| Hardcore gangsta rappers from Queens, New York, USA, Onyx are led by Sticky Fingaz (b. Kirk Jones), with the rest of the group initially comprising Fredro Starr, Big DS and DJ Suave Sonny Caesar. Their intense, gun-fixated image quickly became a popular receptacle for ill-conceived teenage fantasies in both the US and UK. They originally recorded a solitary single for Profile Records, 'Ahh, And We Do It Like This', before switching to Columbia Records. Boasting titles such as 'Blac Vagina Finda', a visual image of bald heads and bad attitudes, their debut album was co-produced by Jam Master Jay ( Run DMC ). It sold in huge quantities, arguably because the music itself, on tracks such as 'Throw Ya Gunz', was undeniably exciting as well as forceful. As if to live up to the group's image, Fingaz found himself in trouble for allegedly assaulting a passenger on a United Airlines flight to New York from Chicago O'Hare airport. Group member Fredro also appeared in Forrest Whitaker's film, Strapped in 1993, and (with Sticky) in Spike Lee's Clockers. By the advent of the group's second album in 1995 their ultra-violent image had been usurped by the arrival of Staten Island's Wu Tang Clan, but Onyx still offered ample evidence of their ability to hammer home their message in tracks such as 'Two Wrongs' ('Two wrongs don't make a right, But it sure do make us even'). Shut Em Down was a better attempt at recapturing the energy and attitude of their debut. |
