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The Children of Righteous Elevation (The C.O.R.E.)
“They are among a shallow pool of hip-hop artists that still have a deep passion for rap music as a craft, while looking at the culture as a whole and what can be done to right some wrongs.” – Abbie Jarman, Lost Cause, Minnesota’s Music Journal
Black Diamond (formerly known as Superman A.D.) (Adonis Frazier) – A gifted free-styler whose years of training as a professional boxer have given him a commanding stage presence and a body of steel. Black Diamond rocks with the best of them. His strength lies in his ability to comfortably walk in and out of every style, genre, and area of subject matter effortlessly. An unsurpassed battle MC who fears no man and has proved it by dismantling many of your favorite rappers, he is arguably the coolest brother on the planet, AD is either the most respected or feared MC around. The C.O.R.E. relies on his willingness to speak his mind and the skills to back it up.
Toki (Toki A. Wright) –As a highly acclaimed poet, spoken word artist and award winning Slam Champion, intel Toki makes up one very powerful half of the duo. Recognition for his work by Amistad author Alexs Pate, is a testament to the weight of his written material. Full of insightful concepts that force the listener to turn his back on the world surrounding them and direct the focus to the internal, he will ask that you merely assume responsibility for that which you control and at least attempt to join in on changing our surroundings.
AD and Toki were brought together to work on the lyrics for some tracks that a mutual friend was producing. Although the two worked on several tracks together, they did not begin to consider themselves a group until the summer of 1998.
