Solesides

Solesides was an underground hip hop label based in Northern California, founded in 1991. It comprised various DJs and MCs, the most notable being DJ Shadow, MC–producer Lyrics Born, and the duo, Blackalicious. The members of Solesides all met via the radio station, KDVS, the 5000-watt community radio station of the University of California at Davis. During high school, Davis-natives DJ Shadow (aka Josh Davis) and The 8th Wonder (aka Stan Green) used to frequent the station to support Orus Washington's hip-hop show. In college, journalist and then-grad student Jeff Chang (aka DJ Zen), broadcast a weekly hip-hop radio show that got the attention of DJ Shadow and The 8th Wonder, freshmen Xavier Mosely (Chief Xcel), Tom Shimura (Lyrics Born) and Joseph Patel (aka Jazzbo). They all shared a like-minded passion for hip-hop that pushed beyond the sounds of mainstream commercial music.