As College Roommates Quarterbar And Eric Steuer Started Making Lo-Fi Rap Songs On A Barely-Working 4-Track Then Recruited Friends To Create The Santa Barbara Hip-Hop ... More Crew Mic.Edu. The Duo Formed Meanest Man Contest After A Move Upstate To Oakland Where They Spent Their Free Time Digging Through Filthy Stacks Of Flea Market Records Looking For Samples And Inspiration. From This Effort Came A Series Of Short Tracks That Would Form MMC's Collage-Like First Single "Contaminated Dance Step." Meanest Man Contest's Music Has Evolved Around A Constantly Expanding Set Of Influences. MMC's First LP "Merit " Pushed Their Sound Into thoughtful Atmospheric Places With Jazz Samples And Live Guitar. More Recently The Duo Has Stretched The Boundaries Of Its Roots With releases Like The Off-Kilter Pop EP "Some People " The Electro-Tinged Single "Throwing Away Broken Electronics " And The Hip-Hop LP "Split."