Rap artists don't sing about dangerous street life for nothing. Knowing the ins and outs of freedom in a criminal environment, they themselves often run into trouble. For Onyx, creativity is a complete reflection of their history. Each of the sites in one way or another faced dangers in reality.
They flared up brightly in the early 90s, remaining “afloat” in the 2nd decade of the XNUMXst century. They are called innovators in various areas of stage activity.
The composition of Onyx, the history of the emergence of the team
Fred Lee Scruggs Jr. considered the main founder of the American hardcore rap collective Onyx. He gained fame under the pseudonym Fredro Starr. The guy until the age of 13 lived in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn. The family then moved to Queens. The guy immediately joined the street interests. First he took up breakdancing. Soon he became interested in street poetry. The guy happily composed and rhymed lyrics for rap.
The first performance as a singer was in Baisley Park. A lot of people gathered here, but there were regular brawls, skirmishes. Fred, due to his age and enthusiasm, ignored the dangers. In 1986, the guy went to work in a hairdresser. Here he had to talk with both drug dealers and famous rap artists. Fred was partial to the second category.
Consequently, in 1988, after graduating from school, he decided to create his own musical group. Fred came up with a beautiful pseudonym Fredro Starr. Invited school friends to participate. The team included Marlon Fletcher, who called himself Big DS, Tyrone Taylor, who became Suave, and later Sonny Seeza. In 1991, Sticky Fingaz joined the group.
Group name, first activity
For the first time, the guys noticed each other not in the classrooms of the school, but in the park, where everyone gathered on weekends. Suave had the most musical experience. The guy performed in his brother's band "Cold Crash Scenes", and then played the role of a DJ.
Having united for creative activity, the guys decided to call their team Onyx. The band's name was suggested by Big DS. He drew a parallel with the stone of the same name. Black onyx seemed so attractive to look at, had a jewelry value. All the kids loved this idea.
The team used to meet in their free time in B-Wiz's basement. The guys use a simple SP-12 drum machine to record demo versions of their songs. In 1989, they managed to reach Jeffrey Harris, who took over as manager. With his help, the group managed to sign a contract with Profile Records to record a single. He comes out in April 1990, but does not receive recognition from the audience.
Further attempts by Onyx to advance
In July 1991, the guys went to The Jones Beach GreekFest Festival, which is organized for African American students. In a traffic jam at the entrance to the event, they were lucky to meet Jam-Master Jay, a musician and producer. He promised to help young talents advance. Jay invited the guys to come to the studio to record a fresh demo song.
Only Fredro Starr could do this. The rest of the team had to regulate relations with the law at that time. Fred made up for the lack of line-up with the help of his cousin Trop. He pursued a solo career, but agreed to help a relative. The result was a couple of songs: "Stik 'N' Muve", "Exercise", which Jay approved of.
Formation of the corporate identity of the Onyx group
In 1991, B-Wiz, the band's music producer, sells equipment and leaves for Baltimore. He decided to become a drug dealer, but he is quickly killed. This is the first death of a person associated with the Onyx group. Chylow M. Parker or DJ Chyskillz becomes the new music producer.
At the same time, Kirk Jones and Fred came up with the band's logo. They become a face with an evil expression. Next to it is the name of the band with a bloodied "X". A letter in this style meant the death of B-Wiz. Together with his loss, all the previously made recordings of the band disappeared.
After the news of the death of a colleague, Fred decided to shave off all the hair on his head, thus wanting to get rid of bad thoughts. The gesture has become a symbol of the beginning of life anew. The rest of the team followed suit. This is how the "skinhead" fashion appeared, which became part of the group's image.
Onyx's first success
In 1993, Onyx released their debut album. On the disc "Bacdafucup" 3 hits stood out. The song "Slam" was a breakthrough. Not only did it receive wide airplay on radio and television, but it also reached #4 on the Billboard Hot 100. For a young, unknown band, this is quite an achievement. The composition "Throw Ya Gunz" was a success on radio stations. Listeners also singled out the song "Shifftee".
