are routed back as inputs as part of a chain of cause and effect that forms a circuit or loop. The system can then be said to ''feed back'' into itself. The notion of cause-and-effect has to be handle ...

'', citing "musical differences," but returned to the stage in 2013 and released a new track in 2014. The members have continued to release music individually.

History

Jurassic 5 debuted nationally in 1995 from

TVT Records TVT Records, originally Tee-Vee Toons, was an American record label founded by Steve Gottlieb in 1984. Initially created to release the '' Television's Greatest Hits'' series of classic TV theme tune compilations, the label would expand into ra ...

with their first single, "Unified Rebelution". Jurassic 5 released ''

Jurassic 5 EP ''Jurassic 5'' is the first official release by American hip hop music, hip hop group Jurassic 5. It is an Extended play, EP that includes much of the material that would later appear on the full-length album ''Jurassic 5 (album), Jurassic 5''. ...

'', their first record, in 1997. It "cemented their position in the 1990s alternative hip hop movement, alongside artists such as

Company Flow Company Flow was an American hip hop trio from Brooklyn, New York City, consisting of Bigg Jus, El-P and Mr. Len. The group was at one time associated with the independent record label Rawkus Records. Rapper/ producer El-P and DJ/producer ...

Black Star Black Star or Blackstar may refer to: Astronomy *Black star (semiclassical gravity), a theoretical star built using semiclassical gravity as an alternative to a black hole *Saturn, referred to as "Black Star" in ancient Judaeic belief *Black dwarf ...

and

Kool Keith Keith Matthew Thornton (born October 7, 1963), known professionally as Kool Keith, is an American rapper and record producer known for his surreal, abstract, and often profane or incomprehensible lyrics. Kool Keith has recorded prolifically both ...

." The group later signed to

Interscope Records Interscope Records is an American record label based in Santa Monica, California, owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M imprint. Founded in late 1990 by Jimmy Iovine and Ted Field as a $20 million joint venture ...

, and the EP was repackaged with additional tracks and released in December 1998 as the full-length debut album, titled ''

Jurassic 5 Jurassic 5 (stylized JuraSsic 5) is an American alternative hip hop group formed by rappers Charles Stewart (Chali 2na), Dante Givens (Akil), Courtenay Henderson (Soup (Jurassic 5), Soup, Zaakir), and Marc Stuart (Marc 7); and disc jockeys Mar ...

''. In a 2002 interview with ''

The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published in Sydney, Australia, and owned by Nine Entertainment. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuous ...

'', the group explained the origin of their name. Chali 2na said, "I played the song to my friend's mother and she made a joke: 'You guys think you sound like the Fantastic Five, but you sound more like the Jurassic Five.' And we started laughing but, well, the name stuck." This was followed by the album ''

Quality Control Quality control (QC) is a process by which entities review the quality of all factors involved in production. ISO 9000 defines quality control as "a part of quality management focused on fulfilling quality requirements". This approach plac ...

'', which peaked at #43 on the ''Billboard'' 200. Jurassic 5 Chart History ''billboard.com'', Retrieved October 18, 2010. In 2002, they released ''

Power In Numbers ''Power in Numbers'' is the third studio album by American hip hop group Jurassic 5, released on October 8, 2002, by Interscope Records. It picks up where their previous album, ''Quality Control'' "left off", with a short double bass sample playi ...

'', which peaked at #15 on the ''Billboard'' 200 chart. Jurassic 5 eventually toured without

, who left the group to pursue a solo career. The remaining five members released ''

'', their final album, on July 25, 2006. The album peaked at #15 on the Billboard 200. The group split in 2007. The break-up was attributed to disagreements among members of the group. In 2013, the group re-formed, including the return of Cut Chemist, for the

Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival Coachella (officially called the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival and sometimes known as Coachella Festival) is an annual music and arts festival held at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, in the Coachella Valley in the Colora ...

and an international tour, primarily in the UK but also including dates in Ireland, Portugal, Spain, Japan and the United States. They played at Glastonbury in 2014 and had a Word of Mouth Reunion Tour during the Summer of 2014. In 2016, they released their first new song in a decade, "Customer Service".

