About evitaN
evitaN is a fairly new Hip Hop group consisting of Andres "Dres" Titus of Black Sheep, and Jarobi White of A Tribe Called Quest and formed at the suggestion of Q-Tip.
Dres had been trying to convince Jarobi, the “mystic man” who did not rhyme on any of A Tribe Called Quest’s albums, to record an EP for his Pool of Genius label for many years. Eventually, Jarobi had a revelation: “I got to this period in my life where I decided to stop saying no to things. I told myself the next opportunity that comes through, I’m not going to say no. I promise you, within three hours of me saying that, the phone rang and it was Dres.”
Dres and Jarobi recorded the first song together, “Keep Keepin’ On.” Jarobi played it for Q-Tip, who replied “Yo! You guys should be a group!” They went back into the studio and recorded “P.T.I. (Occupy Wall St.)” with the production team of DJ Bazooka Joe and Marc Lawrence. This became their first single, released in late 2011, and evitaN (Native spelled backward) was born. Less than a year later, they had 26 songs recorded and 15 of those became the Speed of Life album.
On Speed of Life, evitaN welcome guest appearances by Bootsy Collins (on vocals and bass), Rah Digga, Havoc of Mobb Deep, Sadat X of Brand Nubian, Craig G and Homeboy Sandman.
Dres and Jarobi recorded the first song together, “Keep Keepin’ On.” Jarobi played it for Q-Tip, who replied “Yo! You guys should be a group!” They went back into the studio and recorded “P.T.I. (Occupy Wall St.)” with the production team of DJ Bazooka Joe and Marc Lawrence. This became their first single, released in late 2011, and evitaN (Native spelled backward) was born. Less than a year later, they had 26 songs recorded and 15 of those became the Speed of Life album.
On Speed of Life, evitaN welcome guest appearances by Bootsy Collins (on vocals and bass), Rah Digga, Havoc of Mobb Deep, Sadat X of Brand Nubian, Craig G and Homeboy Sandman.