Kris Kross followed Nicolo to his new label. Artists also included Ced, The Co-Defendants, and GOAT. Joe became “Joe the Butcher” around 1982 when editing tape for the late producer Ray Monahan, who said: “You need a nickname. The way you chop up tape, let’s call you ‘Joe the Butcher.’”
Joe said, “Perfect, because my father literally was ‘Joe the butcher.’” In fact, since Studio 4 moved to suburban Conshohocken in 1994, it has been located across the street from what was Joe Sr.’s butcher shop for 35 years.
Joe and Schoolly D-manager Chris Schwartz started Ruffhouse Records in 1986 to capitalize on the wealth of rap talent from the Philly area. In the late '80s Joe produced, engineered or mixed (for other labels) Schoolly, the 7A3, Steady B, Blackmale, Roxanne Shante and many others, establishing his rap rep.
After foundering under an onerous distribution deal with Enigma Records in 1987 and 1988, Ruffhouse came to fruition when distribution was switched to Columbia. The label's first release was Cheba's The Piper in 1990, and their first hit was Tim Dog's Fuck Compton (with Joe mixing) which topped the rap charts in 1991 and fueled the East/West rap wars.
The label came into its own with the release of the first Cypress Hill album, a double-platinum slice of THC-soaked L.A. Latino rap, exec-produced and mixed by Joe. One of Ruffhouse's biggest hits came in 1992 with Kris Kross, a pair of Atlanta 12-year-olds under the wing of Jermaine Dupri (with Joe and Phil engineering and mixing, and Joe exec-producing), released the quadruple-platinum Totally Krossed Out (No. 1).
The label's other commercial and critical cow has been the Fugees, whose The Score went 7 X's-platinum in 1996; solo releases from Fugees Wyclef Jean, Lauryn Hill (6 Million), and Pras have all succeeded as well. Ruffhouse Records went on to sell over 100 million records worldwide. Joe has 9 Grammy wins and in April 2003 was given the Hero's Award from the Grammy organization.
Joe has since gone on to moviemaking and has made several films including Shade starring Sly Stallone and Jamie Foxx, and One Part Sugar starring Danny DeVito.
The Fugees are an American hip hop trio formed in 1990 in South Orange, New Jersey. Deriving its name from a shortening of the word "refugees", the group consists of Wyclef Jean, Pras Michel, and Lauryn Hill. The group rose to prominence in the mid-1990s for their pioneering blend of reggae, R&B, funk and hip hop, which eschewed gangsta rap and made them one of the most significant alternative hip hop acts. They occasionally rapped in Haitian Creole, and were one of the first hip hop bands to incorporate live instrumentation during their performances, along with the Roots.
Jermaine Dupri Mauldin is an American record producer, rapper, singer, songwriter, and record executive. Raised in Atlanta as the son of Columbia Records executive Michael Mauldin, he began his career in music production at the age of nine. He discovered the teen hip hop duo Kris Kross in 1991. Dupri wrote and produced their 1992 single "Jump," which peaked atop the Billboard Hot 100 and was named the 23rd most successful song of that decade. He established his own record label, So So Def Recordings in a joint venture with Columbia the following year.
The Score is the second studio album by the hip hop trio Fugees, released worldwide on February 13, 1996, on Columbia Records. The album features a wide range of samples and instrumentation, with many aspects of alternative hip hop that would come to dominate the hip-hop music scene in the mid- to late-1990s. Primarily, The Score's production was handled by the Fugees themselves, Jerry Duplessis and Warren Riker, with additional production from Salaam Remi, John Forté, Diamond D, and Shawn King. The album's guest verses are from Outsidaz members Rah Digga, Young Zee, and Pacewon, as well as John Forté, and Diamond D. Most versions of the album feature four bonus tracks, including three remixes of "Fu-Gee-La", and a short acoustic Wyclef Jean solo track entitled "Mista Mista".
Kris Kross were an American hip hop duo, composed of rappers Chris "Mac Daddy" Kelly and Chris "Daddy Mac" Smith, formed by record producer Jermaine Dupri. They were the youngest hip-hop group to gain commercial success, with several charting releases by the ages of 12 and 13 years old, respectively. Smith and Kelly were discovered by Dupri in 1991, to whom they signed as the first act on the record label So So Def Recordings, and saw national recognition the following year with their 1992 debut single, "Jump", which remained atop the Billboard Hot 100 for eight weeks and received double platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). They went on to release three studio albums; their debut, Totally Krossed Out (1992) peaked atop the US Billboard 200, while their second and third, Da Bomb (1993) and Young, Rich & Dangerous (1996), both entered the top 20. The duo were also noted for their signature fashion style of backwards-clad attire. Kelly died of a drug overdose on May 1, 2013.
Ruffhouse Records is an American record label founded in 1989 by Chris Schwartz and Joe Nicolo as a joint venture with Columbia Records. In 1999, Schwartz and Nicolo closed the label, and Schwartz and Kevon Glickman continued with RuffNation Records. Ruffhouse's artist roster at the time of its original closing included The Fugees, Cypress Hill, Kris Kross, Wyclef Jean, Lauryn Hill, and Leela James.
Ghetto Supastar is the debut solo studio album by former Fugees member and American rapper Pras. The album was released on October 27, 1998, through Ruffhouse Records and Columbia Records.
"Jump" is a song by American hip hop duo Kris Kross, released on February 6, 1992 by Ruffhouse and Columbia, as their first single from their debut studio album, Totally Krossed Out (1992). It was produced by Jermaine Dupri and Joe "The Butcher" Nicolo, and achieved international success, topping charts in Switzerland, Australia, and the United States. Additionally, it was the third-best-selling song of 1992 in the United States, with sales of 2,079,000 physical copies that year. The song's accompanying music video was directed by Rich Murray and filmed in Atlanta. Billboard magazine featured "Jump" in their lists of "Billboard's Top Songs of the '90s" in 2019 and "500 Best Pop Songs of All Time" in 2023.
