Video Of The Week: Black Moon

In the early-to-mid-90s, it seems most of the hip-hop that got any kind of attention came from California, what with Dr. Dre's G-Funk and his circle of friends and influence including anyone from Snoop Doggy Dogg to Warren G with 2Pac and the entire Death Row label behind him.

But East Coast rap was strong - and by that I don't mean Puff Daddy's brand of pop-ified Police rehashes, but underground acts such as Black Moon. They brought rhyming back to the streets, the masses, made wanting to learn new words as hip to Brooklyn teens as selling drugs for easy rent money - with far less dire consequences.

Granted, the video I wanted to feature was I Got Cha Open (it being hockey season and all), but they didn't allow for it to be embedded, so I went for the next best thing: their first single, Who's Got The Props.

Black Moon was a trio, with members Buckshot (later a member of Boot Camp Click), 5ft and DJ Evil Dee (of beat team Da Beatminerz) sharing equal billing. While their first record came out in 1993, it took until 1999 for them to release their sophomore album - partly due to every member being busy elsewhere, but also because it was tangled in a legal mess with their first label, Nervous Records, which owned the group's name and released a compilation record of b-sides and remixes in 1998 called Diggin' In Dah Vaults. It then took them until 2003 to release Total Eclipse - and that's what it seems like the group has been ever since.

Here's what you've been missing: