Styles of Beyond or SOB is a LA-based hip-hop duo that doesn't create your average everyday rap songs. With the impending millennium staring us all in the face, Ryu and Takbir--the two gifted MCs that -make up the group fearlessly look right back at the big, bad Y2K, vigorously spitting rapid-fire, action-packed rhymes right in its ear. SOB's debut album 2000 Fold is a fresh innovative approach to creating "extreme" hip-hop music. Takbir asserts, "You can only take so much of what your hear now," "But every so often, every few years, you get a group like us, or like a Tribe Called Quest or a Beasties, that's gonna stray away from everybody and have their own sound and their own fanbase. And that's what we wanna do and that's what's happening right now, because you can't really compare us to anybody else." Listening to SOB's new release suggests that there's no group better equipped to carry us into the future.

"We're trying to actually do something good for hip-hop rather than follow the trends," adds Ryu. "We don't purposely do anything. We just know what we have to do and know how it's supposed to sound."

SOB's first single was "Killer Instinct" featuring Divine Styler. The energetic, video game-based song was released in 1997 on the west coast independent Bilawn Records. Tak's older brother Bilal Bashir who has produced for Ice T, Everlast, and Divine Styler, introduced Divine to SOB and helped produce some of the songs. With a hype, uptempo energy, the adrenaline-pumping "Killer Instinct" managed to attract rants and raves from a wide range of music critics both on and off the street.

As merely one of the indicators of Styles of Beyond's undeniable appeal, the group was named the Best New Artist of 1997 by the Wake Up Show, one the of the world's most highly respected hip-hop radio programs. To satisfy an underground demand, SOB released 2000 Fold in the Summer 1998.

In addition to Takbir and Ryu's impressive lyrical skills, 2000 Fold features innovative production from their most frequent collaborator Vin Skully, as well as Divine Styler and Bilal Bashir. Displaying a dedication to hip-hop's fundamental elements, turntable technicians also figure prominently in SOB's soundscape: DJ Revolution, DJ Rhettmatic (of the Beat Junkies) and DJ Cheapshot all supply 2000 Fold with production and scratching.

Living up to their name, Styles of Beyond's lyrical content spans a universe of topics. 'Spies Like Us" is an intriguing tale of B-boy espionage which has Ryu and Takbir spying on hip-hop, plotting and preparing to over throw it. "Gollaxowelcome" is an invitation to alien life forms to come on down and show themselves. "Easy Back It Up" is a subliminal club jam that finds SOB entering the listener's bloodstream via intoxicating wordplay. "Winnetka Exit" pays homage to SOB's stomping grounds, the San Fernando Valley, 'The basement of the Los Angeles basin."

Styles of Beyond kicked off 1999 by signing to Ideal Records, the label founded by the Dust Brothers. With a fresh and exciting energy combined with an open-minded, innovative approach to making music, Styles of Beyond is the group to take hip-hop into the year 2000. And beyond.

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