Thread: Biographies

Albums:


The Smiths
Release Date: February 1984
Produced By: John Porter
Music Label: Rough Trade Records
Current issue: February 1995 (WEA)

Click on album sleeve for more .....
Review
This was the first album which was recorded on a £20000 budget. Original producer Troy Tate was devatsed to learn that his efforts were not deemed worthy of release and the entire project was to be be handed over to John Porter.
Hatful of Hollow
Release Date: November 1984
Produced By: John Porter
Music Label: Rough Trade Records
Current issue: February 1995 (WEA)

Click on album sleeve for more .....
Review
This compilation contained many tracks from the first album, as well as B sides and takes from BBC radio sessions. The release of this album was partly due to fan pressure, and gave them the opportunity to hear The Smiths in their primitive glory.
Meat is Murder
Release Date: February 1985
Produced By: The Smiths
Music Label: Rough Trade Records
Current issue: February 1995 (WEA)

Click on album sleeve for more .....
Review
Some would suggest that this is the greatest of all The Smiths albums. The contents offers pop, rock, rockabilly, psychedelia, flashes of funk and even some heavy metal. This album was commercially very successful.
The Queen is Dead
Release Date: June 1986
Produced By: Morrissey/Marr
Music Label: Rough Trade Records
Current issue: February 1995 (WEA)

Click on album sleeve for more .....
Review
Prior to the release of this album The Smiths were going through some problematic times. So much so, that the release of The Queen is Dead was delayed by about 8 months. Nevertheless the album received great reviews and was a huge success.
The World Won't Listen
Release Date: March 1987
Produced By: Various
Music Label: Rough Trade Records
Current issue: February 1995 (WEA)

Click on album sleeve for more .....
Review
Much like Hatful of Hollow, this album contained many B sides and takes from radio sessions. This album appealed more to the causal listener probably beacuse of its affordable price.
Louder Than Bombs
Release Date: April 1987
Produced By: Various
Music Label: Rough Trade Records
Current issue: February 1995 (WEA)

Click on album sleeve for more .....
Review
This compilation was released only one month after the release of The World Wont Listen. It contained 24 tracks, 20 of which had appeared on previous albums. Great value again for the casual listener, but daylight robbery for the hard core fan.
Strangeways
Release Date: September 1987
Produced By: Stephen Street
Music Label: Rough Trade Records
Current issue: February 1995 (WEA)

Click on album sleeve for more .....
Review
This was to be The Smiths last album before the split in 1987. Although not recognised as the best Smiths album, Strangeways Here We Come did show that the band was in transition. But what this could have led to we will never know.
Rank
Release Date: September 1988
Produced By: Pete Dauncey
Music Label: Rough Trade Records
Current issue: February 1995 (WEA)

Click on album sleeve for more .....
Review
Rank was released one year after Strangeways, and it appears that it is simply the mandatory Live album. This one is only for the die hards.
Review
The Very Best Of
Release Date: Sept 2001
Produced By: Various
Music Label: Warner Music
Current issue: Same

Click on album sleeve for more .....
Review
I'm speechless ! If anybody would care to say a few words about this release then please feel free to mail me at the following address, rooster@eircom.net

RUN DMC

Members

Run (Joseph Simmons) b. 11/15/64
DMC (Darryl McDaniels) b. 5/31/64
Jam Master Jay (Jason Mizell) b. 1/21/65 d. 10/30/02

"Two years ago a friend of mine asked me to say some emcee rhymes
So I said this rhyme I'm about to say, the rhyme was def and it went this way:
Took a test to become an emcee, and Orange Krush became amazed at me
So Larry put me inside his Cadillac, the chauffeur drove off and we never came back
Dave cut the record down to the bone, and now they got me rockin on the microphone..."
"You're a five dollar boy and I'm a million dollar man
You're a sucker emcee and you're my fan
You try to bite rhymes, all lines are mine, you're a sucker emcee in a pair of Calvin Kleins
Coming from the wackest part of town, trying to rap but you can't get down
You don't even know your English, your verbs or noun
You're just a sucker emcee, you sad faced clown..."
And with that verse and that 12" single- "It's Like That b/w Sucker M.C.'s"- the era of the old school rapper came to a close.
Of course Run DMC are usually considered old school by today's terms, but in 1983 when that single was released it was as far from the sound of rap at that time. Run DMC had sparse beats and sharp lyrics. They didn't need a band backing them in the studio or on stage. They had the one man band- Jam Master Jay backing them all the way.
In 1978, Kurtis Blow was one of rap's first superstars and he needed a DJ. Russell Simmons was managing Kurtis at the time and he knew his teenage brother, Joseph, would be a perfect fit for the job. "Kurtis Blow's Disco Son- DJ Run" as he was known was born. He got his name because he could cut between two turntables so quickly.
After touring with Kurtis for a while, Run began to make a name for himself as an emcee. He traded rhymes with Kurt and taped his performances. After getting a good night's sleep he would call up his buddy Darryl McDaniels and play the tape.
D was not into the night life like Run. He played a lot of basketball and football growing up. Along with his brother he collected loads of comic books. D liked to draw all the time as well. One day, D heard a tape of Grandmaster Flash and decided he wanted to be like him. He bought 2 turntables, a mixer, and break beat records of the time. D taught Run to spin records and Run told D to start rapping.
D's mom wouldn't let him near any real rap shows, so when Run got some better deejay equipment it was Run's house for next few years. D began calling himself Easy D and busted out crazy rhymes that would never see the light of day- he would never rap in public.
Around 1980, they began going to the parties at Two-Fifth Park in Hollis to hear the deejays do their thing. It was there that they met up with a deejay named Jazzy Jase.
Jason Mizell had developed a reputation in the area. He wore the flyest b-boy clothes and did what he could to stand out. He hung out with the tough crowd, but was smart enough to also be down with the nerds. Everybody liked Jazzy Jase, as he was known.
After getting into some trouble with the law, Jay began to focus on music. He played drums and bass but gave them up for the new instrument of the time- the wheels of steel. Eventually he developed quite a following in the park, including Run and DMC. Emcees would do whatever they could to get up and rap in front of Jazzy Jase.
They struggled with schoolwork as rap began to take over their lives.
Flash ahead now. Run is 17 and has been working with Kurtis Blow and, through Russell, he finally got a chance to record a song. It was called "Street Kid" but the attitude was not right and it went no where. Run was determined to make a song with his main man D. D and Russell didn't see eye to eye. D didn't like Kurtis Blow. But both Kurtis and Russell knew that D knew the music and knew what was going to hit big. Russell didn't like D's rhymes though. He thought they were too hard at the time.
Finally it did come time to record. Run knew what he wanted. Straight b-boy type beats with nothing but a drum track and a scratch. That's what he got. 1983's "It's Like That b/w Sucker MC's" broke every rule in the book and, although it would continue a few more years, put a symbolic end to old school rap.
I could go on with their career, but I suspect you know the rest by heart. They released "RUN DMC" in 1984 (a near perfect hip hop album, by the way) and followed that up with "King of Rock" in 1985. They starred in Krush Groove in 1985. But it was their collaboration with Aerosmith on "Walk This Way" from 1986's "Raising Hell" that made their legacy complete.
They appeared in the documentary film The Show, performing "My Adidas" and "Together Forever."
For more information on the early years of Run DMC, pick up a copy of the group's excellent biography, "Tougher Than Leather: The Authorized Biography of RUN DMC" by B. Adler.
At the beginning of the 1990's Jam Master Jay set up JMJ Records with Davy DMX. They released a few albums most notably, Smooth Ice and The Afro's. Jay also worked with Onyx.
They recorded several more albums, but none achieved the same success. Regardless, Run DMC will forever be the ones who broke down the doors to main stream popularity of the music.
They were featured in ads for The Gap and D.O.C. Eyecare.
Their latest effort titled Crown Royal was finally released in April of 2001 where it entered the BillBoard chart at #37.
Jam Master Jay was killed during an altercation in October 2002.
Rev. Run released "Distortion" in October 2005 and appeared on the MTV Reality Series "Run's House" around the same time.
DMC's first solo LP "Checks Thugs and Rock n Roll was released in 2005. DMC later went on to win an Emmy and write a book about his adoption experience and finding his birth mother.
Simple idea: If you love hip hop music, you've gotta love Run DMC.
It's like that, and that's the way it is.



