Blossoming during an age in which independent hip-hop was creating its own self industry and much of the Midwest was watching artists put their cities on the map, Soulcrate Music took the model to a new plateau. DJ Absolute and siblings Attention Def and Dirt Dee built their following from scratch in their hometown of Sioux Falls, SD, focusing on creating a new style of energetic music with a high regard for soul and classic hip-hop. The trio quickly found itself opening local shows for national heavyweights from Atmosphere, Macklemore, 311, and The Spill Canvas.