Tag Archives: Onyx

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So Nice, We Own it Twice

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JudgmentNot enough can be said about the soundtrack to the 1993 thriller Judgment Night. Pairing unlikely acts for an entire album’s worth of new material was a brilliant marketing technique from Music Supervisor Karyn Rachtman. You may know her work as Music Sup on a few of these other masterpieces: Desperado, Four Rooms, Reservoir Dogs, Mystery Men, Boogie Nights, and Pulp Fiction, to name a short few.

Judgment Night was consistent hype music before our Jr. High basketball games, some 23 years ago, and is still humbly considered, by me, to be the best soundtrack ever produced. Run D.M.C. & Living Colour, House of Pain & Helmet, Onyx & Biohazard, Ice-T & Slayer (a personal fav), Cypress Hill & Pearl Jam, Boo-Yaa T.R.I.B.E. & Faith No More, and Del Tha Funkee Homosapien & Dinosaur Jr.. Never again will there be another soundtrack that will outmatch these heavy-hitting collaborations, and that’s a-okay.
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Remembering the Classics

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BeethovenDon’t forget to appreciate the classics… set aside the hip-hoppery of N.E.R.D., Dre, the Fat Boys, and Lords of the Underground… extinguish the fiery rags of Rocket from the Crypt, Todd Terge, and MOTOR… cast away the modern indecency of Lynyrd Skynyrd, Richard Pryor, and Lard… and carve out some well deserved time to remember the classics. For me, it gets no better than Beethoven… or Brahms… or Wagner… or Stravinsky… or Prokofiev… or ONYX… or Bartók. Remember the classics, and allow all other seeping improprieties to pass you by, if only for the length of four, alleviating movements.

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Shut ‘Em Down

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ONYXSo, the (US) government is shutdown for the first time since 1996. Well, isn’t that fantastic? Since the country can’t even agree to disagree, it’s about damn time to unleash the pit bulls of pain… Shut ‘Em Down, Onyx… Shut ‘Em Down.

Released in the dwindling years of the 20th century, Shut ‘Em Down was the third album by the Queens based gangsta rap quartet turned trio (RIP Big DS), and their final for Def Jam Records. Shut ‘Em Down features the first big label appearance by 50 Cent (which is about all our government is worth at the moment). I’m not a fan of 50 Cent, but his debut with Onyx is worth noting.

I’m partial to Bacdafucup myself (Onyx’s first and most prolific album), but on a day when someone desperately needs to hit the reset button on the nation, Shut ‘Em Down will certainly suffice.Mad Face '98