Crown Royal
Release Date: October 12, 1999
Label: Arista
Rating:
Down with the King
Release Date: May 04, 1993
Label: Arista
Rating:
Back from hell
Release Date: 1990
Label: Profile
Rating:
Tougher than Leather
Release Date: 1988
Label: Profile
Rating:
Raising hell
Release Date: 1986
Label: Profile
Rating:
King of rock
Release Date: 1985
Label: Profile
Rating:
Run D.M.C.
Release Date: 1984
Label: Profile
Rating:

RAKIM



Although he never became a household name, Rakim is near-universally acknowledged as one of the greatest MCs -- perhaps the greatest -- of all time within the hip-hop community. It isn't necessarily the substance of what he says that's helped him win numerous polls among rap fans in the know; the majority of his lyrics concern his own skills and his Islamic faith. But in terms of how he says it, Rakim is virtually unparalleled. His flow is smooth and liquid, inflected with jazz rhythms and carried off with an effortless cool that makes it sound as though he's not even breaking a sweat. He raised the bar for MC technique higher than it had ever been, helping to pioneer the use of internal rhymes -- i.e., rhymes that occurred in the middle of lines, rather than just at the end. Where many MCs of the time developed their technique through improvisational battles, Rakim was among the first to demonstrate the possibilities of sitting down and writing intricately crafted lyrics packed with clever word choices and metaphors (of course, he also had the delivery to articulate them). Even after his innovations were worshipfully absorbed and expanded upon by countless MCs who followed, Rakim's early work still sounds startlingly fresh, and his comeback recordings (beginning in the late '90s) only added to his legend.

Rakim was born William Griffin, Jr. on January 28, 1968, in the Long Island suburb of Wyandanch. The nephew of '50s R&B legend Ruth Brown. Griffin was surrounded by music from day one, and was interested in rap almost from its inception. At age 16, he converted to Islam, adopting the Muslim name Rakim Allah. In 1985, he met Queens DJ Eric B , whose intricately constructed soundscapes made an excellent match for Rakim's more cerebral presence on the mic. With the release of their debut single, "Eric B. Is President," in 1986, Eric B & Rakim became a sensation in the hip-hop community, and their reputation kept growing as they issued classic tracks like "I Ain't No Joke" and "Paid in Full." Their first two full-length albums, 1987's Paid in Full and 1988's Follow the Leader, are still regarded as all-time hip-hop classics; Rakim's work set out a blueprint for other, similarly progressive-minded MCs to follow, and helped ensure that even after the rise of other fertile scenes around the country, East Coast rap would maintain a reputation as the center of innovative lyrical technique. The last two Eric B & Rakim albums, 1990's Let the Rhythm Hit 'Em and 1992's Don't Sweat the Technique, weren't quite as consistent as their predecessors, but still had plenty of fine moments.

Unfortunately, their legacy stopped at four albums. Both Eric B and Rakim expressed interest in recording solo albums to one another, but the former, fearful of being abandoned by his partner when their contract was up, refused to sign the release. That led to their breakup in 1992, and Rakim spent a substantial amount of time in the courts, handling the legal fallout between himself, his ex-partner, and their ex-label, MCA. His only solo output for a number of years was the track "Heat It Up," featured on the 1993 soundtrack to the Mario Van Peebles film Gunmen. Moreover, a reshuffling at MCA effectively shut down production on Rakim's solo debut, after he'd recorded some preliminary demos. Finally, Rakim got a new contract with Universal, and toward the end of 1997 he released his first solo record, the 18th Letter (early editions contained the bonus disc Book of Life, a fine Eric B and Rakim retrospective). Anticipation forthe 18th Letter turned out to be surprisingly high, especially for a veteran rapper whose roots extended so far back into hip-hop history; yet thanks to Rakim's legendary reputation, it entered the album charts at number four, and received mostly complimentary reviews. His follow-up, The Master, was released in 1999 and failed to duplicate its predecessor's commercial success, barely debuting in the Top 75. Moreover, whileThe Masterreceived positive reviews in some quarters, others seemed disappointed that Rakim's comeback material wasn't reinventing the wheel the way his early work had, and bemoaned the lack of unity among his array of different producers. Seeking to rectify the latter situation, Rakim signed with Dr. Dre's Aftermath label in 2001, and the two began recording a new album early the next year, to be titled Oh My God. In the meantime, to help heighten anticipation for the summit between two legends, Rakim guested on the single "Addictive" by female R&B singer and Aftermath labelmate Thruth Hearts ; "Addictive" hit the Top Ten in the summer of 2002, marking the first time Rakim had visited that territory since he and Eric B. appeared on Jody Watley's "Friends" in 1989. Disagreements between Dre and Ra, however, prevented the album from coming out, though the rapper was able to retain the tracks he had made with the producer. For the next couple of years, Rakim continued to talk about the record, since retitled The Seventh Seal, even going so far as to promise a release on July 7, 2007. The date came and went however, without any signs of a full length, though, in early 2008, The Archive: Live, Lost & Found, a mostly live album that also contained four new, previously-unreleased songs, hit shelves. Steve Huey, All Music Guide.

Master
Release Date: November 30, 1999
Label: Universal
Rating:

18th Letter
Release Date: November 04, 1997
Label: Uptown/Universal
Rating:
18th Letter

The Beastie Boys


The Beastie Boys were the first white group to offer a successful send-up of rap. After emerging from New York's hardcore punk underground of the early '80s, the group crossed over into the mainstream in 1986 with its first full-length album, Licensed to Ill, the first rap album to hit #1. Featuring "(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (to Party)" (#7) and "Brass Monkey" (#48 pop, #83 R&B, 1987), the album sold 720,000 copies in six weeks, becoming one of Columbia’s fastest-selling debuts ever. By the late '80s, the Beastie Boys’ sound had begun to mature, expanding into spaced-out funk and psychedelia, yet retaining its adolescent charm and hit-making sensibility.

At 14, Adam Horovitz, son of playwright Israel Horovitz, joined the hardcore band the Young and the Useless. His friends Adam Yauch and Mike Diamond, children of wealthy New York families, had formed the four-piece hardcore band the Beastie Boys along with Kate Schellenbach, later of the group Luscious Jackson, and John Berry. By 1982 the Beasties had released a 7-inch EP, Polly Wog Stew, on the independent label Rat Cage. Horovitz joined shortly thereafter.

The Beasties’ first attempt at rap came with the 1983 12-inch spoof, “Cookie Puss,” based on a crank call they made to the Carvel ice cream company. It wasn’t until the trio teamed up with friend Rick Rubin - who would start the Def Jam label in his college dorm room the next year - that the Beasties began taking rap seriously. The marriage was perfect, producer Rubin working into the group’s bratty raps samples with appropriately white, upper-middle-class references: Led Zeppelin, heavy-metal guitar, and the theme to TV’s Mr. Ed.

With thumbs-up from Rubin’s then-partner, Russell Simmons, head of Rush Productions and manager of Run-D.M.C., the Beasties were signed to Def Jam in 1985. That same year they appeared in one of rap’s first movies, Krush Groove, with the single “She’s on It.” They also opened for Madonna’s Virgin Tour, during which they shouted obscenities to the audiences and got booed in return. In 1986 the trio toured with Run-D.M.C.’s violence-plagued Raisin’ Hell Tour.

Nineteen-eighty-seven was a watershed year for the Beasties. The success of “Fight for Your Right” led to the trio headlining their own tour, which was plagued by lawsuits, arrests, blame for violence and vandalism, and accusations of sexism and obscenity. In 1988 they appeared in Run-D.M.C.’s movie, Tougher Than Leather. The Beastie Boys broke with Rubin and Def Jam over financial and personal differences, and moved to L.A., where they met producers the Dust Brothers (John King and Mike Simpson). Together they created the long-awaited second album, Paul’s Boutique (#14, 1989), whose release on Capitol came three years after the Beasties’ debut - partially due to a bitter legal dispute with Rubin. The band made an artistic leap on the record, turning their obnoxious, white, bourgeois take on rap into a funky, album-long sound collage. The record produced the Top 40 song “Hey Ladies” (#36), but sold far less than Licensed to Ill.

It would be another three years until their third LP, Check Your Head (#10, 1992), an eclectic album on which the Beastie Boys picked up their instruments again, was released on their own Capitol-distributed Grand Royal label. The record marked the first appearance of longtime sidemen DJ Hurricane and keyboardist Money Mark (a.k.a. Mark Ramos Nishita). It broke the Top 10 in a week, even though it jumps stylistically from funk to rap to hardcore. In 1994 the Beasties released a compilation of their early hardcore singles and EPs as Some Old Bullshit (#46), followed by a new album, Ill Communication (#1 pop, #2 R&B, 1994), which continued in the eclectic (and successful) vein of Check Your Head and debuted at the top of the albums chart. That summer, the Beastie Boys joined Smashing Pumpkins, the Breeders, George Clinton, and other big names for Lollapalooza ’94 (as Luscious Jackson played on the second stage).

