From their humble beginnings on a college campus four years ago, Magna Carda has steadily risen to the top of the Austin music scene as the premiere hip hop act. Described by Mashable as “Austin’s answer to The Roots,” Magna Carda is led by the city’s most dynamic MC-producer duo — Megz Kelli and Dougie Do — whose work pairs like a fine wine with the meat-and-potatoes backbone of the group’s signature live instrumentation. With their genre-defying blend of rap-meets-jazz-meets-R&B-meets-electronic, the band has quickly captured the imagination of listeners and the attention of critics alike in Texas and beyond.

After forming as a rapper/producer duo on the campus of St. Edward’s University in 2012, Megz Kelli and Dougie Do set their sights on developing a new sound that would make use of both live musicianship and studio production. Since then, the band has been at the forefront of Austin’s burgeoning hip hop scene, and has shared the stage with hip hop’s biggest names from The Pharcyde to Joey Bada$$ and from Chali 2na to Oddisee. Magna Carda’s unique sound has attracted the attention of NPR among other regional and national press.

[Programming descriptions are generated by participants and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of SXSW.]