The lox the family
If you bust your ass in that studio and people love what you do, then you can’t wait to get in front of that crowd and do it. So being on tour with Busta, Diddy, and God bless our brother DMX-just being around people who love their craft. Styles: Let us say this before we continue: Busta Rhymes is hip-hop’s best performer. I watched Method Man and Redman literally climb all over the place to perform. Sheek: It’s everything, but we grew up in a different era. You’ve accomplished that, so tell me about the art of performance. It takes work to become a good performer. Little dudes coming up like, “Yo, I want to make sure my shit is tight.” So seeing that shift has been way more impactful than how wild the month has been for us, personally. Styles: The influx of young fans is the best part of it all-and not even just fans of ours, but people who actually want to start learning their lyrics and getting real shows together. We have a certain demographic, but everybody was just on it after that. Sheek Louch: The same youngins who walk past me in the gym were looking at me and pointing the next day because they saw it. I did think people would enjoy the show, but I didn’t think it would be that impactful to them. We always work around the clock, but I definitely didn’t expect the Verzuz to have the magnitude it’s had I can’t front. Styles P: It’s been a blur, but I don’t think I took it like everybody else did. “I'm just thankful to be healthy and still active, at this caliber, at this point in our careers.” “A lot of people say we’re getting our flowers now, and it’s a beautiful thing to be recognized,” says Jadakiss, who arrives amid a flurry of daps. In addition to touring, they still make music: Their fourth album, Living Off Xperience, was released last August. The breakneck speed of pop culture creates prisoners of the moment, conditioning people to believe things are irrelevant if they aren’t directly in front of their faces at every turn. Jadakiss is running late, but the opinionated Styles and energetic Sheek are animated enough to make up for his absence. Now, on a warm mid-September afternoon, Styles and Sheek are reflecting on their careers from the roof of Roc Nation’s posh Chelsea headquarters. And if you’re a hip-hop fan, there’s a strong chance you’ve heard and seen them often since the beginning of August.Īfter thoroughly upstaging the Diplomats during a lauded Verzuz event at Madison Square Garden, the Lox made the final cut of Kanye West’s maximalist Donda, performed at the return of Hot 97’s annual Summer Jam concert, and received the keys to their hometown.
and left their marks in the presence of DMX’s outsized personality. They’ve held their own next to the Notorious B.I.G. They flourished instantly with the Yonkers-rooted Ruff Ryders: “Wild Out” was the perfect breakout single from 2000’s We Are the Streets-an aggressive reset supercharged by their hunger and newfound liberation.
The lox the family free#
After growing unhappy with a contract they deemed unfair, the Lox launched an infamous campaign to free themselves from Bad Boy, triggering a feud with Diddy, which they’ve since smoothed over. Although it flashed their potential and featured Lil’ Kim and fellow Yonkers native DMX on the title track, it tried too hard to straddle the line between Bad Boy’s flamboyance and the Lox’s rugged aesthetic. The Yonkers trio (Styles P, the live wire Sheek Louch, a hulking ball of charisma Jadakiss, a gravel-voiced assassin with a signature laugh and running list of stellar verses on his resume) started out on Bad Boy Records, where they released their debut album, Money, Power & Respect, in 1998. The Lox found their niche at the turn of the millennium with a brash style of street rap all their own: You felt every “Fuck you” in your chest and knew they meant it.