Mawk Young

Band: (hed) PE
Website: www.myspace.com/hedpe

While nu-metal bands Korn, Limp Bizkit and the Deftones made the genre popular, it was Southern California’s (hed) P.E. that took metal and hip-hop two steps further. They incorporated spools of synthesizers and beats, mixed with drop-tuned guitar riffs and a gangsta-rap styled vocal approach. From 1995′s independently released Church of Realities to 2006′s Best of (hed) Planet Earth overview, (hed) P.E.’s music has been an uncensored metal-and-machine G-funk edict that stepped over social and racial boundaries, creating a pulverizing, mash-up sub-genre of rapcore/nu-metal.

Bassist Mawk Young’s role is that of a balancing act, toggling between hip-hop’s street funk cadence to an assailing metal crunch, mastering both genres’ stylistic intricacies. This sets up (hed) P.E.’s intimidating monster grooves as reflected on the punishing “Suck It Up”, the Dr. Dre-inspired “Tired of Sleep (T.O.S.)” and the dynamic “Bartender,” which became a formulaic template for Limp Bizkit.