Songoftheday 11/26/18 - Well it’s another one in the gutter one ghetto running em, troublesome, extra double dumb, I come to beat em...
from the album Bacdafucup (1993)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #4 (one week)
Weeks in the Top-40: 14
Today's song of the day comes from the rap group Onyx, who came together in Queens in the late 1980s as a trio of Fredro Starr, Suave, and Big DS. Run DMC member Jam Master Jay helped them procure a contract with the label his group was on, Profile, adding Fredro's cousin Kirk Jones (aka Sticky Fingaz) to the act. Recording their first album Bacdafucup, which was released in 1993, Onyx took the attitude and anger from punk and rock and applied it to the hip-hop sound to set themselves apart from the rest of the rap pack. Their first single from the record, "Throw Ya Gunz", was their first to make the charts, going to #61 on Billboard magazine's R&B chart and #81 on the pop Hot 100, but it was a bit too aggressive without a hook to grab attention of the masses. But with their follow-up single, that would all go away as "Slam" had an immediately memorable hook (along with the da-da-da tag). Written by the foursome, it became their biggest hit by far...
I can see Eminem's entire early career in this record.
"Slam" became Onyx's first and only top-40 pop record, reaching the top five in August of 1993. The song climbed to #11 on Billboard's R&B chart as well. Internationally, the single went to #31 in the UK, and #26 in New Zealand, while just missing the top-40 in Germany at #41.
In America, the next single from their debut, "Shiftee", went to #52 on the R&B chart and #92 on the pop Hot 100. Meanwhile, in the UK, "Throw Ya Gunz" was released to capitalize on the momentum of "Slam" and ended up their second top-40 hit there at #34. In 1995, the group returned (minus BS) for their second effort, All We Got Iz Us. Lead single "Live!", from the rap documentary The Show, hit #82 R&B, while "bubbling under" the pop Hot 100 at #102. Also, track "Last Dayz", managed to be their most recent pop hit charting at #89 (and #61 R&B). Even though those two singles did modestly ok to say the least, the record would end up going to #2 on the R&B albums chart and #22 on the main albums chart. Their third release, Shut 'Em Down, did even better, climbing to #10 on the main albums chart and #3 on the R&B specific list. Three tracks from the set were minor R&B hits, with "Shut 'Em Down" featuring DMX climbed to #61 R&B (and #107 pop). Since then, the group has released a handful of studio albums, but so far nothing has recaptured the public like "Slam" had..
(Click below to see the rest of the post)
Here's the version Onyx did with punkgroup Biohazard, which was on their alternative-rock themed REMIX EP...
And finally, the group in concert at Live At The Apollo...
And finally, in concert in 2014...
Up tomorrow: Trio contemplates poverty.
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