Casual

Genres:	Urban & Rap
Descriptive "tags":	hip-hop • hieroglyphics • rap • oakland • hip hop • underground hip-hop • bay area • underground rap • gothic rock • hiphop
Decades Active:	1990s • 2000s

Biography

John Owens, East Oakland, California, USA. This USA-based rapper made his name in the mid-90s as a specialist in old school lyrical battles. Casual was the latest product of Del Tha Funkee Homosapien’s Hieroglyphics enclave, alongside Souls Of Mischief. He retained that spirit of combative rhyming that Hieroglyphics have done much to reinstate: ‘I think that MCing should be a competitive thing, almost like a sport. The only way an MC can keep polishing and sharpening his skills is to test them against the competition and the up and coming young bloods.’ Likewise, there was plenty of old school braggadocio, tempered by an occasional foray into more serious matters (‘Chained Minds’ and ‘Loose In The End’ being good examples from his 1994 debut, Fear Itself). The musical backing was the province of jazz funk breaks from Roy Ayers and others. Casual has continued to work with the Hieroglyphics while also releasing the occasional solo...

Read the Full Biography of Casual