Dan the Automator & A Tribe Called Quest

Widely feted as the studio wizard behind Kool Keith's Dr. Octagon project and Damon Albarn's group Gorillaz, Dan the Automator is a San Francisco-based producer of eclectic, offbeat underground hip-hop. (His imaginative productions have also graced albums by indie artists including Eels, Primal Scream, Cornershop, and the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion.) In 1999, Nakamura teamed up with Prince Paul as Handsome Boy Modeling School, releasing the albums So...How's Your Girl? (1999) and White People (2004). His most acclaimed project came in 2001 when he joined virtual alternative b...