Ugly Duckling is a hip-hop group that formed in 1995 in Long Beach, California. Ugly Duckling's members include Dizzy Dustin (Dustin McFarland), Young Einstein (Rodney Pleasant Jr) and Andy Cat (Andy Cooper). They took the name Ugly Duckling because "they felt like outcasts on the Southern California hip-hop scene of the mid-'90s" according to Allmusic, and they are "one of the most prominent underground hip-hop groups" according to the book How to Rap.

The group's style is influenced by old school hip-hop and they are known for humorous and intelligent lyrics, "lampooning the excesses of modern hip-hop" and modern hip-hop's obsessions with sex and materialism. Andy Cooper professes himself to be a follower of Christ and a Christian, as does Young Einstein on his Facebook page. The band's songs often incorporating Christian themes such as love, forgiveness and rejection of worldly values.

Some songs include lyrics pertaining to the biblical End Times. Both Young Einstein and Dizzy Dustin have Facebook pages where fans are encouraged to keep up-to-date with the band's antics, tours and music releases. Young Einstein daily posts inspirational phrases he collects from the internet onto his Facebook page for people to read and comment on.

Being heavily influenced by old school hip hop, it conforms to the original basics of hip hop music: turntablism and MCing. The group's DJ, Young Einstein, forms the backbone of the group: he is renowned for performing very complex scratches both on the record and live, unlike in most modern hip hop where the DJ has been pushed to the back in order to emphasize the emcee. He is also the owner of a famous 'dookie gold rope' that is the subject of the group's song "Eye on the Gold Chain," and is donned by Einstein during most live performances of the track.

The group is renowned for its live shows in which they perform various antics on stage and interact with the crowd, getting it very hyped and affording them the reputation as brilliant live performers.

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