The Grouch, born Corey Scoffern on 20 May 1975, is an America hip-hop artist and rap producer. He was raised in Oakland, California, US and started his music career around the Bay Area. His music is sincere but abstract and falls in tandem with artists such as Lucklam and Lootpack.
Before Scoffern took up the path of a solo artist he lugged in a fair amount of time with the loosely assembled rap collective the Living Legends. The group was originally comprised of BFAP, PSC, and the Grouch, but later expanded to include the members of Melancholy Gypsys: Eligh, Scarub and Murs. The Living Legends were one of the most diligent rap projects in the greater LA area. They seemed to do everything themselves including recording, promotion and album distribution. The collective have been credited for independently selling close to 300,000 units and are likewise recognized as being one of the few rap groups to avoid the typical appeal to gangsta hip-hop, opting instead for a more straightforward style.
The Grouch broke out as a solo rap artist around the mid 90s. Taking inspiration from local west coast iconoclasts such as Digital Underground, Too Short, and “Tony! Toni! Tone!”, Scoffern constructed a musical style that was poignant, but not overtly self-serious. He started penning songs in ’94 and just a year later played his first gig at the Journeymen’s “Broke Ass Summer Jam” shows. His performance sailed with success and the audiences positive feedback encouraged him to keep up the rap game.
His first album “Don’t Talk to Me” came out in 1995 through the Living Legends record label. This album was the start of a giant wave of consecutive releases. He put out 5 more albums before the close of the 90s including “Nothing Changes” (1996), “Success Is Destiny” (1997), “Fuck the Dumb” (1998), “You’re Not the 1” (1998), “Simple Man” (1999), and “Making Perfect Sense” (1999).
The 2000s proved to be just as busy as the 90s. Not only was Scoffern functioning as a solo artist and a member of the Living Legends he was also participating in multiple side projects and making several guest appearances on other artist’s albums. Other than the 8 studio album’s Scoffern released that decade under his moniker The Grouch he also put out several releases with his Living Legend’s co-members Eligh and Zion I and in 2002 produced Felt’s debut album “Felt: A Tribute to Christina Ricci”.
Gregory Alan Isakov
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