Duluth’s premier live hip-hop group has created a Kickstarter project to fund the recording of their next album and they need your help! Please consider donating whatever you can. They will make it worth your while!

Equal Xchange began in 2007. We started with 8 songs I had recorded as a solo hip-hop EP and transformed them into live songs with guitar, bass and drums. We toured from here (Duluth) to Fargo. In 2009 we recorded an album on a Tascam digital 8 track and shortly after that our original drummer, Brad Rozman, passed away at the age of 32. We only had 100 copies printed as Brad’s passing seemed to signal that our band was nearing its end. In 2010 we played what we thought would be our final show. Now we are back and have been creating fresh material. Recording a 6-8 song EP in a decent studio setting and printing 300-500 copies would be excellent.

The music is live hip-hop with elements of jazz, funk, punk and indie rock. Two saxophones even. I have been rapping for 18 years (off and on) sometimes under the name, Ray the Wolf. My band mates (Jesse Hoheisel, Jason Kokal, Mat Milinkovich and sometimes Aaron Hoffmeister and Brad Fernholz) are seasoned musicians who have played in numerous bands around the region. We are ready for our big break. Or at least we are ready to record some new stuff and disburse it at live shows. As a working father of two it is difficult to make setting aside money for recording a financial priority. This could make it a reality.

-Rain “Ray the Wolf” Elfvin