The Doppelgangaz

Orange County, New York hip-hop duo the Doppelgangaz consist of longtime friends EP and Matter Ov Fact. The two grew up together and started dabbling with production and writing their own rhymes in the late '90s, working on various projects before starting the Doppelgangaz in earnest around 2008. The duo quickly developed a style steeped deeply in the influence of gritty East Coast rap heroes who incorporated imagery of a grimy, vagrant lifestyle. The Doppelgangaz melded their larger-than-life costumed personas with raw beats and rhymes that repeatedly nodded to an outlaw life. The group's first EP, The Ghastly Duo, surfaced in 2008 and was followed the next year by debut studio album 2012: The New Beginning. The Doppelgangaz would be highly prolific for the next several years, releasing new music that alternated between albums that highlighted their flows and mostly instrumental releases that showcased their production skills. Arriving in 2011, Lone Sharks was critically acclaimed as some of their best work, and they offered up new volumes of their Beats for Brothels series at an almost annual rate. Amid various EP and one-off projects, the Doppelgangaz continued to release more fully realized studio albums, including 2013's HARK!, 2014's Peace Kehd, and 2017's Dopp Hopp. ~ Fred Thomas