Pedestrian | |
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Birth name | James Brandon Best |
Also known as | The Pedestrian Evangelist J.B. Best Cosmic Lovefuck Whitefolks |
Origin | Los Angeles |
Genres | Alternative hip hop, underground hip hop |
Occupation(s) | Rapper, preacher, writer |
Years active | 1998–present |
Labels | Anticon |
Website |
www |
James Brandon Best, better known by his stage name Pedestrian, is a rapper and writer from Los Angeles. He is a co-founder of Anticon. [1] He is also known as a preacher under the moniker Evangelist J.B. Best. [2]
In 1998, Pedestrian co-founded Anticon with other indie hip hop artists. He came up with the name; it means "anti conformity" originally, but also means "ant icon." [3]
He has written several articles about hip hop for East Bay Express from 2003 to 2004. [4] [5] [6]
After being featured on other Anticon co-founders' albums such as Them and Bottle of Humans, Pedestrian released his debut solo album Volume One: UnIndian Songs on the label in 2005. [7] It was produced by Matt Chang, Jel, Why? and Alias. [8] "The Toss & Turn" b/w "Arrest the President," a single from the album, includes the track "Resurrection Morning Sermon" performed by Evangelist J.B. Best. [9]
Pedestrian toured across the United States [10] [11] and Europe [12] [13] with Sole, Dosh and Telephone Jim Jesus in promotion of the album.
He wrote an article about N.W.A for Xlr8r in 2008. [14]
In a 2003 interview, Pedestrian talked about his influence and rapping style:
"I was mostly into fast rapping and freestyling, and I was really inspired too by a lot of vocalese- Annie Ross, Jon Hendricks, and Eddie Jefferson especially. Which is probably the apotheosis of voice-as-instrument. But the whole appeal of rap for me has always been its hyper-wordiness, and more than anything I want to communicate ideas." [15]
Pedestrian
Object Beings (Pedestrian with Doseone & Why?)
EPs
Mixtapes
Compilations