We all come together united in the belief that artistic exploration can help us achieve our potential and advance ourselves as human beings. Hip hop is a part of our ongoing effort to realize our personal potential.

So far, the Sacramento/Bay Area. But we'd be willing to travel.

At the turn of the 20th century, the music business was completely changed. Before, musicians made their money off performances, but with the advent of the gramaphone, the whole industry re-oriented itself towards the production of recorded media. Now, we're returning to the old way of doing it: Our music, distributed free on the Internet, is a promotional tool to get people to come to our shows. If you like the music, odds are you'll like the show. And if you come to the show and you like it, cop some t-shirts, or some CDs. Major artists who make platinum records usually get very modest royalties. The real money--and the most fun--is in doing live shows.

Basically, the Internet will let artists bypass the distribution monopoly that's had a stranglehold on the industry for the past however many decades, promote themselves, and also change the way the public consumes music.

Sure, but we'd prefer to sign with Stone's Throw, Definitive Jux, or another independent label who's true to hiphop.

Self Mastery Project started off when Akumitae and EnsiteNonStop met in high school in Sacramento, California. Since then, it has grown to encompass an ever-widening circle of artists, utilizing all forms of expression, united by mutual respect our love for hiphop. Basically, we're all friends, and "Self Mastery Project" describes the environment that we create our music in. SMP includes, but is not limited to: Akumitae, EnsiteNonStop, Justice, Bishop, DJ Ironic, D*Cipher, NASA-1, Jeff P, and Miss Maya.

We just like good music, regardless of what it is. We dig. If you're digging and you're not open-minded, you're going to miss something dope. Our influences are the old-school jazz, blues, and soul music heads. Lyrically, it's on some Del-Big Punisher-Rakim-KRS shit.

Without a question, our favorite place to be is onstage, rocking. It doesn't matter where the stage is.

MPC-2000XL, ASR-10, Dr. Sample, PlayStation (no joke...the beat generator game), Elisys ADAT, Mac G3 w/Logic RPC, Mac G4 with Pro Tools, Roland digital mixing board, Technics 1200 turntables, Vestax 05Pro mixer, and whatever live instruments we can scare up.

You're probably searching for something, because the stuff you're used to hearing leaves you with an empty feeling. We believe that people are getting fed up with the same 5 wack songs being played over and over again on the radio. They want the return of real hiphop. If you're one of them, you've come to the right place.

Listen to the lyrics, and remember that the sound quality sucks because these are really small compressed sound files. If you buy our music at a show or at our website (www.selfmasteryproject.com), it'll sound 10x better.