Chinese Man, MC Youthstar, Tha Trickaz, and Bold

The trio consists of three members, self-described as: a head of a Brazilian favela with an eccentric hairstyle named Zé Mateo, a Buddhist monk specialized in euthanasia aka Sly and Polish gangster in Long Beach near Lyon, well known as High Ku. A record label of the same name carries the band, although the Chinese Man Records is based in Marseille, France. In addition to Zé Mateo, Sly and High Ku, beat maker, Leo the Bug and Yan also contribute their sounds to some of the compositions. Altogether they draw upon influences that include hip-hop, funk, dub, reggae, and jazz. They gained a lot of attention when their song “I’ve Got That Tune” was chosen for the Mercedes-Benz promotional campaign.

Since their inception in 2005, they have released a lot of material, starting with “The Pandi Groove EP” followed by their first full-length album, “The Bootleg Sessions.” Every year that followed they would go on to release an EP. In 2007 they released “The Groove Sessions Volume 1” followed two years later with “The Groove Sessions Volume 2.” They then released “Racing With The Sun” in 2011 followed a mere year later by “Live á la Cigale.” Their 2014 album was the third in “The Groove Sessions.”