PATHFINDERS:
CREATING A LEGACY FOR THE FUTURE
Paths Unknown
Pathfinder as defined by the dictionary is as follows: "One blazing a new path; a pioneer". This is a good definition, but in order to truly understand who the Pathfinders are one must go back to the beginning. The beginning before the Pathfinders even existed. Back when there was just an emcee, beat maker, and another emcee.
"I was in love with hip hop before I even considered rhyming" explains Big Will. "That was one of the reasons it took me awhile to actually pick up a pen. I loved hip hop so much that I knew that I could not get on the mic unless I could rep it right." With that in mind he secretly worked on his craft until he felt he was good enough to let some of his friends hear his rhymes. After receiving approval from fellow artists he respected he continued perfecting his craft and began to search for music to accompany his rhymes.
Rel a.k.a. Tall Black Guy started off making beats for his ears only. "I didn't play my beats for anyone else because I was not sure how people would respond to them." Once living in Detroit, Rel moved back to Chicago and began to put more time and effort into his music. Slowly but surely Rel began to let his music hit the ears of others. This was good step forward but also presented a conflict within his artistry. "People were feeling my beats, but they always wanted me to flip my style. They were looking for some bounce, up tempo beats like you hear from the south and that's not me."
Jameel, the most experienced out of the three was in a group prior to meeting Rel and Will. Not feeling any cohesiveness within the group he parted ways in search of like minded artists who shared his love for hip hop. As Jameel puts it "I felt like I was at a stalemate, and my only outlet was to freestyle over instrumentals."
Paths Crossed
Rel and Will met through mutual friends once Will moved to Bolingbrook. They immediately clicked due having the same tastes in hip hop. "It's hard to find hip hop heads where we stay at," says Rel. A meeting over Rels house to listen to beats turned out to be start of a group, but not Pathfinders. They started out as a two-man team, one emcee, and one beat maker. Influenced by the dynamic duos before them such as Gang Starr, and Reflection Eternal. As beats were made and rhymes were written, the two felt like there was still something missing. "I never wanted to rhyme by myself, I always wanted to have at least one other emcee to spit with, its more fun that way," says Will.
The two could not realize this at a better time because Rel was informed about a dude who rhymed and was looking for beats. As Rel puts it "I heard he had flow and sound like the stuff we liked." So Jameel and Rel set up a meeting over Rel's house, which was more like an audition. "I went there not expecting much but was overwhelmed once the first beat dropped" say Jemeel. Jameel got Rels approval and a phone call to Will immediately followed. "I called Will and told him dude is nice he might have to jump down if you agree". Will, eager to meet Jameel said cool, have him come to the crib and if I feel him like you then the dynamic duo will now be a trio. Jameel stopped by Will's house and they traded verses, freestyled, and had an in-depth conversation about hip hop. The chemistry was there as Will states "It felt like I known him years even though it was only hours", Jameel adds "I was inspired and felt that I FOUND MY PATH!!!!"
Immediately the new three man group started collaborating on different ideas for beats and rhymes. During one specific building session, the name of the group was born. Jameel the father of the name explains that PATHFINDERS comes from a military group that survey and secure areas. He further breaks down the name by saying. "I felt like life is a series of paths and it happened that our three paths met at a similar point. We all share similar interests in music and happened to be living in the same town at least 10 minutes away from each other."
Pathfinders
Since that day at Will's house the three man group have been hard at work to give people their form of good hip hop music. In less than a year the group has put out a 24-tack album, The Foundation Mixtape. The cohesiveness of the group is witnessed through their music as many listeners think that they having making music together for years. Some paths must find each other and I truly believe that Terel, Jameel, and Will's paths found each other for a special reason, the make great music!!!
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