Rap trio Urban Flow hails from the Philippines, where rap became a thriving art form during the influx of American hip-hop culture throughout the '90s. Philippine rap pioneers like Francis M and Salbakuta picked up on this trend and furthered it with their own unique take on the genre, which in turn spawned many outfits in the late '90s, including Urban Flow. Unlike their influences, their sound was based more in live instrumentation, and their broader exploration of genres like jazz and funk made their sound more distinct to international audiences. The distributors at OctoArts heard Urban Flow's Mass Comm in 1999, and gave the group their only American release when they put out the record the same year. ~ Bradley Torreano, Rovi