Description
Onyx is an American hardcore rap group that has been known to the general public since 1993. She has 11 studio albums, dozens of singles and many live performances in different countries. Today, Onyx is considered one of the main rap groups that influenced the entire musical genre and its individual directions. In the army of fans, there are millions of fans who have been following the work of musicians for years.
The hip hop group Onyx takes their name from the black gemstone. It was invented by a former member of the Big DS team. He formed the band with Fredro Starr and Suave in 1988. In 1990, at the York Studio in Brooklyn, the musicians managed to record their first single, but it was not successful and sold poorly. In 1991, Kirk Johnson (Sticky Fingaz) joined the group, who at that time was engaged in a solo career and performed under the pseudonym Trop.
The musicians recorded their debut album Onyx Bacdafucup in 1993, three tracks shot on it at once: Throw Ya Gunz, Slam and Shifftee. The most successful was Slam, which became a platinum single. It was played on major radio stations and music channels (MTV and BET). The song also peaked at number four on the Billboard Hot 100. The entire Bacdafucup album was later certified platinum and won the Best Rap Album award at the Soul Train Music Awards. It was after this record that slam at concerts appeared in American hip-hop, performance in a gloomy voice and the fashion of shaving one's head. Onyx's follow-up albums All We Got Iz Us (1995) and Shut 'Em Down (1998) cemented the band as one of the best American rap groups.
In Western hip hop culture in the 1980s-1990s, there was a strict division between the West Coast and the East Coast. Onyx represented the East. There were frequent confrontations between gangs, rappers and groups, including armed ones. Some members of Onyx also had a criminal record. Despite this, in the late 1990s and early 2000s, performers from the West and the East began to record joint tracks, and criminal “showdowns” began to fade away. Nevertheless, the conditional division of East Coast and West Coast schools is still preserved, and the styles in which rappers from East and West read and write differ quite a lot. The classic West Coast is more funky and melodic beats, while the East Coast is more aggressive music and rhetoric. Onyx's lyrics deal with themes of social inequality, gangster lifestyle and relationships with other musicians.
Onyx songs are known by millions of fans in different countries, including Russia. The group recorded tracks with several Russian rappers (Legalize, Rem Digga, BTR, etc.) and influenced domestic hip-hop. Onyx's music today attracts fans with assertiveness, frankness and powerful energy that inspires their own achievements.