They'd guested on the hit remix of Mariah Carey's "Honey" in 1997 and the first official single from The LOX was the awkward "If You Think I'm Jiggy" The latter was a slinky radio smash carried by a sample of The World Famous Supreme Team's "Hey D.J. They'd made an appearance on The Notorious B.I.G.'s blockbuster double album Life After Death helped pay homage to the fallen legend after his March 1997 murder on the tribute single "We'll Always Love Big Poppa " guested on Ma$e's hit posse cut "24 Hrs To Live ' and, perhaps most notably, been prominently featured on Puff's smash "It's All About the Benjamins." And in fall of 1997, they'd dropped their own hit single "Money, Power & Respect," with Lil Kim and DMX.īut it was a couple of other tracks that first indicated that the musical marriage between The LOX and Bad Boy would sometimes be uneasy. He knew a lot about marketing and said 'Warlocks' wasn't marketable and 'LOX' was more marketable."Īnd in the run-up to their debut album, The LOX had enjoyed some enviable, high profile successes. "So it was like, everything he said was golden so we was young hungry whippersnappers coming from Yonkers. "At that time he was like MJ in his prime," Jada recalled last year.
Originally known as the "The Warlocks," the trio of Jadakiss, Styles P and Sheek Louch embraced a name change in 1995, after they landed a record deal with Sean "Puffy" Combs and his then red-hot Bad Boy Records label. The LOX would famously balk at this early image and sound, battling their way off of the chart-topping Bad Boy Records for the upstart Ruff Ryders camp, a label built on a street-oriented approach that would eventually help slam the door on Bad Boy's reign.īut their dramatic label exit shouldn't obscure the fact that this has always been one helluva opening shot. 13, 1998 at the height of the polarizing "Shiny Suit Era," the group's debut bears all the hallmarks of the Jiggy late 90s lots of flossing, radio ready-hooks, pop samples and mafioso flirtations. On "The Family," Jada boasts, "There haven't been nothin' like us since us." Beats from Pete Rock and DJ Premier and guest verses from Mobb Deep only further reinforce the album's dedication to golden age New York.The first album from The LOX, a hardcore trio of emcees from Yonkers, N.Y., is often thought of as an example of how the industry can mis-market and misrepresent a talented act.
On "Don't You Cry," Sheek holds his veteran status above the head of a younger gun.
IRL and brags that the streets still love him. On "What Else You Need to Know," Jada reminisces about being cool with B.I.G. Filthy America is a reminder, both in the lyrics and in how damn fun it is to listen to, what The LOX were always and are still capable of. The year's biggest rap comeback album, the Tribe Called Quest album, is a passing-the-torch moment, but The LOX don't sound like they give a fuck about passing the torch to anyone. It's Beautiful, and these guys sound as ferocious as they did in '98. Now for the first time in 16 years, there's a new LOX album, Filthy America. Sheek Louch, Styles P and Jadakiss started releasing music together again as The LOX in 2013 (which so far resulted in two EPs), and all of them have been active on their own too (Jadakiss is featured on one of the year's best rap albums).