Visionaries bring underground hip-hop sound to Westwood

By Kathleen Dunphy
Daily Bruin Contributor

People often criticize the way bands such as O-Town and the
Backstreet Boys came together by calling them finely-tuned
commercial machines whose lone goal is to sell records, and sell a
lot. On the other end of the spectrum is The Visionaries, eight
guys from Southern California who share a love for creating and
performing music, and who just happened to all come together as
part of L.A.’s underground hip-hop scene.

“The way our group came together wasn’t contrived,
it was natural. And that’s the approach we take with our
music. I don’t really believe in that putting a group
together concept. A group has to function as a family,” said
Key Kool, one of the group’s MCs.

The Visionaries ““ MCs Key Kool, LMNO, 2 Mex, Zen, Dannu
and DJ Rhettmattic ““ perform in Westwood Plaza today at
noon.

Both LMNO and Kool enjoy playing UCLA, as well as any other show
that might get booked for them. While their studio time can be just
as enjoyable, there is a different spark that comes from performing
live.

“It’s not something to question for me, I just love
the whole concept ““ making music and making it come alive on
stage,” LMNO said.

Youth is very important to The Visionaries. As an underground
group that doesn’t get much radio play, their music spreads
through word of mouth.

Creations such as Napster greatly aid this spread of music, and
Kool doesn’t see music file-sharing as a problem. On the
contrary, he feels kids listen to what they get off the Internet,
then head down to a Visionaries show and eventually buy a CD
directly from them. The Visionaries view these young people as
their peers.

“When we start talking to people as fans we get separate
from where we started. The youth absorb, they’re sponges.
They soak up the love and passion,” LMNO said.

The Visionaries themselves do a lot of soaking up, often
checking out other artists in every musical genre.

Even though some members of the group still hold day jobs, all
are able to find the time to be with each other.

The Visionaries aren’t happy with the images of hip-hop
and rap that pervade pop culture, but they are glad to offer a
counter example.

“Success for your ego had made us stick together, and then
we realized the ego has nothing to do with it. There’s a lot
more weight to the music than “˜I’m the best
rapper’ and “˜I’ve got the most
money,'” Kool said.

The Visionaries rap about a variety of subjects and don’t
confine themselves to narrow cultural influences.

“People don’t realize that hip-hop is just as
diverse as this world is,” Kool said.

All members of The Visionaries have performed on albums with
other artists, but LMNO and Key Kool enjoy the group dynamic they
share. Kool likens them to Voltron, an animated character comprised
of separate parts, each as strong as the next, that come together
as one being and gain in strength exponentially.

“We don’t consider solo projects side projects, nor
do we consider The Visionaries a side project,” Kool said.
“We all come together as separate entities, yet our group is
a family, so it’s not just a collaboration.”