Forget about listening to sampled music on heavy rotation at the radio stations. It’s time to let your mind expand with some original sounds from the Addict Merchants.

Greatly influenced by jazz and hip-hop, the Addict Merchants is a live band consisting of seven musical gurus with an appetite for human progression through music. With four spirited instrumentalists and three enthused emcees, the Addict Merchants bring forth a world of bona fide sound.

Each member possesses a musical talent with a well-developed background. Emanual Johnson, the band’s keyboardist, has been playing for about ten years. But he has never had a lesson in his life. Coming from a musical family, he picked up the skills easily with Herbie Hancock as one of his greatest influences.

“I have almost all of his CD’s,” Johnson said.

Accompanying Johnson on the saxophone is jazz guru Dave Edquilang, who has been playing since the early 90s. His inspiration comes from old school jazz artists such as Charlie “Bird” Parker and Sarah Vaughn.

“My number one influence is Kenny G. If it weren’t for him, I wouldn’t be playing today,” Edquilang said. “‘Forever in Love’ was the jam back in the day. People feel me on that. They’re just too proud to admit it.”

Keeping the rhythm on bass is Nino Machado. In his childhood days, Machado first learned how to play the piano in third grade. Soon afterward, he picked up the violin and eventually started to jam out on the bass. He played for his junior high orchestra and high school jazz band, where he met Edquilang and Quincy Frazier, the band’s drummer. Machado is also influenced by jazz greats in addition to a lot of 80s artists.

“I’m also influenced by people in the Sacramento hip-hop community,” Machado said. “I listen to everything from ska to punk. But definitely jazz and old-school.”

As the band’s backbone for rhythm, drummer Quincy Frazier blesses the band with his many years of experience. He has been playing since he was only four years old, barely big enough to sit at the drumset. Notable drummers such as Dennis Chambers and Art Blakely are Frazier’s influences. But his influences do not just stem out from great drummers.

“John Coltrane opened my eyes to how I wanted to sound,” Frazier said. “I’m also influenced by my friends and I like to watch other people play.”

For the instrumentation sect of the group, the Addict Merchants are well grounded. But the band wouldn’t be complete if the emcees were not there. These three lyrical cats are projecting the band’s strive for positive change in society.

Adam “Freez” has been tearing up the mic for about seven years. When he first started testing his lyrical skills it was more of a hobby.

“But I’ve really started focusing the past year and a-half,” Freez said. “It’s gotten serious.”

“It started out as a fun thing, but it’s more serious now,” fellow emcee Joe “Illafied” said. “We want to take it to the next level.”

Illafied began his lyrical expedition at a time when hip-hop first hit the airwaves. Raised in San Francisco to the tunes of Bob Marley and the Beatles, Illafied entered the hip-hop culture through graffiti art and eventually made his way onto a Davis radio station. He still remembers the first time he made his lyrical skills known. During a high school party, he picked up the mic, did his rhyme, messed up, and then threw the mic on the ground. It was an important time in his life because he had learned something about himself.

“Now I think before I speak,” Illafied said. “What I write is 100 per cent of what I see. It’s an extension of who I am.”

Illafied has a confidence in the group to “make it big,” but Mike “Dot Com” sees otherwise.

As one of the emcees in the group, Dot Com sees himself as “that one negative voiceEthe voice of doubt when everyone gets really confident.”

Dot Com began writing rhymes in 1993 when he got influenced after watching rap videos all day. He said to himself, “Rap is not at all that hard. It seems pretty easy to write what you feel in the form of a rhyme.”

He has been influenced by artists such as Brotha J from the X-Clan and Too Short. He is also influenced by “any musical artist from rock to hip-hop who have some type of thought provoking lyrical content that make you think about what they are saying.”The Addict Merchants have come a long way, but is still on a “Progression to Struggle,” which is the name of their first album. It is a creation of authentic sounds and lyrical masterpieces that show off each member’s musically cultured talents.

According to Johnson, the band is “on the cusp right now, working in the lab,” making a new album.

“The creative process is amazing,” Illafied said.

The band has performed with groups such as The Cuf, Kemetic Suns, and the Souls of Mischief, as well as punk and ska groups. They have been nominated for the Sammies, a Sacramento music award event.

“We love creating and performing good quality music,” Machado said. “If you do what you love, then why stop?”

Despite the fact that Illafied and Dot Com live in the Bay Area, the band still finds time to practice in Sacramento at least twice a week, with four-hour sessions.”We have to do what we do,” Frazier said. “It shows a lot of dedication.”

A passion for music has been the driving force for the Addict Merchants. The group’s strive for positive change in society is going strong, and its next step is getting the second album out by the end of the summer. The title is “The Odyssey,” which, according to Frazier will be “way different, with more variety and more technicality as far as instrumentation goes.”

“We want to please everyone,” Illafied said. “We want our music to be remembered.”