CunninLynguists

On Tour
Play Radio

10,505,847 plays (320,694 listeners)

Shop now at Amazon | Send CunninLynguists Ringtones to Cell
More options
Add to my Library

Atlanta, GA (2001 – present)

CunninLynguists are a hip hop trio from Lexington, Kentucky and Atlanta, Georgia. The group currently consists of Deacon the Villain, Kno, and Natti. The name is a portmanteau of the words cunning and linguist, and is also a play on the word cunnilingus.

There has never been an anomaly in quite like the southern trio CunninLynguists. Sampling genres from psych-rock to blues, New Romantic to polka, they have been musically compared to UGK and Atmosphere in the same breath. They have toured and shared stages with Kanye West and Aesop Rock to equal success. They have produced for Lil’ Scrappy as well as KRS-One. They have crafted songs with international soul superstar Cee-Lo Green and politically charged indie-favorite Immortal Technique … on the same album. CunninLynguists have eschewed categories, boxes and labels for 10 years, 5 albums and 4 official mixtapes, all while having what XXL Magazine described as the “Most Hated Name In Rap”.

The result? If you want labels…Southern boom-bap. Too white for BET, too black for MTV2. A preacher’s son, a caucasian guy from rural Georgia and a convicted felon. But mainly … a self-made career, one of the most consistent catalogs of any current hip-hop act and one of the most loyal, worldwide fanbases in all of music.

Backed with gritty beats, quality rhymes and 808 thump, the ‘Lynguists intend on recapturing the soul in southern hip-hop.
Read more… Edit

Shouts: 2,096 shouts

Share this artist:

Top Albums

See more

Top Tracks

1
1,014
2
540
3
521
4
497
5
458
6
437
7
433
8
426
9
421
10
413
11
379
12
375
13
341
14
339
15
314
Buy all tracks at Amazon MP3
See more

Shoutbox

Leave a comment. Log in to Last.fm or sign up (it’s free).
  • Skengespazz

    callcollectplz, Kno doesn't release lists of samples because he gets sued all the time. Since it would cost insane amounts of money to clear all the samples from the major labels, he simply uses "illegal" samples. If you publish the samples online, someone will rat him out and there will be no more CunninLynguists.

    yesterday evening
  • Delbrion

    This Star Shine Brightest beat really is genius

    Sunday afternoon
  • Yo_Champ

    The song with Big K.R.I.T. is fantastic. The rest of the album is pretty good too - top5 2011 albums for sure. Kno's is still one of the best producers even tho i can't imagine him producing for anything other than Cunnin. Not sure about his decision to keep the sample names for himself tho.

    last week
  • callcollectplz

    Also, if anyone would shed some light onto the matter, please do so. I'm willing to learn more about this as stated before. And sorry for triple posting (I know some people hate that but then again, it's last.fm where I can spam freely on multiple pages about something no one will take interest in).

    last week
  • callcollectplz

    I would also like to add on to my previous post (because the post limit was making me anxious), that sampling itself is a hot topic in terms of the legal issues involved and ethics. Because artists have to go through and get their samples cleared and the like, they can avoid having to ever go through something like what happened back in the early 90's in the Grand Upright Music, Ltd. v. Warner Bros. Records Inc. case. Otherwise, it would be considered illegal to do so. As much as I'd like to delve onto the subject, I'm actually just starting to do some research on it because of personal interest and just barely scratched the surface of the issue.

    last week
  • callcollectplz

    who is the artist in the sample on Phantasma? [2] I wish to know as well. It sucks that Kno is refusing to let us know what samples he's been using. Though that is probably where most of the hate towards Kno is derived from. He wants to protect the integrity of his art form from others who intend on "stealing" (which I understand). Though it's also reasonable to believe that it's hurting the cause since there are others who are genuinely interested in what they used for research purposes, exploring new genres, and just curiosity in general. But yeah, most of this is from the QN5 website and a portion of it is from sites such as whosampled where there was a huge discussion about it back a few years ago.

    last week
  • Mistake911

    Stars Shine Brightest (In The Darkest Of Night) ft. Rick Warren !!!

    12 days ago
  • BiGoKs

    Ностальжи.

    13 days ago
  • Sylar92

    my god <3

    13 days ago
  • GestateReality

    If you liked Oneirology or haven't checked it out yet, you can find it on our comprehensive top 100 Albums of 2011 list @http://k-v-l-t.blogspot.com/2011/12/maxs-top-albums-of-2011-part-five-10-1.html

    15 days ago
  • Coberholt

    who is the artist in the sample on Phantasma?

    16 days ago
  • alexander1094

    @TFP10, dude whatcha talkin' about?

    16 days ago
  • shaolin86

    @FinalPizzaHut, take the following words out of your post: one, of, 50, and the s in albums. That's better.

    16 days ago
  • TFP10

    Spiritual Hip Hop.

    17 days ago
  • FinalPizzaHut

    Oneirology is one of the top 50 albums of 2011! http://watchthetapes.wordpress.com/2012/02/03/top-50-albums-of-2011/

    20 days ago
  • GingerMilitant

    You couldn't get a finer hip-hop crew other than the Cunninlynguists, got mad mad respect for you guys!

    last month
  • domeplsffs

    +1 outstanding

    last month
  • StickyFinga

    Including the mixtapes! Strange Journey Volume One and Volume Two are amazing.

    last month
  • camoton

    <3

    last month
  • combatcrystal

    There's no such thing as a bad CunninLynguists album. I bought them all, I'm sure.

    last month
See all 2,096 shouts

Videos

See more

Events

See more Add event

News

Death Is Silent: 1. Death Is Silent

12 Oct 2010 | from cunninlynguists.bandcamp.com

Death is silent It hides high in the night's confinement Vile and violent While minding a time to try us And remind us That we cry when time is denied us To incite this Fear of death inside us Death is spineless …

Add comment

See more

Listening Now

Top Listeners

See more

Recent Activity

Related Journals

See more

More Information

Links
Band Members
Labels