Rolling Stone's Artists to Watch: The Rockers and Rappers Who Will Dominate 2007

Hip-hop was still a fresh phenomenon when Vursatyl and Jumbo of Lifesavas met in Portland, Oregon, in the mid-Eighties. "People would tell me, 'There's another cat in town that dresses like you,'" recalls Vursatyl. "We were both wearing fat laces in our shoes, big bubble vests and goggles year-round. There were only a handful of us." After spending the Nineties releasing material on their own label, Lifesavas dropped Spirit in Stone in 2003, on Quannum. But it's their follow-up, Gutterfly, that should put them over the top. "We put it all on the table with this album," says Vursatyl. "Who knows what will come after this?"

THE FORMULA (De La Soul - P.M. Dawn) x Dolomite = Lifesavas

SOUND Jumbo produces most tracks, using a dense stew of samples from Seventies soul, while Vursatyl inhabits a wide range of characters with a limber flow. Gutterfly, featuring guests George Clinton and Fishbone, is a concept album with a diverse cast of characters, including Baraka Feldman, who supposedly wrote the blaxploitation-style screenplay on which the disc is based. "Using the characters was perfect freedom for us," says Vursatyl. "It allowed us to make a statement about who we are and what we dig."

MUST-HAVE TRACK "Night Out"
George Clinton guests on this pitch-black tale of schemes hatched in the night.

DEADLINE PRESSURE In 1997, after ten years pursuing hip-hop glory while struggling to pay the rent, Vursatyl considered giving up on his dream. "I was working at a record store with this blues player," he says. "He was like, 'You can't work a job and succeed at music. It's one or the other.' I said, 'I'm giving myself a year to put myself all out there.' That year, we made $300. Come next October, I'm like, 'I think I need to get a job.' A week later I met [Quannum's] Chief Xcel, and he was like, 'We need to hook up.' I haven't worked a real job since." EVAN SERPICK

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