It would be four more years before the Beastie Boys released another full album of new material. Meanwhile, they demonstrated a lingering fondness for hardcore punk on the Aglio E Olio EP (1995), and collected old and new jazzy, soul-influenced instrumental tracks on The In Sound From Way Out! (#45, 1996).

Yauch had been responsible for some of the Beasties’ wildest behavior (with girls, drugs, and egg-throwing), but in the ’90s embraced Buddhism and organized the annual star-studded Tibetan Freedom Concert, which demanded independence for Tibet. Diamond assumed hands-on management of Grand Royal, which branched off into a short-lived magazine of the same name, and co-owned a clothing company called X-Large. In the late ’80s Horovitz dabbled in acting, married actor Ione Skye, and created the side project BS2000, releasing Simply Mortified in 2001.
HELLO NASTY
New Beastie Boys album release date September 22, 2009
(1998) Bonus Tracks; Remastered

Ill Comunication
(1994) Bonus CD; Remastered


Licence to Ill (1986)


Check your head (1992) Remastered


The Beastie boys Anthology (1999)


Some Old bulls**t(1994)


Solid gold


Paul's boutique

Trevor Smith, better known as Busta Rhymes (born May 20, 1972), is a Jamaican-American rapper, songwriter and actor chuck D of Publick Enemy gave him the name Busta Rhymes (from former NFL wide receiver George "buster" Rhymes ).

Busta Rhymes openly said he embraced Islam when being interviewed Busta adds, “I used that as inspiration to go into the studio all the time when I had a free moment. After work, during my lunch break, traveling back and forth to work … to just apply myself creatively, and the opportunity finally came one day when I was downtown.” At 17, Rhymes landed a six-figure record deal
Since 1991 Busta Rhymes has been greeted as a transformational, bar–raising iconoclastic performer and writer. Not only was he a member of the four–man group Leaders of the New School, but also as a member of ‘Native Tongue Brothers’ which consisted of Tribe Called Quest, Leaders Of The New School, Black Sheep, De La Soul and Jungle Brothers. That same year Leaders Of The New School teamed up with A Tribe Called Quest to create the all–time classic single “Scenario,” and released A Future Without a Past on Elektra Records.
In 1996 Busta Rhymes released his debut solo album, The Coming, which featured the hit song “Woo Hah! Got You All In Check.” The single marked his first of 14 RIAA gold and platinum certifications in his association with Elektra as a solo artist and founder of Flipmode Squad, and an additional five through J Records and Aftermath/Interscope. His 2006 album, The Big Bang, debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Top 200 album chart.
Busta Rhymes’ run in the international pop, rap and urban top ten has extended over a decade, from the platinum Grammy–nominated single “Woo–Hah!! Got You All in Check” through the No. 1 Hip–Hop/R&B and No. 3 pop “What’s it Gonna Be?!” featuring Janet Jackson and “Pass the Courvoisier” with Diddy and Pharrell, and into the digital era with the gold–certified mastertone “Touch It.” In between making albums, Busta entered the acting arena starring in John Singleton’s hit movie Higher Learning (1995) in which Busta made his acting debut. Busta teamed up again with John Singleton and starred along side Samuel L Jackson, Vanessa Jackson and Christian Bale in the remake of the 1971 classic Shaft (2000). Also in 2000 Busta Rhymes starred with Sir Sean Connery in Finding Forrester, and in 2002 he starred with the ‘Queen Of Horror Movies’ Jamie Lee Curtis in Halloween Resurrection.
As Busta Rhymes embarks on his eighth studio album Back On My B S on December 9th and his first release through Universal Motown Records, Busta will once again prove that he is a formidable centerpiece in music. As an iconic figure, Busta has demonstrated to be viable and respectable mainstay amongst both diverse group peers and elaborate fan–base. His undeniable talent coupled with upcoming partnerships, demonstrate Busta Rhymes is a living legend.


Back on mu B.S.
Release Date: May 19, 2009
Label: Island
Rating: Blessed
Release Date: 2008
Label: Universal Int'l
Crown
Release Date: April 17, 2006
Label: Nocturne

Release Date: June 13, 2006
Label: Aftermath
Rating: It ain't save no more
Release Date: November 26, 2002
Label: J-Records
Rating: Genessis
Release Date: November 13, 2001
Label: BMG
Rating: Anarchy
Release Date: June 20, 2000
Label: Elektra
Rating: Extinction Level Event
Release Date: December 08, 1998
Label: Elektra
Rating: When Disaster Strike
Release Date: September 23, 1997
Label: Elektra
Rating: Coming
Release Date: March 26, 1996
Label: Elektra
Rating:

Public Enemy



Also known as P.E., is a seminal Golden Age era Hip-Hop group known for their densely layered production and politically charged lyrics demonstrating their interest in the concerns of the African American community.

PE formed in Long Island, New York, in 1982 around a WBAU radio show as Spectrum city. After one less-than-successful single, they regroup and signed to the still developing Def Jam record label after Rick Rubin heard Chuck D freestyling on a demo. Their debut, ‘Yo! Bum Rush The Show’, was released in 1987 to mild critical acclaim, although the Hip-Hop climate changed dramatically due to sampling during the time of release. As a response, they went on to release the revolutionary ‘It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back’ in 1988, which performed better in the charts than their previous release, and included the hit single ‘Don’t Believe the Hype’.

Slightly less militant than their previous releases Public Enemy’s, ‘Fear Of A Black Planet’ was officially recognised as being the most successful and influential of the Public Enemy recordings when, in 2004, it became one of 50 recordings, chosen that year by the Library of Congress, to be added to the National Recording Registry. Sales-wise it was the most successful of any of their albums to date. It included the powerful and controversial singles ‘911 is a Joke’ (which criticized emergency response units for taking longer to arrive at emergencies in the black community than those in the white community), and ‘Fight the Power’, which is considered by many to be the group’s premier self-describing anthem. The song is considered to be amongst the most popular and influential in Hip Hop history and was the theme song for Spike Lee’s landmark film ‘Do The Right Thing’.

Public Enemy are to be considered musical pioneers for a broad variety of reasons. For instance, Terminator X elevated DJing to a refined art. Some of his most innovative scratching tricks can be heard on the track ‘Rebel Without A Pause’. PE’s production team, ‘The Bomb Squad’, offered up a web of innovative samples and beats; critic Steven Thomas Earlewine declared that PE “brought in elements of free jazz, hard funk, even musique concrète, via their [production] team, the Bomb Squad, creating a dense, ferocious sound unlike anything that came before.”

PE revolutionized the rap world with their political, social and cultural consciousness. These themes became infused into skilled and poetic rhymes with jazzy backbeats. They are recognised as the first Hip Hop group to make extended world tours, leading to huge popularity and influence within the Hip Hop communities of Europe and Asia. They also changed the Internet’s music distribution capability by being the first group to release MP3 albums, a format virtually unknown at the time.

Public Enemy, in keeping with their ‘pioneer’ status, also helped to form and define the so-called ‘crossover’ genre of music (heavy rock music spliced with hip hop) by collaborating with New York thrash metal outfit Anthrax in 1991. The single ‘Bring The Noise’ was a remarkable potpourri of semi-militant pro-black lyrics, grinding guitars and sporadic humour. The two bands, cemented by a mutual respect, and the personal friendship between Chuck D and his Anthrax counterpart Scott Ian, introduced a hitherto alien genre to rock fans.

During the seemingly unlikely tour of Anthrax and Public Enemy, Flavor Flav made his famous pronouncement onstage that “They said this tour would never happen” (heard on Anthrax’s Live: The Island Years CD). This has become something of legendry significance in both rock and rap circles. There is some justification for the theory that without this unlikely musical partnership, bands such as Rage Against The Machine and Linkin Park would not have existed, and the genres of rap rock, nu metal and their related offshoots might have never developed.

Members of Public Enemy

Chuck D
Real name: Carlton Douglas Ridenhour
Role: Group leader, lyricist, main vocalist, and artwork
Birthdate: August 1, 1960

Flavor Flav
Real name: William Jonathan Drayton, Jr.
Role: Lyricist, vocalist, hype-man, and comic relief.
Birthdate: March 16, 1959

Professor Griff
Real name: Richard Griffin
Role: Head of S1W, liaison between PE and S1W, road manager. Ensured that the chaotic Flavor Flav was available when needed. Occasional vocalist and/or producer, plays drums at live shows.
Birthdate: August 1, 1960 (the same as Chuck D)

Terminator X
Real name: Norman Rogers
Role: DJ, Producer
Birthdate: August 25, 1966

Dj Lord
Real name: Lord Aswod
Role: DJ, Producer

The following are a part of The Bomb Squad, the revolutionary production group which is closely associated with (and sometimes considered a part of) Public Enemy:

Hank Shocklee
Real name: Hank Boxley
Bill Stephany
Keith Shocklee
Eric “Vietnam” Sadler
Chuck D - often listed as a member of the Bomb Squad under the pseudonymn “Carl Ryder”, a shortened form of his real name.

