A match is a tool for starting a fire under controlled conditions. A typical modern match is made of a small wooden stick or stiff paper. One end is coated with a material that can be ignited by frictional heat generated by striking the match against a suitable surface. Matches are usually sold in quantity; wooden ones are packaged in boxes, and paper matches are clustered in rows stapled into matchbooks. They are commonly sold by tobacconists and many other kinds of shops. The coated end of a match, known as the match "head," contains either phosphorus or phosphorus sesquisulfide as the active ingredient and gelatin as a binder. There are two main types of matches: safety matches, which can be struck only against a specially prepared surface, and strike-anywhere matches, for which any suitably frictional surface can be used. Some match-like compositions, known as electric matches, are ignited electrically and do not make use of heat from friction.

Historically, the term match referred to lengths of cord (later, cambric) impregnated with chemicals, and allowed to burn continuously. These were used to light fires and fire guns (see matchlock) and cannons (see linstock). Such matches were characterised by their burning speed i.e. quick match and slow match. Depending on its formulation, a slow match burns at a rate of around 30 cm (1 ft) per hour and a quick match at 4 to 60 centimetres (1.6 to 24 in) per minute. The modern equivalent of this sort of match is the simple fuse, still used in pyrotechnics to obtain a controlled time delay before ignition. The original meaning of the word still persists in some pyrotechnics terms, such as black match (a black powder-impregnated fuse) and Bengal match (a firework akin to sparklers producing a relatively long-burning, coloured flame). But, when friction matches became commonplace, they became the main object meant by the term.

Herbert Anthony Stevens IV (born February 23, 1987), better known by his stage name Ab-Soul, is an American hip hop recording artist from Carson, California currently signed to Top Dawg Entertainment and Interscope Records. Stevens is a member of hip hop supergroup Black Hippy along with fellow West Coast rappers and label mates Jay Rock, Kendrick Lamar and ScHoolboy Q.

Stevens was born and raised in the suburb of Carson, California. He grew up with middle class parents, who owned a local record store called Magic Disc Music, where Stevens had to go everyday after school: "I worked there my whole life. We closed it last April. For a long time it was just something that my mom sold, it was just our business, so I didn't really care for it. I didn't understand the big deal about it, it was something we sold for money. It was my mom's job. Somewhere along the line, with my love and compassion for words and stories, I found a collection of music." At the age of 10, Stevens contracted Stevens–Johnson syndrome which caused him to be hospitalised and is the origin of his dark lips and light sensitive eyes: "When I got had got sick when I was younger of course it affected my lip skin, so coming up in school I had very dark lips and my eyes were low. I had to wear shades and shit. So I was quite peculiar. People teased me about my lips, and say I look high. I didn't even start smoking weed until after I graduated from high school."