A member of the Philly-based supergroup Army of the Pharaohs and frequent collaborator with German producers the Snowgoons, Reef the Lost Cause has always had something a bit mythical about him. And with an ear for hard-hitting snares and bellowing trumpets, he raps with the raw violence and gritty imagery only an episode of Game of Thrones could compete with. So we weren’t too surprised to catch him tweeting last week about a new genre called “wizard rap,” with soon-to-come label Middle Earth Records serving as the primary distribution outlet. Hive illustrator Dustin Glick picked out the first round of signees for this rap fellowship, as you’ll see below.

Dustin Glick is a writer, cartoonist and music nerd whose comics can be found at Dustinland.com and in MAD Magazine.