The S1W’s are sometimes considered a part of Public Enemy, as well.

It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back
1988 -
> Fear of a Black Planet
1990 -

20th Century Masters - The Millennium Collection: The Best of Public Enemy
Apocalypse 91...The Enemy Strikes Black
1991

Power to the People and the Beats
2005 -:


2006 Rebirth of a Nation

Yo! Bum Rush the Show
1987 -:
Power to the People and the Beats
2005

Beats and Places
2005
Muse Sick-N-Hour Mess Age
1994 -:

The Notorious B.I.G.



Christopher George Latore Wallace (May 21, 1972 – March 9, 1997), popularly known as Biggie Smalls (after a fictional gangster in the 1975 filmLet's do it Again), Frank White (from the 1990 filmKing of Ney York) and his primarystage name The Notorious B.I.G., was an American rapper.
Life can change in an instant. And nobody understands these words better than a die-hard hip-hop fan. In the ever-expanding universe of rap, one blink of the eye and the entire landscape can be transformed. From street styles to microphone flows to the artists themselves, nothing lasts forever.
In the case of the Brooklyn boy who the world simply called Big, that change came much too soon. The fatal bullet that killed the Notorious B.I.G. on March 9th 1997, transformed the lives of those who loved him - family, friends and fans.

A dark-skinned Buddha belly baby born to a twenty-five-year old schoolteacher on May 21st 1972, young Christopher Wallace, an only child, from his bedroom window witnessed the ills of a city in decline. It was on the streets of Bedford-Stuyvesant, that the future B.I.G. first witnessed the depressing lives and laughing eyes that would later lace his street-hardened lyrics.
Going from a happy baby to a sullen teenager to a badass man, two things came along that would change his life forever: rap and crack. Rap would turn out to be the ultimate fuel for his witty imagination.
On the two studio albums, READY TO DIE (1994) and LIFE AFTER DEATH (1997) that the Notorious B.I.G. recorded before his death, he crafted brutally honest lyrics that depicted his city just as he saw it, speaking of both the good and the bad. Still, unlike the tales of 'gangsta rap' coming from the West Coast, Biggie's lyrics were simultaneously laced with laughter and tears.
The do or die world of Bed-Stuy ('the place where my head rest'), that B.I.G. observed while snapping and squatting on the stoop of his St. James Place apartment, would soon become world renown. With his deep voice gritty as broken glass and urgent as a siren, B.I.G.'s streetwise poetics and cinematic eye put East Coast rap back in the spotlight, having temporarily lost its shine to the new West Coast MCs dominating the airwaves.
Following in the giant steps of '80s icons Rakim and Big Daddy Kane, two of his favorite rappers, B.I.G. was determined to stay true to his block and become famous at the same time. After winning the Unsigned Hype (March, 1992) competition in the pages of the hip hop magazine, The Source, rapping over an old Kane beat courtesy of his homeboy Mister Cee, a tape of the massive rapper was sent to A&R rebel and chief conceptualist Sean 'Puffy' Combs at Uptown Records.
Having shaped the style and grooves of early '90s new jacks Mary J. Blige and Jodeci while he was still an intern at Uptown, Puffy dug the dangerous visions on the demo of the 6'3', 200-plus-pound wordsmith. Taking Biggie from Brooklyn rock slinger to worldwide rock star would be no easy task, but Puffy was anxious. Whetting the public's appetite with the club banger 'Party & Bulls**t' from the 'Who's The Man' soundtrack, in 1992, Biggie and Puff's shared vision of bringing Big's music to the masses, seemed to be taking shape. But that dream would damn near collapse the following year when Uptown Records CEO Andre Harrell fired Puffy.
Puffy, seeing the set back as an opportunity to take their dream to the higher level, next teamed-up with veteran music legend Clive Davis and his Arista Records. There the prophetic Puff Daddy officially launched Bad Boy Records, a label that would come to mean as much to hip-hop in the '90s as Def Jam, Tommy Boy or Cold Chillin' had meant the decade before. Though folks on the street would laugh that the lanky man with the master plan had not signed the most attractive MCs in history, as usual, Puff would have the last laugh with the signing of Craig Mack and B.I.G.
Released on September 1, 1994, the Notorious B.I.G.'s revolutionary record READY TO DIE would become a milestone in hip-hop history. Biggie and his producers (which included Puffy, Easy Moe Bee, DJ Premier, among others) crafted an unforgettable brave soul record that was as important to its time as Marvin Gaye's What's Going On and Curtis Mayfield's Super Fly had been to their time.
With an Afro'ed baby on the cover that many fans still believe came from his mom's photo album, READY TO DIE opened with crazy intro of Big's birth and ended with the madness of 'Suicidal Thoughts.' Separating the game from the truth everything in between was pure butter.
In the minds of many, listening to READY TO DIE was like roaring through the streets of Bed-Stuy with Biggie giving us a guided tour. Told with a crazy sense of humor and a sharp eye for detail, we follow in Big Poppa's footsteps.
With champagne flowing through his veins, the 'style and grace' of Hype Williams directed videos, magazines covers, music award trophies, and a steady rise from streets to suites, envy bubbled in the bitter hearts of haters.
In 1995, heated words on records and in interviews became labeled by the mainstream media as an 'East Coast/West Coast Rap War.' There was enough gasoline thrown on a small flame to start a bonfire and before it was over, a talented urban poet was dead. The Notorious B.I.G. was slain only weeks before the release of his album, entitled LIFE AFTER DEATH.
Eight years later, this great MC is still a part of our consciousness. He is an artist so ahead of his time that his rhymes still sound as though they were written yesterday.
With new grooves, fierce production and all-star collaborators like Faith Evans, Jay Z, Bob Marley, Tupac, Mary J. Blige, Eminem, T.I., Mobb Deep, R. Kelly, Charlie Wilson, Big Pun and Fat Joe, to name a few, the release of The Notorious B.I.G. Duets: The Final Chapter, answers the prayers of many who long to hear Brooklyn's finest roar through their stereo speakers once again.
Blending sampled vocals with fresh tracks, The Notorious B.I.G. Duets is a welcome addition to the rap charts. From the first note of the sorrow-filled 'Hold Ya Head' featuring the soothing voice of Bob Marley, we realize that this set is special.
Produced by Jazze Pha and with the all-star line-up of Jagged Edge, Nelly and Diddy, the first single 'Nasty Girl,' is a party anthem paying tribute to the ladies and borrowing from the B.I.G. classic, 'Nasty Boy.' Reminiscent of 'Last Day,' the Havoc-produced track from Big's LIFE AFTER DEATH, Havoc once again assimilates the Queensbridge sound with Big's vocals, creating an illmatic track which speaks in the voice of the streets.
The Eminem produced 'It Has Been Said,' featuring Diddy and Obie Trice, is a moving tribute to a Brooklyn born warrior prematurely lost. 'Ultimate Rush,' the sizzling offering from Scott Storch, features fiery vocalist Missy Elliott, and 'Just a Memory,' featuring The Clipse, masterfully mixes B.I.G. with Diana Ross' melancholy 'Theme from Mahogany.' Another standout, 'Whatchu Want,' produced by newcomer Nate Hill, finds Jay Z boasting as hard as the concrete sidewalks of Jay and Big's old Crooklyn blocks.
With B.I.G.'s pimped out vocals, and rhymes from lyricists from all around the world of rap, The Notorious B.I.G. Duets: The Final Chapter, pulls hip hop, from East and West, to the center of B.I.G.'s universe, the streets of Brooklyn, USA.

On these 22 tracks, the Notorious B.I.G. lives on, taking us on a ride through Bed-Stuy, one more time.

• 1994: Ready to die
  
• 1997:Kife after death
• 1999:Born Again
• 2005:Duets:the final chapter
• 2007:Greatest hits
• 2009:Notorius

*because he was such a great rapper, I'll post what I think is important to know about him;)

Timeline:


June 16, 1971: Shortly after his mom is acquitted on bombing charges, Tupac Amaru Shakur is born in New York. Tupac Amaru are Inca Words meaning "shining serpent." Shakur is Arabic for Thankful to God.

1975-1983: Tupac's family shuttles between the Bronx and Harlem, at times living in shelters.

1983: Legs comes to live with the Shakur family; Tupac "claims" him as his father. Legs introduces Afeni to Crack.

