Hailing from opposite ends of the country, Tallahassee-based MC duo SBE is on the forefront of the resurgence of underground hip-hop that has formed in the shadow of T-Pain’s local influence. Cortez “Gainstaville” Williams, and D.J. “Killa Cali” Bush met in the mid 2000s when they were both involved in the Black Actors Guild at Florida State University. At the core of SBE’s formation, was the desire to bring authorship back into MCing, and to accurately portray the everyday challenges facing not only Gainstaville and Killa Cali, but the people who may be currently dealing with similar issues. “Our number one goal as artists is to represent ourselves, which represents the people. As artists you're supposed to represent the entirety of what's going on. We try to cover every aspect of life, and the way that we live it.” (Gainstaville) With a just-released mixtape, several side projects with local MCs as well as a seven piece Jazz band (The Green Thumb Project), and a nod as one of High Times unsigned bands of the week (Oct 2009), SBE is poised to break out of the underground and help usher in a new era of authenticity to today’s hip-hop game.
