Black rock

In 2004, Onyx began work on a new album called Black Rock , but for some reason the album's release was delayed for several years. The band returned to the process of recording the album in 2006, when Sticky Fingaz first announced that Onyx was working on a new album called Black Rock . ^[one]

“... At the end of this year, the new Onyx album is released. It's called 'The Black Rock'. ”

The group again started talking about a new album in 2008. ^{[2] [3]}

“... Black Rock is a hybrid album in which rock is influenced by hip-hop. On the album, we feature world rebels and street rebels. Hip Hop meets Mosh Pit here. ”

In 2008, Fredro Starr and Sticky Fingaz met Optimus, a young talented singer, also known as Jordy Towers, who took part in recording three songs for Black Rock's album: “The Greatest Day of My Life”, “Chasing The Devil” and “Blinded By The Light ”, and even starred in the video for the last song. The entire album was produced by Desmond "DSP" Powell. The album was made in June 2008 according to an interview with Sticky Fingaz. ^[4] In a 2008 interview with AllHipHop, Fredro said the album was due to be released in 1994. It was supposed to be Onyx's second album. ^[five]

The album was due out in late 2009. In the summer of the same year, the group went on a tour of the cities of the United States of America under the name Black Rock USA Tour Summer 2009 . But the album’s release was postponed due to Damon Dash, one of the three founders of Roc-A-Fella Records, who teamed with rock band The Black Keys with New York rappers Mos Def, Billy Danze from MOP, Q-Tip, At the end of 2009, Jim Jones, RZA, Raekwon and others released an album called BlakRoc , in which the musicians combined two genres, rap and rock. This album ruined Onyx's plans.

The first single from the BlakRoc project was released on September 14, 2009, and thereby announced the release of a new project. A week later, on September 21, in an interview on the Lip Service radio show, Onyx participants commented on this: ^{[6] [7] [8]}

“... Niggas copied the whole movement. We gave a tour in support of the release of our album 'Black Rock'. Now I hear that other niggers are going to release the same album. I will not give you a single name. You know this person. Call me nigga. Stop playing games with me! ”

“... Onyx came up with this project 'Black Rock'. And if someone tries to release the exact same project, then they copy us. If this album comes out, I promise you that I will put a trademark around your eyes. And I will find you one day and deal with you like Candyman ... It doesn’t matter who is the first to release this project, it is important who is the first to get an eye for it! ”

Despite all the threats from Onyx, Damon Dash's BlakRoc project still came out on November 24, 2009. A month later, on December 17, Onyx released the video “The Real Black Rock”, in which Sticky interrogated Damon Dash, based on a telephone conversation with Jay-Z.

Black Rock is a hybrid album, a mix of hip hop and rock and roll. The band mixed their hardcore vocals with heavy guitar riffs to create the most aggressive release in the band's career. All the songs on the album were produced by 18-year-old Slovenian producer Emilio Albert Cassagrande. In March 2017, Emilio sent his instrumental pieces to Fredro Starr. Fredro immediately appreciated the experience of the young beatmaker, and from the next month he began working with his cousin Sticky Fingaz on recording a new album. Fredro and Sticky re-recorded their old 10-year-old acapella to new music from Emilio. They invited other rappers to work - Sick Flo (from Atlanta), Snak The Ripper (from Canada) and DJ Nelson (from France), and at the end of July rappers from New York, Skyzoo and RA The Rugged Man joined them. The vocal parts that Optimus recorded in 2008, it was decided to leave unchanged.

The inspiration for this new album came from the 1993 Judgment Night track, co-recorded with Biohazard , which was the lead single on the influential soundtrack to the Last Night movie, where hip-hop meets rock in many of its various forms. ^[9]

The first single, “Ima F * ckin Rockstar”, recorded with rapper Skyzoo, was released on January 30, 2018. The single premiered on the website of XXL magazine , where Fredro told the story of the song: ^[10]

"... We contacted Skyzoo after we heard the song" Bamboo "on his mini-album 'Peddler Themes', in which he paid tribute to my character from the movie 'Strapped'."

The second single, "OD", recorded with rapper RA The Rugged Man, was released on February 14, 2018. The single premiered on the HipHopDX website. ^[eleven]

Onyx released 3 videos from the first version of Black Rock's album: Neva Goin 'Bac (2008), Black Rock (U Know Wht It Iz) (2009), The Real Black Rock (2009). Another video for the song “Blinded By The Light” has not yet been released. The video was shot by Preston Whitmore in the Mojave Desert in California on April 26, 2009. At that time, the song was produced by Desmond “DSP” Powell, who is credited as co-producer on this album.

Onyx released a video for the title track Black Rock in March 2018. The video premiered on the website of XXL magazine . ^[12] Onyx’s new video for the song “Black Rock” reminds you of the 1996 Kazaam film, where a little boy woke up a black genie with the help of a boombox, played by legendary basketball player and rapper Shaquille O'Neill . In our case, the role of genies was played by the no less legendary Fredro Starr and Sticky Fingaz, only instead of the boombox they were imprisoned for many years by the guitar amp, which the little girl connected to the guitar, and had a real hip-hop party with the Onyx group.

" Black Rock "

• Used song “Black Cop” by rapper KRS-One

Songs recorded in 2008-2009 during the studio sessions of the Black Rock album, but were cut from the final version of the album:

• “Neva Goin 'Bac” (with the participation of Sonny Seeza ) (2008)
• “Black Rock (U Know Wht It Iz)” (2009)
• "The Real Black Rock" (2009)
• "Slam Boyz" (2009)
• “Love Is a Gun” (with the participation of Mezmo) (2009)
• Blinded By The Light (with Optimus) (2009)

• Black Rock on RapGenius
• Black Rock on Discogs
• Black Rock Music Video on YouTube
• YouTube Neva Goin 'Bac Music Video
• U Kno Wht It Iz Music Video by Vimeo
• Black Rock (U Kno Wht It Iz) on RapGenius
• THE REAL BLACK ROCK music video on YouTube