September 1983: Afeni enrolls 12-year-old Tupac in the 127th Street Ensemble, a Harlem theater group. In his first performance, Tupac plays Travis in a Raisin the Sun.

June 1986: Shakur's family moves to Baltimore;. As MC New York Tupac writes his first rap.

September 1986: Tupac enrolls at the Baltimore School for the Arts, where he studies ballet and acting.

June 1988: Tupac and his family move to Marine City, California "Leaving that school affected me so much," he said later. "I see that as the point where I got off track." Shortly after, Tupac moves in with a neighbor and begins selling drugs.

August: 1988: Mutulu Shakur, Tupac's stepfather, is sentenced to sixty years in prison for his involvement in a 1981 armored-car robbery.

1990: Tupac joins Digital Underground as a rodie/dancer/rapper. While on tour, he learns that his mother is using crack.

January 3, 1991: Tupac makes his recording debut on DU's. This is an E.P. Release.

November 12, 1991: 2Pacaplypse Now is released. Shortly thereafter, Tupac files a $10 million lawsuit against the Oakland police for alleged brutality following an arrest for jaywalking.

January 17, 1992: Tupac makes his big-screen debut in Ernest Dickerson's Juice, earning praise for his portrayal of Bishop. He is perhaps best remembered for the line "I am crazy, and I don't give a f*ck!"

April 11, 1992: Ronald Ray Howard, 19, shoots a Texas trooper. Howard's attorney claims 2Pacalypse Now, which was in his client's tape deck, incited him to kill.

August 22, 1992: Tupac has an altercation with old acquaintances in Marine City. A 6 year old bystander is shot in the head. Tupac's half brother, Maurice Harding is arrested but released due to lack of evidence.

September 22, 1992: Tupac is denounced by Vice President Dan Quayle, who says 2Pacalypse Now "has no place in our society."

February 1, 1993: Strictly 4 My *****Z is released and eventually goes platinum.

March 13, 1993: Tupac has a fight with a limo driver in Hollywood who accuses him of using drugs in the car. Tupac's arrested but the charges are dropped.

April 5, 1993: Tupac is arrested in Lansing Michigan, for taking a swing at a local rapper with a baseball bat during a concert. He's sentenced to 10 days in jail.

July 23, 1993: John Singleton's Poetic Justice, starring Tupac and Janet Jackson, is released. Before filming began, Jackson demanded Shakur take an HIV test before she would do any kissing scenes.

October 31, 1993: Tupac is arrested for allegedly shooting two off-duty Atlanta police officers who he says were harassing a black motorist. Charges are eventually dropped.

November 18, 1993: A 19 year old woman, whom Tupac picked up 4 days earlier in a New York nightclub, is allegedly sodomized and sexually abused by the rapper and 3 of his friends.

December 1993: John Singleton is forced by Columbia Pictures to drop the rapper from the cast of his upcoming film, Higher Learning.

March 10, 1994: Tupac is sentenced to fifteen days in a Los Angeles jail for punching out director Allen Hughes. (Hughes and his brother, Albert, had dropped Tupac from Menace II Society.)

March 23, 1994: Tupac stars as Birdie, a troubled drug dealer, in Above the Rim. The soundtrack album, featuring the song "Pour out a little Liquor," recorded by Tupac's group, Thug Life, sells 2 million copies.

September 7, 1994: Two Milwaukee teens murder a police officer and cite Tupac's "Souljah's Story" as their inspiration.

November, 30 1994: While on trial for sex and weapons charges, Tupac is shot five times and robbed of $40,000 worth of jewelry in the lobby of a Times Square recording studio. Tupac checks himself out of the hospital less than three hours after surgery. The case remains unsolved.

December 1, 1994: Tupac is acquitted of sodomy and weapons charges but is found guilty of sexual abuse.

February 14, 1995: Tupac is sentenced to up to four and a half years in a maximum security prison, convicted of touching her bum. He immediately begins serving his time in New York's Rikers Island penitentiary.

April 1, 1995: While he's incarcerated, Tupac's third album, Me Against the World, debuts at no. 1 on Billboard's pop chart. Fueled by the single "Dear Mama," the album goes double platinum in 7 months.

April 1995: In a vibe interview from jail, Tupac renounces "Thug Life" persona and commits himself to positive works. He also implicates Biggie Smalls, Puffy Combs, Andre Harrell, and his close friend Stretch, and others in the recording studio ambush.

August 1995: Biggie, Puffy and Harrell tell Vibe, they had no connection to Tupac's shooting.

October 1995: Death Row Records CEO Suge Knight posts $1.4 million bond to release Tupac, who immediately flies to LA, signs with Death Row and begins recording All Eyez on Me.

November 30, 1995: Exactly on year after Tupac's shooting, Randy "Stretch" Walker is murdered execution-style in Queens.

February 1996: In Vibe Tupac suggests he's been sleeping with Biggie's wife, Faith Evans. She denies the stories.

February 13, 1996: Tupac's Death Row Debut, All Eyez on Me, rap's first double CD, is released.

March 29, 1996: Words are exchanged and a gun is pulled when Death Row and Bad Boy employees face off after the Soul Train awards in Los Angeles.

April 25, 1996: All Eyez on Me goes quintuple platinum.

May 1996: Tupac and Snoop Doggy Dogg release "2 of Amerikaz most Wanted." In the video, caricatures of Biggie and Puffy and punished for setting up Tupac.

June 4, 1996: Death Row releases Tupac's "Hit 'Em Up," a brutal diatribe against Biggie, Bad Boy, Mobb Deep, and others.

September 4, 1996: Tupac returns to New York for the MTV music awards and gets into a scuffle.

September 7, 1996: After leaving the Mike Tyson-Bruce Seldon fight in Las Vegas in Suge Knight's car, Shakur is shot four times in the chest by an assailant in a white Cadillac. Knight, who has connections with the Bloods, escapes with a minor injury. Shakur is rushed to University Medical Center, where he undergoes surgery, including the removal of his right lung.

September 11, 1996: A Compton man who police say is associated with the LA Crips is shot to death while sitting in his car, the first in a series of gang related murders.Police begin investigating possible connections to Tupac's shooting.

Friday, September 13 1996: After six days in critical condition, Tupac Shakur is pronounced dead at 4:03pm. His body is later cremated. He was only 25.


Tupac grew up around nothing but self-delusion. His mother, Alice Faye Williams, thought she was a "revolutionary." She called herself "Afeni Shakur" and associated with members of the ill-fated Black Panther Party, a movement that wanted to feed school kids breakfast and earn civil rights for African Americans. During her youth she dropped out of high school, partied with North Carolina gang members, then moved to Brooklyn: After an affair with one of Malcolm X's bodyguards, she became political. When the mostly white United Federation of Teachers went on strike in 1968, she crossed the picket line and taught the children herself. After this she joined a New York chapter of the Black Panther Party and fell in with an organizer named Lumumba. She took to ranting about killing "the pigs" and overthrowing the government, which eventually led to her arrest and that of twenty comrades for conspiring to set off a race war. Pregnant, she made bail and told her husband, Lummuba, it wasn't his child. Behind his back she had been carrying on with Legs (a small-time associate of Harlem drug baron Nicky Barnes) and Billy Garland (a member of the Party). Lumumba immediately divorced her.

Things went downhill for Afeni: Bail revoked, she was imprisoned in the Women's House of Detention in Greenwich Village. In her cell she patted her belly and said, "This is my prince. He is going to save the black nation."

By the time Tupac Amaru Shakur was born on June 16, 1971, Afeni had already defended herself in court and been acquitted on 156 counts. Living in the Bronx, she found steady work as a paralegal and tried to raise her son to respect the value of an education.

From childhood, everyone called him the "Black Prince." For misbehaving, he had to read an entire edition of The New York Times. But she had no answer when he asked about his daddy. "She just told me, 'I don't know who your daddy is.' It wasn't like she was a slut or nothing'. It was just some rough times. "When he was two, his sister, Sekyiwa, was born. This child's father, Mutulu, was a Black Panther who, a few months before her birth, had been sentenced to sixty years for a fatal armoured car robbery.

With Mutulu away, the family experienced hard times. No matter where they moved-the Bronx, Harlem, homeless shelters Tupac was distressed. "I remember crying all the time. My major thing growing up was I couldn't fit in. Because I was from everywhere. I didn't have no buddies that I grew up with."

As time passed, the issue of his father tormented him. He felt "unmanly," he said. Then his cousins started saying he had an effeminate face. "I don't know. I just didn't feel hard. I could do all the things my mother could give me, but she couldn't give me nothing else."

