Headrush, Truce II (1976- )

American songwriter, poet, and performance artist, most renown for his work with contemporary rap artists Midnight:30.  Their first recorded performance, “1 Time” (1995), would serve as the basis for a continuing series of records and performances and for what Truce would later term “Hippie-Hop,”  a position advocating a stringent avoidance of utilizing perceived genre norms, an embracing of rock n’ roll, ‘alternative,’ folk, and other non-traditional influences in rap music, and the continuous struggle to “take it to that next level.” His lyrical work includes widely varying themes such as social criticism, theological discourse, Hippie-Hop theory, and personal experience.  Significant also is Truce’s renown affinity and talent for ‘freestying’ (see Freestyling, ‘Off tha Dome’), a form of spontaneous, on-the-spot lyrical composition and performance.  Truce’s early work was influenced by artists such as Malik Taylor and John Davis, and his work continues to pay homage to these and other hip-hop innovators such as Tariq Trotter (those whom he includes as fellow members of the ‘Hippie-Hop’ movement).  While not widely known in mainstream rap circles, Truce, as part of Midnight: 30, continues to forge a niche in the underground of Hip-Hop’s underground.