James Brandon Best, better known by his stage name Pedestrian, is a rapper and writer from Los Angeles. He is a co-founder of Anticon. He is also known as a preacher under the moniker Evangelist J.B. Best. History In 1998, Pedestrian co-founded Anticon with other indie hip hop artists. He came up with the name; it means "anti conformity" originally, but also means "ant icon." He has written several articles about hip hop for East Bay Express from 2003 to 2004. After being featured on other Anticon co-founders' albums such as Them and Bottle of Humans, Pedestrian released his debut solo album Volume One: UnIndian Songs on the label in 2005. It was produced by Matt Chang, Jel, Why? and Alias. "The Toss & Turn" b/w "Arrest the President," a single from the album, includes the track "Resurrection Morning Sermon" performed by Evangelist J.B. Best. Pedestrian toured across the United States and Europe with Sole, Dosh and Telephone Jim Jesus in promotion of the album. He wrote an article about N.W.A for Xlr8r in 2008. Style In a 2003 interview, Pedestrian talked about his influence and rapping style:"I was mostly into fast rapping and freestyling, and I was really inspired too by a lot of vocalese-Annie Ross, Jon Hendricks, and Eddie Jefferson especially. Which is probably the apotheosis of voice-as-instrument. But the whole appeal of rap for me has always been its hyper-wordiness, and more than anything I want to communicate ideas." Discography Studio albums Pedestrian Volume One: UnIndian Songs (Anticon, 2005) UnIndian II (Black Box Tapes, 2017) Object Beings (Pedestrian with Doseone & Why?) Object Beings (2001) EPs, mixtapes, compilations EPs We Ain't Fessin' (Anticon, 2002) (with Deep Puddle Dynamics) Mixtapes Red Dawn: A Baybridge Epic (2001) (with Sole, as Da Babylonianz) Compilations Songs of the Light Workers' Local #168 (2005) Singles "The Toss & Turn" b/w "Arrest the President" (Anticon, 2004) Guest appearances Sole – "Becoming Became Undone" from "Bottle of Humans" (1999) Sole – "Our Dirty Big Secret" from Bottle of Humans (2000) Themselves – "Lyrical Cougel" from Them (2000) Shape Shifters – "The Intellectual Holly Chessmen" "Joy 2 Da World" from Know Future (2000) DJ Krush – "Song for John Walker" from The Message at the Depth (2002) Alias – "The Physical Voice" from Muted (2003) Telephone Jim Jesus – "N=1 Trial" "Untitled Private Landscape" "A Blindness Falls" from A Point Too Far to Astronaut (2004)