The loneliness began to wear on him. He retreated into writing love songs and poetry. "I remember I had a book like a diary. And in that book I said I was going to be famous." He wanted to be an actor. Acting was an escape from his dismal life. He was good at it, eager to leave his crummy family behind. "The reason why I could get into acting was because it takes nothing' to get out of who I am and go into somebody else."

His mother enrolled him in the 127th Street Ensemble, a theatre group in the impoverished Harlem section of Manhattan, where he landed his first role at age twelve, that of Travis in A Raisin in the Sun. "I lay on a couch and played sleep for the first scene. Then I woke up and I was the only person onstage. I can remember thinking, "This is the best shit in the world!" That got me real high. I was getting' a secret: This is what my cousins can't do."

In Baltimore, at age fifteen, he fell into rap; he started writing lyrics, walking with a swagger, and milking his background in New York for all it was worth. People in small towns feared the Big Apple's reputation; he called himself MC New York and made people think he was a tough guy.

He enrolled in the illustrious Baltimore School for the Arts, where he studied acting and ballet with white kids and finally felt "in touch" with himself. "Them white kids had things we never seen," he said. "That was the first time I saw there was white people who you could get along with. Before that, I just believed what everyone else said: They was devils. But I loved it. I loved going to school. It taught me a lot. I was starting to feel like I really wanted to be an artist.

By the time he was twenty, Tupac Amaru Shakur had been arrested eight times, even serving eight months in prison after being convicted of sexual abuse. In addition, he was the subject of two wrongful-death lawsuits, one involving a six-year-old boy who was killed after getting caught in gang-war crossfire between Shakur's gang and a rival group.

In the late eighties, Shakur teamed up with Humpty-Hump (a.k.a. Eddie Humphrey, a.k.a. Gregory "Shock-G" Jacobs) and other Oakland-based rappers to create Digital Underground, a band intent on massive bass beats and frenetic, Parliament-Funkadelic-style rhythms. In 1990, the group released its debut and best album, Sex Packets, a pulsating testament to the boogie power of hip-hop, featuring two classic tracks, "Humpty Dance" and "Doowutchyalike." After an EP of re-mixes in 1991, D.U. released Sons of the P and, the following year, The Body-Hat Syndrome, all on Tommy Boy Records.

In 1992, Shakur entered a most fruitful five-year period. He broke free of D.U. and made his solo debut, 2Pacalypse Now, a gangsta rap document that put him in the notorious, high-speed lane to stardom. That same year he starred in Juice, an acclaimed low-budget film about gangs which saw some Hollywood success. In 1993, he recorded and released Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z., an album that found Shakur crossing over to the pop charts. Unfortunately, he also found himself on police blotters, when allegations of a violent attack on an off-duty police officer and sexual misconduct arose. The same year, Shakur played a single father and Janet Jackson's love interest in the John Singleton film Poetic Justice.

In November of 1994, he was shot five times during a robbery in which thieves made off with $40,000 worth of his jewellery. Shakur miraculously recovered from his injuries to produce his most impressive artistic accomplishments, including 1995's Me Against the World, which sold two million copies, and the double-CD All Eyez on Me, which sold nearly three million & was released during 1996. As his career arc began a steep rise toward fame and fortune, Shakur was shot (most say suspiciously) and killed after watching a Mike Tyson fight with Death Row Records president Marion "Suge" Knight. Though his death was a jolt to his fans and the music community, Shakur himself often said that he expected he'd die by the sword before he reached thirty.

Following his passing, Shakur's label released an album, The Don Killuminati, under the pseudonym "Makaveli." The cover depicted Shakur nailed to a cross under a crown of thorns, with a map of the country's major gang areas superimposed on it. In January of 1997, Gramercy pictures released Gridlock'd, a film in which Shakur played the role of a drug addict to mostly good reviews. His final film, Gang Related, was released in 1997, and Death Row is said to have several unreleased recordings in the vaults for potential future release.

2pac New York Shooting


Since before the day he was born, Tupac Shakur has battled "the system"-but never so dramatically as in the last 48 hours of November. On the 29th, a Manhattan jury had convened to deliberate charges of sodomy, sexual abuse, and weapons possession against Tupac, 23, and his codefendant, Charles Fuller, 24. They stood accused of molesting a 19-year-old woman in Tupac's $750-a-night, 38th-floor Parker Meridien Hotel suite on November 18, 1993. After the first day of deliberations, Tupac left for a publicity stop in Harlem, then went on to Times Square's Quad Recording Studio to record a track with Uptown Records' Little Shawn. Facing a maximum 25-year sentence, Tupac knew it might be his last recording session for some time.

At 12:20 a.m., Tupac was running more than an hour late when he and his three-man entourage swept past a black man sitting on a desk in the entranceway of the office building where Quad is located. The man got up from the desk as two confederates (also black) came in the door, and the three followed Tupac and his crew to the elevator, pulled out guns, and hollered, "Give up the jewelry, and get on the floor!" While his friends lay on the gray stone floor, Tupac cursed at the holdup men and lunged for one of the guns. The rapper was shot at least four times. His manager Freddie Moore was hit once. The robbers nabbed $5,000 worth of Moore's jewelry, as well as Tupac's $30,000 diamond ring and $10,000 in gold chains. They left Tupac's diamond-encrusted gold Rolex.

Moore gave chase, collapsing in front of a strip club next door. His friends dragged the severely wounded Tupac into the elevator and up to the eighth-floor studio to administer first aid. Tupac's first call was reportedly to his mom, Afeni Shakur, in Atlanta; then he called 911. When the cops showed up, Tupac saw some familiar faces. Two of the first four police officers on the scene were William Kelly and Joseph Kelly (no relation), and "seconds later, Officer Craig McKernan arrived. McKernan had supervised the two Kellys in Tupac's arrest at the Parker Meridien and had just testified at the rape trial. "Hi, Officer McKernan," Shakur sputtered, lying naked in a pool of his own blood. "Hey, Tupac, you hang in there," McKernan responded, as an EMS team secured a brace around Tupac's neck and strapped him to a board. The stretcher didn't fit into the elevator, so he had to be propped upright, blood streaming down from his wounds. McKernan helped carry him out past a waiting photographer. "I can't believe you're taking my picture on a stretcher," Tupac groaned, flipping off the photographer.

Tupac was rushed to Bellevue Hospital. "He was hit by a low-caliber missile," says Dr. Leon Pachter, chief of Bellevue's trauma department. "Had it been a high-caliber missile, he'd have been dead." Tupac continued to bleed heavily all day, so at 1:30 p.m., Pachter and a 12-doctor team operated on the damaged blood vessel high in his right leg. At 4 p.m., he was out of surgery. At 6:45 p.m., against the vociferous complaints of his doctors, he checked himself out. "I haven't seen anybody in my 25-year professional career leave the hospital like this," says Dr. Pachter. Afeni, who had flown up from Atlanta, wheeled the heavily bandaged Tupac out the back door, fighting through a crowd of reporters.

The next day, Tupac made a surprise appearance in the Manhattan courtroom where his fate was being decided. He was wheeled in by Nation of Islam bodyguards, his charmed Rolex on his right wrist, his left wrist wrapped in gauze, and his bandaged head and leg covered by a wool-knit Yankees hat and a black Nike warm-up suit.

With his friends-including actors Mickey Rourke" and Jasmine Guy-rallied around, Tupac sat through the morning session before his right leg went numb. He then went uptown and secretly checked into Metropolitan Hospital Center on East 97th Street under the name of Bob Day.

Several hours later, the jury came back with verdicts on Tupac and Fuller: guilty of fondling the woman against her will-sexual abuse-but innocent on the weightier sodomy and weapon charges. A few jurors argued for full acquittal and viewed the verdict as a compromise. "There was a very strong feeling that there just was not enough evidence," says juror Richard Devitt.

"We're ecstatic that the jury found that there was almost no merit to these charges whatsoever," said Tupac's beaming lawyer, Michael Warren. He plans to appeal the sexual abuse conviction. Sentencing was delayed due to Tupac's condition, and he remained free on $25,000 bail.

For the second time in eight weeks, Tupac had beaten a felony rap. On October 7, in Atlanta, Fulton County DA Louis Slaton dropped the aggravated assault charges filed against Tupac on October 31, 1993. Tupac and his posse had shot two off-duty police officers in the buttocks and abdomen, but witnesses told the DA that Tupac and company had fired in self-defense after Officer Mark Whitwell fired at them. Whitwell resigned from the force seven months after the shooting.

