The Niceguys are definitely ones to watch in the rap game. They are a four-member Houston-based group with Southern roots and musical sensibilities that stretch far beyond the city’s limits. A self-contained unit, The Niceguys comprises MC (Yves Easy Yves Saint Ozoude), DJ (Lucien DJ Candlestick Barton) and producers (Todd Christolph Louis and Winfrey Free Oribhabor).
I’m originally from Queens, New York, but I relocated to Houston when I was 18, says Yves Saint. I began attending the University of Houston in 2003, and spent the next two years moving back and forth between Texas and New York before I finally stayed in Houston for good. Similarly, while Free, Candlestick, and Christolph now call Houston home–the four met at the University of Houston — each hails from different towns within the state, and each bring their own musical flair to the group.
The first song that I memorized top to bottom was Nas The Message, says Yves, who, along with the rest of The Niceguys, cite influence from such artists as J Dilla and MF DOOM in the same sentence as Houston legend Scarface and their hometown Screw music. After hearing the way J Dilla and Pimp C flipped soul samples, says Free, it made me want to do it...
This group is really going places, and I think their album that they released last year The Show was a fun-filled opus that nudged them further into hip-hop consciousness. If the Houston group follows up with with a strong album like they put out last year , they certainly won’t go unnoticed.
Check out their music on their myspace page @http://www.facebook.com/TheNiceguysMusic
