It is rare to see a label so immutably focused on maintaining the purest essence of hip hop so often missing from the mess of cookie-cutter rap acts found throughout the industry and even the underground. It all began in New Jersey with the founding of Ziphron Productions in early 2004 by
James “J-Star” Kim with the philosophy of making music for the love of music, for the love of hip hop’s story-telling abilities, for the love of wordplay and lyricism, and for the ass-shakers to the back-packers. Such a task is far easier said than done, and Ziphron Productions began to assimilate the hottest talent from the Asian underground to bring itself one step closer to this goal.
By mid-2004, Ziphron had acquired the technical expertise and battle-hardened flows of Cephis and the laid-back DJ Epitone to lay the foundation of label development. The trio, J-Star, Cephis, and Epitone, began working out the kinks of label management and recording at this stage, with J-Star polishing up his signature mellow beat production, and Cephis perfecting the art of audio editing. By 2005, they were ready to expand and assimilate new talent, with an in-house professional studio and a name change to Treble & Bassment Records.
Summer 2005. Philadelphia. J-Star and Cephis, on a mission to acquire new talent, stumble upon an emerging rapper through mutual connections and were floored by his creativity and quick wits. He was “D to the C like a breast reduction” or Decipher. The label quickly asked Decipher to join and a promotional mixtape was instantly in the works.
Fast forward several months. Cephis reestablishes contact with an old friend in the hip hop underground. Isiah aka SK, a veteran of the hip hop scene and a seasoned producer begins to collaborate heavily with T&B and the natural musical chemistry leads Isiah into the official signing of him on to the T&B movement.
Not much time afterwards, Treble & Bassment began to collaborate with its newest artist, Byunsen. Byunsen and Cephis had previously worked together in 2000 in the group Xplicit, but that project collectively dissolved for individual personal reasons. By 2005, Byunsen had elevated his game to a whole new level of complex rhyme schemes reminiscent of Canibus and an aggressive flow to boot.
Though relatively new, Treble & Bassment has put together an all-star line-up of artists, DJs, producers, and engineers to bring you some of the best that hip hop has to offer. Be on the lookout for big things happening at T&B and make sure that you are a part of it.