Styles of Beyond is an underground hip hop group from the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles, California. The group consists of MCs Ryan Patrick Maginn (Ryu) and Takbir Bashir (Tak), Colton Raisin Fisher (DJ Cheapshot), and producer Jason Rabinowitz (Vin Skully).
They have released two LPs, one mixtape and were heavily featured on Mike Shinoda's Fort Minor project in 2005. At one point they were also signed to Shinoda's Machine Shop Recordings label, although they left the label in late 2008. They are also heavily associated with the underground rap group "Demigodz" which features similar underground artists such as Apathy, Celph Titled, and 7L & Esoteric.
Styles of Beyond first started making appearances on the Wake Up Show which was a breeding ground for respected rhymers and supreme lyricists, including Eminem, Jay-Z and The Notorious B.I.G. What followed were the two independent albums, 2000 Fold, and seething follow-up Megadef. S.O.B. made a mixtape on July 31, 2007, entitled "Razor Tag", presented and mixed by DJ Green Lantern. They recently finished their third studio album, Reseda Beach which has yet to be released. The album guest features rappers RZA, Mike Shinoda, Apathy, Celph Titled & Sixx John. It is produced by Mike Shinoda.
On September 25, 2008, S.O.B. released their contract with Machine Shop Recordings with full ownership of their Reseda Beach record, which they plan to release under a different label or independently.
Since 2008 Ryu (along with Apathy, and Scoop DeVille) formed a new rap group by the name of the "Get Busy Committee". they released their first album "Uzi Does It" on October 27, 2009. Tak has also formed a solo group along with singer Josy B called "Ribkat" (which is takbir's named spelled backwards) they plan on releasing an album entitled "Theory of Addicts" in December 2009.
Ryu stated recently in an interview with LPLive that the current status of S.O.B. is unknown. in the interview he stated "The Warner thing I think mentally exhausted everybody, I think it was just time to do something fresh and new. Business wise and creatively. The status of the group is unknown at this point. It just felt like we were beating a dead horse after a while."
Recently, during a fan chat, Ryu revealed that Reseda Beach is completed, and should be released some times after the second Get Busy Committee album.
Discography: 2000 Fold (1998, Ideal) Terraform (never released) Megadef (2003, SpyTech) Razor Tag (2007, Warner Bros.) Reseda Beach