As a result, the album received platinum status, hit the country's leading music charts. In 1994, Onyx was nominated for the American Music Awards. The team took the award for "Best Rap Album". Onyx have been called innovators. It was they who came up with slam, a gloomy manner of performing songs, and also introduced the fashion of shaving their heads.
Working on the next album
After the success with their first album, the band was approached to record a soundtrack. The team did it together with the guys from Biohazard. The result was "Judgment Night", which became an accompaniment to the film of the same name.
In 1993, Onyx planned to release their second album. The guys started work, but never released the created material. In 1994, the band left Big DS. He planned to perform solo, recorded a single. This was the end of his independent creative activity. In 2003, Big DS died of cancer.
Second successful record
The group released their second album in 1995. It was again a success. "All We Got Iz Us" appeared at number 22 on the Billboard 200. On the R&B/Hip Hop chart, the album peaked at #2. For the record, the group recorded 25 tracks, but 15 of them were eventually released. While working on the album, Fredro Starr renamed himself Never and Suave became Sonee Seeza or Sonsee.
The disc brought the team 2 hits. "Last Dayz" and "Live Niguz" achieved success on the hip-hop chart. Both compositions were used to accompany films: documentaries and feature films.
In 1995, Onyx launched its own label. They began to actively involve artists in cooperation. In the same year, Marvel Music releases a comic book in which they come up with a story about the Onyx group. Especially for this edition, the band records the song "Fight".
Third collection: another success
After the second album, Onyx noticed a short break in their activities. The group released the next collection 3 years later. X-1, the brother of Sticky Fingaz, 50 Cent, unknown at that time, and other artists took part in the recording of the disc.
Shut 'Em Down reached #10 on the Billboard 200 and #3 on the Top R&B/Hip Hop Albums. The album still contained 3 hit songs and sold well. But listeners in general rate it worse than the previous creations of the group. This ended the collaboration between Onyx and JMJ Records.
The band also planned to release the album on their own Afficial Nast label in 1998. The work of artists was planned, whom they helped to start a musical activity, but this never happened.
Attempts to regain former success
The next attempt to return the deafening popularity was the sequel to the best album. The guys recorded it in 2001. For this, Onyx signed a contract with Koch Records. A new collection of 12 songs has been released. The guys made a bet on the single "Slam Harde", but it did not live up to expectations.
Listeners reacted negatively to this album. The group was accused of purely commercial interest. This knocked down the already shattered popularity.
Group death streak
Trouble overtook Onyx not only loss of fame. In 2002, Jam Master Jay, who served as the band's executive producer, died. He was shot dead by an unknown person right in the recording studio. Six months later, the guys received news of the death of a former participant. Big DS passed away in the hospital. In 2007, X1, a longtime partner of the group, committed suicide.
New album, another failure
In 2003, Onyx again tried to regain their popularity. The guys have recorded a new album. The disc contains 10 songs and 11 real stories of people associated with the band.
Despite careful testing, the album did not gain popularity. Listeners called it a club option, not suitable for the masses. In the same year, Fred founded the hardcore rap movement, popularizing "black" music.
Further activity of Onyx
The group disappeared for a long time. The participants worked each for themselves: filming in films and television projects, solo careers. The guys resumed their activities in the group only in 2008. By the forces of the participants, 2 films about the group were shot, a collection of old songs that were not previously published was released.
Sonny Seeza left the band in 2009. He officially took up a solo career. Sonny performs with the group at major events, but does not conduct studio activities with them. In 2012, the band released a new collection of previously unreleased songs.
At the same time, the band consisting of Fredro Starr, Sticky Fingaz recorded several singles, each of which was supported by a video. The band was going to release an album, but never made it. The guys created a new record only in 2014. This time the team managed to achieve good success.
In 2015, the group released an EP. Each of the 6 tracks deals with the severe racial tensions in the country. Creation has received recognition again. After that, Onyx was noticed in active cooperation with creative people from around the world: the Netherlands, Slovenia, Germany, Russia. The guys began to interact more actively with other artists, adjusting to the current demand in the world of music.
