Sean Hunt, aka Approach, will release his latest record, Welcome

Isaac Diehl, aka I.D., will release his first solo album, Avatar

Three years ago, Sean Hunt – aka Approach – was spending the month touring in Germany, France and the Netherlands.

The Lawrence hip-hop musician was opening for Souls of Mischief, an Oakland-based act he considered a primary influence while growing up.

“My first time overseas and I’m touring with the guys whose posters were on my wall as a kid,” Hunt recalls.

Armed with only a microphone and a backing tape, Hunt was delivering his “electro funk hip-hop” style to the Teutonic masses.

“We were playing a place in Germany filled with like 600 kids who just loved what I was doing,” he says. “They were really into it. Then Opio Lindsey of Souls of Mischief came up to me afterward and said, ‘Just remember, when you go home, it won’t be like this.'”

In many respects, Lindsey was right.

As much as Hunt adores the Lawrence hip-hop community – where he’s been one of the principal movers and shakers since the late 1990s – he’ll pack his bags at the end of the month and relocate to San Francisco.

As a fitting send-off, the 29-year-old Salina native will headline a CD release party for his new record, “Welcome to Share,” today at The Granada, 1020 Mass. Hunt says the coastal move is mainly for professional reasons.

“We’ve sold records well in California,” he says. “I get a lot of show offers – enough to go back and forth. I feel like I’ve hit a glass ceiling here. People know what we’re doing here. They’ve patted us on the back. They’ve guided us through getting good stage shows. The community supported us into making better songs, better music. Now it’s like, ‘OK, go somewhere and do something!'”

Isaac Diehl – aka I.D. from Lawrence hip-hop collective Archetype – applauds Hunt’s decision.

“I’m glad he’s going,” Diehl says. “Obviously, there are much more opportunities for him. I think his style is going to go over so good out there. But it is a loss. He’s a major figure in the local hip-hop scene.”

Heart and passion

Diehl will be joining the going-away party with a CD release of his own. The vocalist/lyricist is issuing his first solo record, “Avatar Hotel,” which he describes as “an album of time capsules” featuring the arrangement skills of about a dozen producers.

Diehl and former roommate Hunt decided to pool efforts when introducing their latest recordings.

First up, Diehl will take over The Gaslight Tavern, 317 N. Second St., at 6:30 p.m. with a free barbecue meal – both meat and veggie. DJs Cruz and Deadpool will open the musical part of the evening before Diehl hits the stage with his backing band at 10 p.m.

Meanwhile, at The Granada, T.B.A. openers will start at 10 p.m. prior to Hunt’s performance.

“There will be a small overlap but nothing drastic,” Hunt says. “We’re just going to tie the night together. My set will end with a song featuring Isaac, so it will make it come full circle.”

Beyond the connection spawned by their longtime friendship, both Hunt and Diehl admit they share certain artistic affinities.

“I’m more of a dance guy,” Hunt says. “I like to set a groove for people and put bodies in motion. Isaac is more of a writer. Everything he says has been well thought-out. But we are both very serious about what we do. Both of us have the heart and passion for it.”

The 27-year-old Diehl adds, “When we first started, we liked to discuss trying to balance the pleasure side of the music with content, and the different ways that could be done as far as sneaking in a message in a catchy hook.”

The Manhattan native claims the key ingredient to this style of music comes from the personality of the performer.

“Any kind of rap is about just being yourself, rapping from your own point of view,” he explains. “That’s why there are so many different styles of rap out there because there are so many different points of view.”

Sharing the vision

Despite the physical differences between the two, their marquee names Approach and Archetype have proven similar enough to generate confusion among audiences.

“There was about a two-year period where I was constantly being called Archetype,” Hunt says. “It’s funny because a few times I’ve been called Archetype when those two dudes (Diehl and musical partner Jeremy “Nezbeat” Nesbitt) are standing right there. They love that.”

Even though Hunt took his stage moniker from a ninth-grade math class – Integrated Approach to Algebraic Equations – he isn’t exactly a numbers guy. This is all the more unusual considering “Welcome to Share” is his second album he’s done using the modern miracle of online file sharing.

“At first I would have never even thought of something like that because I’m not the most technologically inclined cat,” he says. “Even with my production techniques I have to pound it or play it. I can’t sit online and move things around. I thought it would be a real sterile experiences.”

However, he sent out some a cappella tracks to California-based producer Oh No and was “amazed” at the quality of the added beats that he heard upon return.

In fact, one of the reasons Hunt is relocating specifically to San Francisco is his Internet relationship with Paul Salva, a Chicago producer who has gathered a crew of musicians from the Midwest to move to the coast.

“Paul and I did (‘Welcome to Share’) together and have been best friends for two years now, but my CD release party will be the first time we’ve met in person,” he says.

So with the miracle of file sharing, Hunt and Diehl could conceivably keep collaborating in spite of the geographic gap. Or Diehl could just move out to San Francisco.

“I might,” Diehl says.

“There are already quite a few of our friends out there. Besides that, my whole family lives on the West Coast. Every time I talk to them, they’re like, ‘Why haven’t you moved out here?'”