The early days of Hip-hop were as lawless as the wild west. Innovations and reinventions of the genre were happening at a rapid rate, and a lot of artists fearlessly ventured into lofty visions. While many of these daring outings seem standard today due to their timeless success, there was a time when people found acts like Outkast and Kool Keith’s Dr. Octagon project too weird to listen to. The positive about this Renaissance period is that it was close enough to the internet boom to be archived on the World Wide Web, and thankfully, that means we get to learn about Gravediggaz. Gravediggaz is a short-lived four-piece that included RZA, Prince Paul, Poetic, and Frukwan, each member taking up new names like The Undertaker and The Gatekeeper for the new project.
Gravediggaz allowed the four members to dive into the subgenre known as horrorcore, employing eerie tones and spinning menacing narratives of deathly scenes. Their debut album and the only LP with all four original members on deck was 1994’s 6 Feet Deep, with sampling lane-paver Prince Paul handling most of the production. The dark and massive drum patterns allowed more frantic and unconventional melodies to whirl underneath it all, providing an off-kilter platform for the booming verses. For this Golden Age Thursday, we look at a grainy video from the 90’s U.K. TV series The Word, where, in 1995, Gravediggaz made an unforgettable appearance. The four-piece took over the show for an electrifying performance of “Bang Your Head” from their 1994 debut. You witness the crowd lose their minds as soon as RZA’s vocals echo throughout the room as Graavediggaz’s cartoonish energy encases the audience.