In other media

Jurassic 5's music has been used in several video games. In 2000, "Jayou" was featured in ''

Grind Session ''Grind Session'' is a 2000 skateboarding video game developed by Shaba Games and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation. It was Shaba Games' debut video game, and they would later develop installments in Activision's '' ...

''. The track "Improvise" from the album ''Quality Control'' was featured in the localized versions of ''

Jet Set Radio (originally released in North America as ''Jet Grind Radio'') is a 2000 action game developed by Smilebit and published by Sega for the Dreamcast. The player controls a member of a youth gang, the GG's, as they use inline skates to traverse ...

'', also released in 2000, and also the Japanese 2001 reissue ''De La Jet Set Radio'', along with the instrumental of the song. The following year, the track "Great Expectations" from the same album was also included in ''

Mat Hoffman's Pro BMX ''Mat Hoffman's Pro BMX'' is a 2001 BMX video game developed by Shaba Games and the first game to be published by Activision under the Activision O2 label. It is similar to the ''Tony Hawk's'' series and competed directly with Acclaim Entertainm ...

''. In 2002, "What's Golden" was featured on ''

ATV Offroad Fury 2 ''ATV Offroad Fury 2'' is a racing video game developed by Rainbow Studios and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation 2. It is a sequel to ''ATV Offroad Fury'', and is the first in the series to support online multiplayer, ...

''. The song was additionally included in the video game ''

Forza Horizon 3 ''Forza Horizon 3'' is a 2016 racing video game developed by Playground Games and published by Microsoft Studios for the Xbox One and Windows. It is the ninth instalment in the ''Forza'' series and the third instalment in the ''Forza Horizon'' ...

'' on the fictional radio 'Block Party'. "A Day at the Races" featuring Big Daddy Kane and Percee P appeared in the 2003 skateboarding game ''

Tony Hawk's Underground ''Tony Hawk's Underground'' is a 2003 skateboarding video game and the fifth entry in the ''Tony Hawk's'' series, following ''Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4''. It was developed by Neversoft and published by Activision for the GameCube, PlayStation 2 ...

''. The song "In the House" from ''Feedback'' was featured in ''

NBA Live 06 ''NBA Live 06'' is a 2005 installment of the ''NBA Live'' series released for Windows, PlayStation 2, GameCube, Xbox, Xbox 360, PlayStation Portable, and mobile devices. It was developed by EA Canada and published by Electronic Arts under the EA ...

''.NBA Live 06 Soundtrack
, ''ign.com'', September 13, 2005 and "Work it Out" was in ''

NBA Live 07 ''NBA Live 07'' is the 2006 installment of the ''NBA Live'' series by EA Sports. It was released on Xbox, Xbox 360, PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, and Windows. Cover ''NBA Live 07'' features Tracy McGrady of the Houston Rockets as the ...

'', while "Red Hot" was featured in ''

SSX on Tour ''SSX on Tour'' is a 2005 sports video game developed by EA Canada and published by Electronic Arts under the EA Sports BIG label for the GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox and PlayStation Portable. It is the fourth title in the '' SSX'' series. T ...

''.SSX On Tour Soundtrack Announced
, ''tvg.com'', by Jon Wilcox, September 12, 2005 "Sum of Us" and "High Fidelity" from ''Power in Numbers'' was included in the 2019 game '' Trials Rising''. The group was featured in the 2001 hip hop documentary '' Scratch'' and ranked among the online magazine ''UrbanSouth''s elite list of underground hip hop albums. In December 2024, “Jayou” received renewed attention when it was used in the “See You in the Morning” advertising campaign by

Kellogg’s Kellanova, formerly known as the Kellogg Company and commonly known as Kellogg's, is an American multinational food manufacturing company headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, US. Kellanova produces and markets convenience foods and snack f ...

Discography

Studio albums

Extended plays

Singles

Guest appearances

Music videos

References

External links

*
Official Interscope Records site
* {{Authority control TVT Records artists Hip-hop groups from California Alternative hip-hop groups Musical groups from Los Angeles Musical groups established in 1995 Musical groups disestablished in 2007 Musical groups reestablished in 2013 Interscope Records artists 1995 establishments in California