Often referred to as hip-hop's "nomadic wanderer," Ithaka's "live it - write it - rap about it" style appeals at the most basic hip-hop level. Ithaka takes the listener on a musical journey incorporating basic yet insightful lyrics and driving rhythms with distinct cultural flavor.

Born in California, Ithaka, also known as Darin Pappas, is an avid surfer and world-renowned sculptor whose travels have taken him from East Africa to Mexico to Portugal to Brazil. Ithaka's most recent album, Recorded In Rio, is a major departure from his 2001 album, Somewhere South Of Somalia. The lyrics for Recorded In Rio were scribed during a period of years, not months as was the Somalia album, and mirror the life of the artist from when he left Portugal in 1998 and returned to the US. From down and out episodes of middle-class poverty to surviving a Category 5 hurricane, Ithaka addresses a wide variety of subject matter ranging from tyrant employers, questionable government policies, drunk driving, absent parents, drug a