Artifacts (group)

Artifacts are a now-defunct hip hop duo consisting of El Da Sensei and Tame One. They hail from Newark, New Jersey and made underground music that paid homage to the four elements of hip hop. The Artifacts' most popular single "Wrong Side of Da Tracks" paid special homage to graffiti art, as they were graffiti artists themselves. They released their first album, "Between a Rock and a Hard Place" on October 27, 1994. Well received by underground hip hop audiences, it featured intelligent lyrics, as well as b-boy and graffiti themes. The album's hard-hitting, funky beats were produced by Buckwild (from the DITC crew) and T-Ray (from the Soul Assassins crew). The Artifacts' second album, "That's Them" was released on April 15, 1997. It featured similar material, but it did not receive as much recognition as their debut effort. Later in the same year, The Artifacts split. Tame One and El Da Sensei have both continued to release music as solo artists. In 2003, Tame One joined an underground super-group called the Weathermen, featuring Cage Kennylz, Camu Tao, and many other notables rappers. This would lead to the the 2004 collaboration with Cage called Leak Bros, the duo went to release one full length, the drug-fueled Waterworld.

Reunion

In August 2008 at the Rock Steady Crew Anniversary Weekend in Newark, New Jersey, Artifacts briefly reunited during a performance by El Da Sensei. According to Tame One the duo have not reconciled their differences but when he heard the horn riff which introduces "Wrong Side of Da Tracks", he felt like performing it. [ [http://www.hiphopdx.com/index/news/id.7564/title.tame-one-speaks-on-artifacts-onstage-reunion] ] The impromptu reunion has not led to any official reunion.

Discography

References