In December of 1995, an upstart hip-hop quartet called The Rusty Pelicans played its first show. Since that inaugural outing at The Globe (which closed more than a decade ago), the group has opened for some of rap’s biggest names, toured internationally, shed the “elican” part of its moniker, and, in the process, bid adieu to a few members. This summer, the now-two-piece Rusty P’s released its seventh studio album, Pull The Trigger. However, with a 20th anniversary on the horizon, the seminal Milwaukee rap institution subtly announced its intentions to turn the big two-O with its original lineup.

Adam Haupt (a.k.a. “Phantom Channel”) posted a photo to his Facebook page Monday in which he and the other current P’s member Isa Ortiz (“Count Classic”) were shown with former Pelicans Dana Coppa and Oneself, along with the numeral “20” and the fairly direct hashtags “#20yrs” and “#Reunion.”

“We wanted to do something to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Rusty P’s,” Haupt says. “We decided to come together to do it right. I think all of us are excited to be working together again as the group that was so instrumental to all of our development as artists.”

Haupt tells us the four-piece intends to release either an EP or a full-length at some point in 2015, and commemorate the anniversary and the new record with a show on or around the date of The Rusty Pelicans’ 20th birthday.

“We’ve had a few fallouts and whatnot, but now we’re all in a more experienced mindframe than the younger us,” Coppa says. “I personally want to go out the way I came in: together.”

As the news is recent, the P’s haven’t offered any more details at this time. But you should probably just play it safe and keep December 28, 2015 free.

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Co-Founder and Editor

Before co-founding Milwaukee Record, Tyler Maas wrote for virtually every Milwaukee publication (except Wassup! Magazine). He lives in Bay View and enjoys both stuff and things.