Standing on the Corner (band)

In 2014, Gio Escobar formed a guitar-based live group called Children of the Corner; the name was an homage to Harlem rap collective Children of the Corn. This project later evolved into Standing on the Corner. Escobar wrote several tape machine-recorded songs that were not initially intended for release.[2] Later Escobar brought some of those same demos he was working on to producer Jasper Marsalis, better known as Slauson Malone, who helped refine them.[3] Work on those songs resulted in the band's 2016 self-titled debut.[2]

In 2017, Standing on the Corner released their second album Red Burns.[2] Soon after the release of Red Burns, Slauson Malone quietly left the group due to ideological differences and in order to work on solo material.[4] In 2019, they contributed to Solange's album When I Get Home, with production and writing credits on the songs "S McGregor (interlude)", "Can I Hold the Mic (interlude)", "Down With the Clique", "Nothing Without Intention (interlude)", and "Exit Scott (interlude)".[5] After their contributions to Solange's project, multi-instrumentalist Caleb Giles announced he was leaving the group on good terms to focus on his solo rap career.

Standing on the Corner earned production credits on Danny Brown's 2019 album uknowhatimsayin¿ for the track "Shine", on which Slauson Malone was also credited; however this is mostly as a result of reusing old material rather than a new collaboration.[6] On May 11, 2020, they released the video for their single "Angel", starring Melvin Van Peebles.[7] Peebles is a major influence for their catalog, with the group having sampled him multiple times, implementing spoken word passages into their record in a similar vein to Peebles' own albums.[8]

In 2023, Standing on the Corner debuted the Taino Needle Science Drone Acupuncture Program, at Performance Space New York. The program ran from February 1 to June 30.[9]