SoulStice

Sun Reporter

June 15, 2006

Hometown: Columbia

Current members: Ashley Llorens

Founded in: 2000

Style: hip hop, rap and indie

Influenced by: Common, Black Thought, Nas, Rakim, Miles Davis, Big Pun, Radiohead

Notable: With three solo records under his belt and a new mix tape dropping later this month, Llorens has no qualms about his lack of a major label contract. He proudly lists "indie" as one of his genres on his MySpace page. After all, he is an independent artist in the true sense of the word.

Quotable: "What this affords me is the opportunity to hold out for a deal that satisfies the terms that I'm comfortable with," Llorens said. "I'm not out there trying to fit whatever mold somebody's looking for. I'll create my own lane, I'll create my own genre. Once it gets to the point where labels get interested, we can sit down and we can develop a partnership."

For more information about the band, go to myspace.com/soulstice.