Quarashi

Though Icelandic rap-rock outfit Quarashi finally saw their U.S debut released in early 2002, the music group have been honing its music because the mid-’90s. Manufacturer/drummer Sölvi Blondal and vocalists/rappers Hössi Olafsson, Steini Fjelsted (a previous Icelandic skating champ and a graffiti musician), and Omar Swarez produced Quarashi (pronounced “kwa-ra’-she”) in 1996. The band’s name, a term signifying “supernatural,” was followed from a nickname directed at Fjelsted. The quartet’s full-length debut was documented in Oct of 1997. To get the record, the band opened up for the Fugees as well as the Prodigy, while Blondal remixed the Prodigy’s “Diesel Power.” In 1999, Quarashi released Xeneizes, offering another 6,000 copies and gaining them another consecutive silver record in Iceland. Jinx, Quarashi’s U.S debut, premiered in March 2002. The very first single, “Stay ‘Em Up,” was included on the Orange State soundtrack.