HBK (Heart Break Kids) are a crew from the San Francisco Bay Are who count rapper/producer Iamsu! as their de facto leader. Formed in 2008 by Su and producers Chief and P-Lo, the crew went on to add Sage The Gemini, Skipper, CJ, Rossi, Dave Steezy, Jay Ant, Kool John and the production team The Invasion (consisting of Iamsu!, P-Lo, Kuya Beats, Jay Ant, and Chief).
HBK Gang carry on the legacy of Bay Area hyphy while adding some new bells and whistles -- Su cites Kanye West as a huge influence -- and are often talked about in the same context of the L.A. movement that has spawned DJ Mustard, YG and Ty Dolla $ign. But whereas those guys have started reaching out for bigger collaborations and crossover appeal, HBK has stayed fairly insular, collaborating with some big names but keeping most of their material in-house and independent.
With Sage's debut album dropping last month and Iamsu!'s debut coming in May (not to mention the breakout success of Sage's "Gas Pedal"), HBK is poised to break out in a big way in 2014.
Meet the group's nine core members in this week's Crew Love (Note: as Kuya Beats and Chief have only produced for HBK artists, they aren't included in this list).