LUNIZ

The Luniz -- Yukmouth and Numskull -- met as junior high students in their hometown of Oakland, Calif. Their first crew, the six-member B.W.P. (Brothers With Potential), played for fun at schools around the area. As Numskull recalls, "we did shows whenever and wherever we could." Eventually the other members dropped out, leaving Yukmouth and Numskull on their own. "We wasn't even tripping off rap, trying to come large or nothing," says Numskull, "We was always rappin' though. And then the shit got serious!" In late 1992, Numskull and Yukmouth, then calling themselves Luni Tunz, hooked up with Dru Down and appeared on several tracks on Down's Explicit Game CD. This attracted the attention of Noo Trybe/Virgin, who signed the duo to a contract. The Luniz put out their debut CD, the gold-selling Operation Stackola, in 1995. The album contained the platinum single, "I Got Five On It," (based on Club Noveau's "Why You Treat Me So Bad"). After an extended '95 -'96 tour with Jodeci and the Notorious B.I.G., the Luniz hit the studio again to record their follow-up, 1997's Lunitik Muzik. In 2002 they came with "Silver and Black".