Transplants

The Transplants formed in 2002 when Rancid's Tim Armstrong teamed up with hip-hop vocalist Rob Aston (Skinhead Rob) and Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker. Their self-titled debut album that same year mixed punk guitar with hip-hop beats and rapped vocals, a combination that felt both jarring and natural coming from those particular musicians. The single 'Diamonds And Guns' from that album became their most recognizable track.

They released two more studio albums, 'Haunted Cities' in 2005 and 'In a Warzone' in 2013. Songs like 'California Babylon' and 'Gangsters And Thugs' continued their approach of grafting street-level narratives onto aggressive, drum-heavy rock. The band's activity has been intermittent, with periods of hiatus separating their releases.

After forming, the members maintained their primary projects, Armstrong with Rancid, Barker with Blink-182 and his various collaborations. Their work as the Transplants functioned as a side outlet, a place where punk, rock, and hip-hop conventions could be stripped down and reassembled without much concern for genre boundaries.