The Social Contract

The Social Contract is a hip-hop collective from Fayetteville, North Carolina that was formed by Rob: Earth-One and Malcolm Chester, who met while attending Queens University of Charlotte. Though they were both living in the Fayetteville area prior to attending University, the two had never met until then. The first project that was released under the Social Contract umbrella was a short compilation project titled "Seeds", which was released on May 1, 2015. This project spoke on many socio-political topics, as well as religious ideas. Through this, the artists were able to separate themselves from other "local" artists and build their identities.
Immediately following the release of "Seeds", Rob: Earth-One began work on his solo project, "Cache-22", which was a conceptual piece, set in a coffee shop. Like "Seeds", this project touched on many topics that would be considered to be "controversial". Executively produced by JJ Infamous, sonically, "Cache-22" paid homage to 90's hip-hop, utilizing many boom bap beats and multi-syllabic rhyming patterns. Rob: Earth-One's project was received rather well by listeners, even getting two thumbs up from national hip-hop podcast, The Hip-Hop Digest show. 
Following "Cache-22", Malcolm Chester released his solo project, "Difference", which also addressed a wide array of controversial topics, but also topics that were personal to Malcolm Chester. This project was very reminiscent of nineties artists like A Tribe Called Quest and Black Star, with Chester's unorthodox poetic delivery. This project was also met with very positive reviews, which would continue the forward momentum of The Social Contract. 
During post-production of "Cache-22", Rob: Earth-One met Max Mugen, whose email address he had obtained from a friend who attended UNC Wilmington with Max. Initially, Rob was emailing Max, in hopes of booking a show at the university. After finding out that Max Mugen was also a rapper and also exchanging music, Rob asked Max and his group The Natural Selectaz to join The Social Contract collective. The Social Contract now consists of Rob: Earth-One, Malcolm Chester, Max Mugen, D. Spero, and Kev McCoy. The collective's second compilation project titled "Renaissance" was released on January 15, 2016 to coincide with The Social Contract's show at Snug Harbor in Charlotte, North Carolina.