Bass Brothers is the professional name for the team of Mark and Jeff Bass, the Detroit producers responsible for grooming megastar Eminem in his early days and collaborating on much of his subsequent music. Before that they worked with George Clinton. Tracks from those sessions ended up on the P-Funk All Stars album Dope Dogs. Jeff Bass is considered one of the most influential people in Eminem's career.
On their work with Eminem, Mark and Jeff Bass are credited as F.B.T. Productions. Although Interscope marketed Dr. Dre as Eminem's major producer in order to boost his credibility as a white rapper in the hip-hop community, the Bass Brothers have in fact produced more individual tracks for the rapper than Dre. Jeff Bass performed the "Public Service Announcements" that introduce both The Slim Shady LP and The Marshall Mathers LP. Most recently, he performed the "Another Public Service Announcement" from D12's album Devil's Night when he got punched by Rondell Benne, who replaces him as the announcer for that album.
Geoffrey Arnold "Jeff" Beck (born 24 June 1944) is an English rock guitarist. He is one of three noted guitarists to have played with The Yardbirds (Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page are the other two). Beck also formed The Jeff Beck Group and Beck, Bogert & Appice.
Much of Beck's recorded output has been instrumental, with a focus on innovative sound and his releases have spanned genres ranging from blues-rock, heavy metal, jazz fusion and an additional blend of guitar-rock and electronica. Although he recorded two hit albums (in 1975 and 1976) as a solo act, Beck has not established or maintained the sustained commercial success of many of his contemporaries and bandmates. Beck appears on albums by Mick Jagger, Kate Bush, Roger Waters, Donovan, Stevie Wonder, Les Paul, Zucchero, Cyndi Lauper, Brian May and ZZ Top. In 1988, he made a cameo appearance in the movie Twins.
He was ranked 5th in Rolling Stone's list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time" and the magazine has described him as "one of the most influential lead guitarists in rock".MSNBC has called him a "guitarist's guitarist". Beck has earned wide critical praise and received the Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance six times and Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Performance once. He has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice: as a member of The Yardbirds (1992) and as a solo artist (2009).
Charles Stewart (born in Chicago, Illinois), better known as Chali 2na is an American rapper and hip hop artist, formerly associated with the groups Jurassic 5 and Ozomatli.
As a young boy, he moved to South Central Los Angeles, which was the home base of Jurassic 5 since the group's inception in 1993. He was raised by his grandmother and was brought up as a Muslim. His stage name is a reference to Charlie the Tuna, the deep-voiced animated mascot of StarKist Tuna. He and Cut Chemist became friends in high school. Together with Mark 7even, they were part of a seven-man group called Unity Committee. The Unity Committee crew would often spend Thursday nights performing at the Good Life Café, where rappers and spoken word poets showed off their skills in an open mic format. They were, along with another three-person troupe, called the Rebels of Rhythm, routinely chosen as the crowd's favourite performers. The two crews also appreciated one another's styles, and they teamed to record a 12" single, "Unified Rebelution", in 1995. The Rebels of Rhythm were MCs Akil and Zaakir (also known as Soup); the men banded together to form Jurassic 5. In 2006, Cut Chemist elected to split from the group to pursue a solo career, and the Jurassic 5 group split up altogether in 2007.
Tal Wilkenfeld (born 2 December 1986 in Sydney, Australia) is a bass guitarist who has gained worldwide attention performing alongside some of rock and jazz music's most notable artists. In addition to her work as a supporting musician, she has assumed the role of bandleader of her own eponymous bands, whose musicians have included Wayne Krantz, Keith Carlock, John Beasley and Jeff "Tain" Watts. In 2008, Wilkenfeld was voted "The Year's Most Exciting New Player" in a Bass Player magazine readers' choice poll.
Wilkenfeld began playing guitar when she was fourteen years old. Two years later she dropped out of high school, saying that "it just wasn't going to work for me", and emigrated to the United States where she studied electric guitar. Within a year she had switched to electric bass. Wilkenfeld graduated from Los Angeles Music Academy College of Music in 2004. After a few months she accepted an endorsement from Sadowsky Guitars; devoting herself to forming a band and composing songs of her own. At 18 she moved to New York City and began making a name for herself in New York's jazz clubs.