Some conspiracy theorists leaped to the conclusion that Tupac had been set up and that the "robbery" was a payback for his perceived attacks on police; others concocted a revenge plot by the rape accuser. Tupac's lawyer fanned the flames, citing his' client's exaggerated suspicion of cops to explain his flight from the hospital.I The lawyer rejects the notion that this was a simple robbery: "These circumstances give rise for a reasonable person to raise an eyebrow."

Las Vegas murder



On the 7th, Tupac went back to L.A.. Tupac decided he wasn't gonna go to Las Vegas, but to Atlanta to settle problems with some relatives instead. Suge got him to change his plans though. Tupac told Kidada that morning there was a heavy-weight bout that night at the MGM Grand , and weeks before he'd promised Suge he'd go to it with him. He also said he didn't want to go, but he'd given Suge his word. He said she could come along, not to the fight, he didn't want her with that roudy bunch, but to the party Suge was having afterward at a club he owned downtown, and if she were beside him it would be ok. When they got back his house in Calabasas, Kidada started packing. When she reached for his bulletproof vest that he always wore. Tupac said, "No, It'll be too hot." Then they left. They stopped at a gas station and Tupac bought five magazines about guns. He read them until they reached the Luxor Hotel. Tupac went to Suge's mansion southeast of downtown. They partied for a while. Tupac made a video of him calling Keisha and another girl. Then he went to the MGM Grand to watch the Mike Tyson / Bruce Seldon fight. He was mad because Suge showed up at the last minute. He sat in section 4, row E, seat 2. Tupac said, "Did you see Tyson do it to him? Tyson did it to him! Did ya'll see that? We bad like that. Come out of prison and now we running shit." He went backstage and hugged Mike. At 8:45 P.M., Travon Lane (Tray) was walking near the hotel's Grand Garden with Death Row's crew. Tray pointed out Orlando to Tupac. Tupac ran down the hallway until he met up with Orlando. Tupac asked, "You from the South?" It escalated into a fight and Tupac started beating the shit out of him. Later the rest of the Deathrow crew arrived and helped him beat him up. There was only one bodyguard with the crew, and he had to pull Tupac out of it twice. They knocked Orlando down and began kicking and punching him. A security camera recorded the incident on tape. The fight was stopped by hotel security, and Orlando was held for questioning by the police, then was allowed to leave after he declined to press charges. As left he gave his signed $1000 ticket's stub into the fight to a guy. He said, "Here you go, boy. Enjoy this." Tupac left at 8:55, to go back to the hotel. Tupac went up to Hammer's car and told me about the incident that had just happen. Hammer asked him some questions about it and he said it was all squashed and not to worry about it. While he was getting in his car he was bragging about how Tyson took him out in 50 punches and all he had to do was three punches and the dude was on the ground. Tupac's bodyguard said he had trouble getting him to wear his vest, and he wouldn't wear it very often. He didn't wear it at all the whole night. Since they were in Las Vegas they legally couldn't carry guns, but guns were brought anyways. They were in a hurry leaving the fight though, and the bodyguard forgot his gun in his car. When he got to the hotel he told Kidada, "Some ***** started a fight with me for nothin.' Something's up, you stay here." He was also upset because he couldn't find the Outlaws, who were supposed to be at the fight. He changed clothes then went back to Suge's house. They got ready for party at Club 662, where 2Pac was going to perform. Tupac had wanted to drive his Hummer, but Suge said that they had things to discuss and got Tupac to ride with him. Two hours later, Suge in his black, tinted-window '96 BMW 750 sedan left the mansion with Tupac in the passenger seat, and the 10-car entourage behind them. They were listening to The Don Killuminati The 7 Day Theory very low in the BMW. At 10:55, Tupac rolled down the window and a photographer took their picture at a red light. At 11:00, they were stopped on Las Vegas Blvd. by Metro bicycle cops for playing his car stereo too loud and for not having license plates, which were in the trunk on his rented car. He was not cited and was released a few minutes later. At a red light, on Flamingo Road, near the intersection of Koval Lane, in front of the Maxim Hotel two girls distracted Tupac and Suge on the driver's side, and at 11:15, a white, four-door, late-model, Cadillac with California plates pulled up. Tupac had been standing up through the sunroof. Two of the four men inside the car got out and fired thirteen rounds into the passenger side of the car, from a Glock .40 caliber handgun. He tried to get into the backseat, but Suge pulled him down, and a bullet bounced off of his right hip boneand hit is lung. He was also hit in his right hand and chest. Suge was barely hit by a bullet, and suffered a minor head wound. Immediately after the shooting, the Cadillac went south on Koval. Suge made a U-turn from the left lane of Flamingo and sped West toward Las Vegas Blvd., away from the nearest hospital. Suge said that he told Tupac he'd get him to a hospital, and Tupac said, "I need a hospital? You're the one shot in the head." Patrol officers on an unrelated call at the Maxim Hotel had heard the gunshots and called for back-up. Two other officers followed the BMW, which took a left on Las Vegas Blvd. South, and police reached the car when it was caught in traffic at the intersection of Las Vegas Blvd. and Harmon Ave. The officers called an ambulance. The BMW was covered with blood and pieces of gold, from Tupac's jewelry, on the inside, and had two flat tires. They brought Tupac out of the car and layed him down on the stretcher. He kept saying, "I can't breathe, I can't breathe." The ambulance took Tupac and Suge to the University of Nevada Medical Center. Sgt. Kevin Manning was assigned as leading investigator, and Cathy Scott was named lead reporter for the shooting. When the police questioned the bodyguard they continously asked if he had shot back, and when he said no they asked who had shot back. The bodyguard thought it was Suge's friends which were mostly blood members. Yafeu Fula had been in the car behind the BMW with bodyguards. He told the police that he could do a photo lineup and gave them his number. A man told Compton police that at Club 662, he heard Tray say that the shooter was Orlando's uncle Dwayne Keith Davis (Keefee D). Tupac lost 22 oz of blood on the way to the hospital. As he was being carried to the emergencyroom he said, "I'm dying." Tupac was admitted and listed in critical condition. His injuries included a gunshot wound to his right chest with a massive hemothorax and a gunshot wound to the right thigh with the bullet palpable within the abdomen. He also had a gunshot wound to a right finger with a fracture. The preoperative diagnosis was a gunshot wound to the chest and abdomen and post-operative bleeding. Just before midnight he was taken to UMC's Trauma Center. He was wheeled into the recovery area and was resuscitated according to advanced trauma life support protocol and a full trauma activation was called. He was placed on life support machines. Two liters of blood that had hemorrhaged into his chest cavity were removed. His pulse was very thready and initially he had a minimal bloodpressure, which rapidly declined. He was taken immediately to the operating room for operative intervention and further resuscitation. He underwent surgery which consisted of ligation of bleeding, and a surgeon removed a bullet from his pelvic area which was done at midnight and finished at 2:35am on the 8th. Th eBMW remained in the impound lot at Ewing Bros. Auto Body and Towing lot in North Las Vegas it's right front and rear ends damaged. Police found no guns inside the car, just a cigar caseand a Motorola cell phone. He underwent another operation that started at 6:25 p.m. and lasted an hour. It was exploratory surgery, and his punctured right lung was removed to stop internal bleeding. He was back in his room at 7:45. American Express said that Suge had rented 21 Las Vegas hotel rooms at $50 each for last night. Tupac was put in a medicinally induced coma and on life support to take pressure off his body. Three Bloodsets met at Lueders Park, and talked about retaliation against the Southside Crips for the attack on Tupac. At 2:58 p.m., on East Alondra a man who Las Vegas police said may have been in the Cadillac was shot in the back on the 9th. At 8 P.M., 20 of Tupac's friends ran across the street from the traumacenter's lobby to a car whose driver police had stopped to talk to. Sgt. Cindi West said that they had pulled up to see what was going on and a guy misunderstood and wouldn't cooperate. The people came out not knowing what was going on and got in the way and were pushing some of the officers. The police handcuffed four men who were later released. Two men were found with butts of marijuana cigarettes, but weren't arrested. He opened his eyes once, while Kidada was putting Don McLean's "Vincent" into a player next to his bed. She asked him if he heard her and to move his feet. He did. She asked if he knew she loved him. He nodded. Then he went into a coma. On the 10th, Blackstreet's album, Another Level came out. "No Diggity," sounds like "Toss It Up." 2Pac had the song done with Aaron Hall before Dre did it, and "Toss It Up" is actually a remix of the original song, because Dre copied it. Aaron Hall, ex-partner of Teddy Riley was the original writer. "Don't Leave Me" sounds like "I Ain't Mad At Cha." 2Pac's concert in Oakland was cancelled. His next concert will be in Oakland if city officials will agree to it. On the 11th, Bobby Finch, a Southside Crip who Compton cops said may have also been in the Cadillac, was gunned down on South Mayo at 9:05 am. Suge and three lawyers spoke with METRO police for an hour and left them with nothing in the way of leads towards suspects or motives. In Compton, Orlando's cousin Jerry Bonds drove the white Cadillac into an autoshop on White and Alondra with another guy at 3 P.M.. On the 12th Tupac was supposed to have gone to court for sentencing on weapons charges for carrying a concealed gun when he attacked Allen Hughes. On Friday the 13th, doctors tried to resuscitate Tupac several times, then Afeni said not to try again. When Tupac took his last breath Gloria Jean praised his body and could bear witness to who it was. He died at 4:03 (4 + 0 + 3 = 7) p.m. at the Intensive Care Unit. He was pronounced dead by Dr. Lovett o frespiratory failure and cardiopulmonary arrest. The bodyguard had been at Suge's house, and Suge was mad at him and blaming him for not having his gun with him. He was coming towards him in a threatening way when the phone rang, and he found out Tupac died. Suge told the bodyguard that it didn't matter now because he's gone, and his voice was cracking up like he wasg oing to cry. Afeni made a positive identification of Tupac's body at 5. A mortuary van took his body to the Clark County Coroner's office at 5:10. They did an autopsy. It determined that Tupac didn't have any illegal drugs in hisbody, but was heavily sedated. The autopsy report is on file at the office, but is not deemed by Nevada state law to be public. There were ballistics tests, but the results have not been made public. They took six pictures of him which were put on file at the office. Two general assignment detectives took Polaroid pictures of Tupac at the morgue for a police training book, bu tlater were removed from the book and destroyed. They sent his blood to Long Beach Genetics, who did the DNA testing to find the probability of Afeni and Billy 99.97% parentage. Two more Bloods were shot and killed by an assailant who fled on foot. He was cremated. On the 14th, Afeni spread some of his ashes on a hill in L.A. and some on her garden, which has now flourished. Tupac's family held a private funeral for him in Las Vegas. On the 15th, he was mourned during a memorial service at The House of the Lord Pentecostal Church in Brooklyn, where he was still listed as a member of the congregation. Police had thought that the man at the MGM Grand could have been a suspect, but was ruled out because security was still holding him when Tupac had left the building. Because Tupac didn't have a will, Afeni had to file court papers as the only living heir and that she was the administer of his estate. Death Row emptied the apartment and took the furniture which Tupac was charged over $100,000 for. Cathy got an autopsy photo of Tupac dissected on a table at the morgue. It is not an official coroner or police photo, and was offered $100,000 for it from The National Enquirer.