The Goats were an American alternative hip hop trio from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
"Doo Wop (That Thing)" is a song by American rapper and singer Lauryn Hill from her debut solo studio album, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill (1998). It was written and produced by Hill. The song was released as her solo debut and lead single from The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill on August 10, 1998, by Ruffhouse Records and Columbia Records. No commercial release was originally intended for the single in the US, but limited-quantity physical formats were issued two months later, on October 27.
The Butcher Bros. is an American music production team made up of brothers Phil and Joe Nicolo, originally based out of Philadelphia in the mid-to-late '80s. Together and individually, the brothers have produced albums for a wide variety of bands, including Urge Overkill, John Lennon, Bob Dylan, Amy Grant, Cypress Hill, Nine Inch Nails, Dog Eat Dog, Anthrax, Rett Smith and Luscious Jackson. While Joe Nicolo was the original "butcher" he later paired briefly with his brother as Butcher Bros. Joe continues today as Joe the Butcher. The brothers began their music careers as teenagers, fixing speakers and rewiring amplifiers at a local drive-in movie theater. After earning a B.S. in Science from Temple University, Phil returned to Philadelphia and the brothers founded the Studio 4 recording studio. Using the name "Butcher Bros.", a reference to their father's trade, they quickly established themselves in many genres of music production. Sometimes they would work together and other times, individually.
"Fu-Gee-La" is a song by American hip-hop trio, Fugees, released on December 13, 1995 by Ruffhouse Records, as the lead single from their second and final album, The Score (1996). Produced by Salaam Remi, it contains a sample of "If Loving You Is Wrong " by Ramsey Lewis, while its chorus contains an interpolation of "Ooo La La La" by Teena Marie. Immediately following this is a sample of "Shakiyla (JRH)" by the Poor Righteous Teachers.
Totally Krossed Out is the debut studio album by American hip hop duo Kris Kross. It was produced and largely written by Jermaine Dupri and Joe "The Butcher" Nicolo and released on March 31, 1992, by Ruffhouse Records and Columbia Records. After developing a musical concept for the duo, Dupri and Nicolo spent two years writing and producing the album.
Jerry "Wonda" Duplessis is a Haitian record producer and musician. His first major success came as the producer of the Fugees' 1996 album The Score. He served as the bass guitarist for the group and is the cousin of Wyclef Jean, with whom he has collaborated on multiple projects.
"Fuck Compton" is a diss track written and performed by the American rapper Tim Dog, released in 1991 through Ruffhouse Records as the lead single from the rapper's debut studio album Penicillin on Wax. It is a diss track criticizing the West Coast hip hop scene, including the Compton-based group N.W.A and its members Eazy-E and Dr. Dre as well as the latter's then-girlfriend Michel'le. The song is often credited for igniting the East Coast–West Coast rivalry of the 1990s. Production was handled by Ultramagnetic MCs' member Ced-Gee and Tim Dog himself. The song peaked atop of the US Billboard Hot Rap Songs chart. Later in 2018 it was place at #19 on Complex's "The 50 Best Hip-Hop Diss Songs" list.
"Warm It Up" is the second single released from American duo Kris Kross' debut album, Totally Krossed Out (1992). Produced and written by Jermaine Dupri, the song was released as the follow-up to the duo's multi-platinum chart topping hit, "Jump" on June 4, 1992. The song became the second consecutive top 15 hit released from the album, reaching 13 on the Billboard Hot 100, and #4 in Canada, as well as their second consecutive single to reach #1 on the Rap charts. "Warm It Up" was certified gold on August 8, 1992. The music video for the song was directed by Rich Murray and was awarded Best Rap Video by a new artist by Billboard magazine in 1992.
"It's a Shame" is the fourth and final single by American hip hop duo Kris Kross, released in January 1993 by Ruffhouse and Columbia from their debut album, Totally Krossed Out (1992). It is the least successful of the four singles, as it did not chart on the US Billboard Hot 100. However, it did manage to reach number 11 on the Billboard Hot Rap Singles chart and number 55 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, as well as number 31 on the UK Singles Chart. The song was written and produced by Jermaine Dupri, and its music video was directed by Rich Murray. The group performed "It's a Shame" on numerous television shows, such as A Different World.
Richard E. Chertoff is an American record producer and songwriter. He is credited on the singles Joan Osborne's "One of Us", Cyndi Lauper's "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" and "Time After Time" and Sophie B. Hawkins' "Damn I Wish I Was Your Lover". Chertoff has received five Grammy Award nominations—twice for Album of the Year, twice for Record of the Year, and also for Producer of the Year.
John Haeny was an American-born music producer, recording and mixing engineer, sound designer and academic. From the late 1960s through the late 1980s he recorded, mixed and produced hundreds of albums. He worked with a variety of artists across multiple genres including Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Browne, Jim Morrison, Tom Jones, Warren Zevon and Linda Ronstadt to Weather Report, John Coltrane, Freddie Hubbard and Duke Ellington.
Andy Kravitz is an American drummer and percussionist, audio engineer, record producer, and songwriter. He has been nominated for 14 Grammy Awards, winning several. He lives near Venice Beach in Los Angeles, California.
Kris Kross Amsterdam is a Dutch DJ and record producer trio formed by brothers Jordy and Sander Huisman and Yuki Kempees. Their music is a mix of various music styles including R&B, hip hop, funk, soul, pop and house.
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