Two emcees, brought together by service — and a community that made the music possible in the first place.
goodpeoples is an American conscious Hip Hop duo out of Phoenix, Arizona — two emcees, Open Hands and Diversoul, brought together not just by music, but by service. The duo met in the field, as coordinators in a youth arts program, building points of unity and serving communities, using Hip Hop as a tool for youth development, connection, and healing.
Their collective mission didn't start in studios. It started in real life. These emcees walked their own paths, dropped projects, built with communities, and paid dues in real spaces. They are not just here to rhyme and report, but also to build, and connect with other good peoples of the world — to guide, to learn, to hold space.
Forged in the Seattle underground, connected to grassroots movements like 206 Zulu, where Hip Hop is lived, not just performed. Hands went on to build deep roots in his subsequent homes of the Big Island, Hawaii, Virginia, and now Arizona. As a member of Hip Hop groups like the Mind Movers, Sleepwalkers, and Project Mayhem he built a foundation through music. As Hip Hop taught him that music can give rise to community action, he went on to put in work as a record store owner, a journalist, a Hip Hop TV host, a youth worker, and a proud family man. The rhymes he writes draw from all these sources and focus on leaving the world a little better than he found it.
Shaped by the places he's called home (Maui, Arivaca, Tucson, Chicago, and Phoenix), Diversoul found a place to belong in Hip Hop. Rooted in Arizona's underground, his path through the culture has grown into one of expression, connection, and service. He is growing the independent label Sacred Profane, archiving the history of Bahá'í-inspired Hip Hop, and is a founding member of FRMWRK, an international Bahá'í-inspired arts collective. For nearly three decades, Hip Hop culture has been his portal for personal transformation, and a way to help impact the communities we share.
