Slept on Rappers

Clyde Carson does not wait for opportunity; he creates it. The rapper-cum-entrepreneur is best known as the front man of The Team, a locally-successful rap group that lit up switchboards with their major radio hit in 2004 “It’s Gettin’ Hot.” Musical talent aside, he is also the mastermind of the nation’s fastest-growing energy drink, Hyphy Juice, and Partner of Moe Doe Records. Success at such a young age fared no small coincidence, as Carson set out to prove early on in his career that he was not content with being just an artist.

“My main goal was to make music with an Oakland element to it, but on a national level,” Carson explains about his objective in the music industry. Raised in the era of Mob Music in the Bay Area, he pioneered the resurgence of party music in a time when content was all about violence. With a combination of uncanny timing and relentless work ethic, Carson became one of the biggest purveyors of the Bay Area’s Hyphy Movement that brought his hometown back into the spotlight after nearly a decade of neglect from national attention.

After a brief stint in New York to soak up the mixtape hustle, Carson put together a “side project” in 2002 that would later cement his contribution to the local hip hop industry. That “side project” was the creation of a group with fellow members Mayne Mannish, Jungle, and Kaz Kyzah called The Team. Battling at local radio stations gave the group enough recognition to earn a chance at making it to the airwaves, and after scoring major spins with their previously-mentioned single “It’s Getting Hot”, Carson proved that the Hyphy Movement was not something so easily categorized as a passing fad.

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Single: Secret Lover