Freestyle Fellowship is a hip hop group from Los Angeles, California consisting of Aceyalone, Myka 9, P.E.A.C.E. and Self Jupiter (former members included J. Sumbi and M.D. Himself). They are part of the larger Project Blowed collective that was formed at the Good Life Cafe in South Los Angeles that held weekly open-mic nights where aspiring MCs, poets and musicians would freestyle and hone their craft. The group is known for incorporating elements of improvisational jazz rhythms into their raps forming a style known as ‘chopping’ that often borders on scatting. Their mission statement as stated on the song ‘We Are the Freestyle Fellowship’:

“Acknowledging rap as an artform, we break the rules and set new standards in the vocal arena by experimenting with tonal and harmonic inflections and sporadic pitch changes and deliveries.”

According to Los Angeles Times:

[Freestyle Fellowship] incorporat[es] jazz rhythms into its raps, which have the improvisational ebb and flow and the random explosiveness of a jazz solo

In 1991, Freestyle Fellowship released the first album, To Whom It May Concern…. and in 1993, followed with the seminal west coast underground classic, Innercity Griots. These albums are often considered to be some of the first in abstract hip hop.