Gravediggaz 6 FEET DEEP

Gravediggaz: Prince Paul, RZA, Fruitkwan, Poetic.
Additional personnel includes: Don McKenzie, Gerald Whaley, Amier, Tracey Witherspoon, Derrick Lovelace, Eddie Berkeley, Djinji Brown, Hellrazor, Scientific Shabazz, Killah Priest, Wildman Steve, Raquelle Stroud, Ted "The Judge" Gannon, Skiz, Mr. Sime, James Jackson, Michael Preston, Dave Warner, Brother Rich, Ethan Ryman, Tim "Bimos" Wright, King Ice, Mike G, I-Roc, Chino, Joyce, Daddy Krueger, The Fugitives, Donyell O. Thomas, Stephanie Jackson (vocals); Scott "The Moleman" Harding (vocals, bass).
Producers: Prince Paul (tracks 1-5, 7-8, 10-11, 14, 16); Gatekeeper (track 6); RNS, RZA (track 9); Mr. Sime (track 12); RZA (track 13); RZA, Gravediggaz (track 15).
Engineers: Scott Harding, Ethan Ryman, Ken Ifell, Prince Paul (tracks 1-16).
Recorded at Paul's Coffee Shop, Long Island, New York; GLC Studios, Firehouse and Platinum Island, New York.
All songs written or co-written by A. Berkeley, R. Diggs, A. Hamilton and P. Huston. Samples include "Givin It Up Is Givin Up" (as performed by Patrice Rushen), "Jagger The Dagger" (as performed by Eugene McDaniels) and "Seven Minutes Of Funk" (as performed by The Whole Darn Family).
Gravediggaz: Prince Paul, RZA, Fruitkwan, Poetic.
Additional personnel includes: Don McKenzie, Gerald Whaley, Amier, Tracey Witherspoon, Derrick Lovelace, Eddie Berkeley, Djinji Brown, Hellrazor, Scientific Shabazz, Killah Priest, Wildman Steve, Raquelle Stroud, Ted "The Judge" Gannon, Skiz, Mr. Sime, James Jackson, Michael Preston, Dave Warner, Brother Rich, Ethan Ryman, Tim "Bimos" Wright, King Ice, Mike G, I-Roc, Chino, Joyce, Daddy Krueger, The Fugitives, Goldielocks, Donyell O. Thomas, Robert Robinson, Stephanie Jackson (vocals); Scott "The Moleman" Harding (vocals, bass).
Producers include: Prince Paul, Gatekeeper, RNS, RZA, Mr. Sime.
Engineers include: Scott Harding, Ethan Ryman, Ken Ifell.
Recorded at Paul's Coffee Shop, Long Island, New York; GLC Studios, Firehouse and Platinum Island, New York, New York.
Personnel: Scott Harding (vocals, bass guitar); James Jackson, Djinji Brown, Eddie Berkeley, Skiz, Scientific Shabazz, Mr. Sime, Raquelle Stroud, Tracey Amier Witherspoon, Derrick Lovelace, Hellrazor, Killah Priest, Kurious, MC Serch, Vernon Reid, Wildman Steve, Biz Markie, Don McKenzie (vocals); Don Newkirk (keyboards); Prince Paul (scratches).
Audio Mixers: Mr. Sime; Gravediggaz; Grym Reaper; Gatekeeper; Prince Paul; RZA; Scott Harding; The Undertaker.
Recording information: Firehouse, New York, NY; GLC Studios, New York, NY; Paul's Coffee Shoop; Platinum Island, New York, NY.
Unknown Contributor Roles: Chino; Craig G; Robert Robinson; Brother Rich; David Warner; The Fugitives; Donyell O. Thomas; Tim Wright; Masta Ace.
Arranger: Prince Paul.
6 Feet Deep is a sick joke. A lethally great and a ghoulishly comical one, but a deranged and sadistic prank nonetheless. Eschatological, gruesome, paranoid, and obsessed with death (both imposing and experiencing it), the debut from eeeeevil supergroup Gravediggaz lands somewhere in the nexus at which the bizarro universe of legendary producer Prince Paul -- who oversees the whole project while wearing the mask and wielding the shovel of the Undertaker for the occasion -- crashes headlong into RZA's dingy, farcical New York City, a haunted, inverse Oz where graffiti meets science fiction meets splatter flick in an unholy alliance that finds Freddy Krueger fiendishly pursuing the turf gangs out of Walter Hill's The Warriors down 125th and Elm Streets. Throw in a few crazed variations on Medieval torture techniques, a few too many midnight kung-fu screenings, and a few fantasies of bodily damage so giddily, demonically cartoonish that they would make Wile E. Coyote lick his lips with mischievous envy, and you have this brilliantly strange, whimsically jagged horror film in song (critics unofficially dubbed the style horrorcore) with its maimed and gnawed tongue firmly planted in cheek. If you can stomach the buckets of lyrical blood spilled herein, there is no end to the gory highlights, from the running-in-place nightmare of "Nowhere to Run, Nowhere to Hide" to the psychotically nauseous angel-dust high of "Defective Trip (Trippin')" to the willfully objectionable "1-800 Suicide" and self-destructive "Bang Your Head," all of them terribly catchy. As a bonus, 6 Feet Deep is sure to offend the sensibilities of all middle-aged family-values crusaders and conservative-type politicians -- vampires of a different sort -- who aren't in on the joke. Overseas, the album was titled Niggamortis. With its combined allusion to mortality and example of wicked wordplay, it would have been even more apropos. Whatever it goes by, though, the album can be resurrected again and again without losing any of its devilishly good potency. ~ Stanton Swihart

• Format: CD
• Genre: Pop