1. 2Pacalypse Now by 2Pac
The list author says: "Tupac Shakurs first album came out in 92. A young Pac expresses his views on police brutality, discrimination, poverty, street life and politics. My fav track on it "Brenda's Got a Baby""




2. Strictly 4 My *****Z b y 2Pac
The list author says: "Pac's 2nd album is a bit more gangster then his first, I like how he confronts the ppl who wanted to censor his music. I have a tie for two fav tracks on this between "Keep Ya Head Up" & "Papaz Song"

3. Thug Life Vol1 by Thug Life
The list author says: "In 1994 Pac dropped a group album with four others. Pac appears on majority of tracks and this is a gem of an album. Like the other members of the group as well. Fav track "Pour out a Little Liquour""



4. Me Against the World by 2Pac
The list author says: ""Me Against the World" (1995) is a Hip Hop Classic. This is a masterpiece -every track on it is excellent. Pac goes so deep throughout EG "Dear Mama""





5. All eyes on me by 2Pac
The list author says: "This is another Classic for me. Double Cd full of excellent songs. This was his first release with Death Row. My fav track on this is "Life Goes On"."




6. The Don Killuminati: The 7 day theory by 2Pac
The list author says: "This was the first album to be released after Pac's death. The music on it was what he was making right before he died. The music on this is very deep and very powerful. "Krazy" is my fav track on it."

ct

7. R U Stil Down? by 2Pac
The list author says: "1997 post death album that covers older music of his from 1991-1994 so it has more of a gangster feel to it. I like this album alot though production could of been better."




8. 2Pac-Greatest Hits by 2Pac
The list author says: "1998 saw the release of 2pac's "Greatest Hits". I honestly feel he could of have at least four greatest hits album but as a comphrensive collection this works well. + 4 great unreleased tracks ."

9. Still I Rise by Outlawz
The list author says: "1999 release "Still I Rise" is another solid album. I think the Outlawz blend well with Pac and shined on this release. Fav track "As the World Turns"."


10. The Rose That Grew from Concrete by 2Pac
The list author says: "This is not a music cd. Instead its poems written by Tupac Shakur interpreted by others. This is one release of his I still need to check out as well as the Lost tapes which is not on amazon."

11. Until the end of time by 2Pac
The list author says: "Of all Pacs post death releases this double album is the one that has impressed me the most. Production on it is magnificent and it is a very memorable release. Got this one on regular rotation."

t

12. Better Days by 2Pac The list author says: "I was really happy to see another Pac cd come out in 2002 and highly enjoyed this album. Tupac will always remain my favourite rapper. R.I.P."

13. Nu-Mix Klazzics by 2Pac
The list author says: "Ten Remix Tracks. Only item on this that I would not recommend for purchase. For more info read my review."

14.Resurrection by 2Pac
The list author says: "Like the new revised material, basically four tracks of that, plus some classic Pac cuts. Enjoyed the movie as well."

15. 2Pac Live by 2Pac
The list author says: "This is not an new album. This is a collection of original music Pac performed live."

16. Loyal to the game by 2Pac
The list author says: "2004 Release, fav track "Po N**** Blues""

17. The Rose Vol2 by 2Pac
The list author says: "A collection of songs made by artists who were inspired by Tupac's Life & Poetry. Pac vocals used on one track. Pac's last post-death solo album is expected next year."





18. Pac's Life by 2Pac
The list author says: "The latest Post-Death Pac Album"



19. Evolutions: Duets & Remixes[EV] by 2Pac
The list author says: "New Remix album. 2007. A.K.A. Volume 2 Nu-Mixx Klazzics, way better then Volume 1."

Necro is the brutalest rapper on the planet. He has reached legendary status by dropping non stop consistent hardcore albums on his own label, Psycho+Logical-Records. If you havent heard of Necro you must be living under a rock. Here is your chance to get to know the sickest fuck on earth.

Necro's story begins much like your typical hip-hop story. Raised in the Glenwood projects of Brooklyn, NY, he was poor and began selling drugs at the age of 16, got into hip-hop...blah, blah, blah. But Necro is anything but your typical rapper. While some of his biggest influences are hip-hop greats like Rakim, Kool G Rap and Big Daddy Kane, the harsh realities of his life also drew him to the sounds of bands like Slayer and Megadeth. Although he was able to recite all the lyrics to Slick Rick's "La-di-da-di" at 7 years old, he would also blast Metallica's "Kill Em All" out the window of his bedroom so all the kids in the projects could hear it. He even admits to crying when Cliff Burton (Metallica's bassist) died. Nope, he is not your typical rapper.

Beyond being just an artist, Necro is a true businessman. While dealing drugs he was so organized he even made up business cards for fiends to page him. While he was successful, the day he got paid $3,000 for one beat he realized there was a less risky way to make a living. When he turned to making music, the lessons he learned hustling propelled him to independent success. If he isn't one of the most well-known rappers in the hip hop scene, he certainly is the hardest working. It took Wal-Mart 11 years and 15 stores to gross over a million in sales, Necro has done $1.2 million+ in half the time. He recruited hundreds of kids to sell cds for him all over the world until some smaller distributors helped him get even more product out. He is New York's answer to Cash Money or No Limit. He is the street version of Richard Branson, Tony Robbins, Russell Simmons, and Ray Krok combined.

Whether it was back in the day getting booed at the DMC battle contest in 94' for wearing a Charles Manson t-shirt, to recently headlining a sold out show in NYC wearing an Obituary hoodie - he walks to the beat of a different drummer, literally. Igor Cavalera, drummer of heavy metal legends Sepultura is one of the many headbangers that Necro can count as fans. People like John Tardy of Obituary, Away of Voivod, members of Slipknot & Hatebreed who normally would say "rap is crap" have embraced him. Sure, he may be one of the most brutal rappers ever painting pictures of death and gore. But he also represents every kid in the struggle and sick fuck who is down and out, cast aside and forgotten by society.

Necro may quite possibly have some of the most dedicated followers in rap history. He strikes such a powerful chord with his fans that they permanently mark their bodies with his name. He even has the pictures to prove it - hundreds of them. His art transcends genres.

Source: Necro's Myspace