Happy 30th Anniversary to Gravediggaz’ debut album 6 Feet Deep, originally released August 9, 1994.
Gravediggaz were one of the least likely to succeed of any hip-hop group that released an album on a major label. The crew, which released its debut album 6 Feet Deep 30 years ago, was a proverbial island of misfit toys. Put together by a producer whose time many thought had since passed, it was collection of “could-have-beens” who were trying to dig themselves out of the graves. It’s easy to imagine a world where 6 Feet Deep never saw the light of day.
The early 1990s had been a difficult to time for “Prince Paul” Huston. Just a few years before, he had launched Dew Doo Man Records, which was to be distributed through Rush Associated Labels. Sadly, it sputtered and died before it even got a chance to start; the sole album recorded for the label, Resident Alien’s It Takes a Nation of Suckers to Hold Us In, got shelved.
Simultaneously, Paul was becoming less involved with De La Soul; the group was starting to handle more and more of their own production, leaving him with a reduced role. According to Check the Technique by Brian Coleman, he began to feel like the hip-hop industry had moved on from him to new hot producers, increasingly making him the odd man out.
In response, he put together Gravediggaz. The collective was made up of artists who were at one time signed to Tommy Boy Records, but fell out with the label at one time or another due to various record label “complications.” They saw the group as the second lease on musical life and their chance to rebuild their legacy on their own terms. They each fashioned new aliases and identities to signify their rebirth.
The roster was spearheaded by Paul a.k.a. The Undertaker, who enlisted his fellow Stetsasonic alum Arnold “Frukwan” Hamilton a.k.a. The Gatekeeper. They were joined by the late Anthony “Too Poetic” Berkeley a.k.a. The Grym Reaper, who recorded the critically acclaimed “God Made Me Funky” 12” during the late ’80s before disappearing for a time. Finally, there was RZA a.k.a. the RZArector, best known as the spiritual leader of the Wu-Tang Clan. He had been signed to Tommy Boy during the late ’80s and early ‘90s as Prince Rakeem, dropping the 12” single “Ooh, We Love You Rakeem.”
The crew recorded a six-song demo in 1993, back when artists still made those, and began shopping for a label deal. Unable to garner much interest, the crew decided to take a timeout. Rakeem went back to recording an album with his Staten Island homies. And we know where things went from there.
The massive success of the Wu-Tang Clan reinvigorated record labels’ interest in Gravediggaz, as they now clamored for Wu-Tang related product. The crew eventually signed with the UK-based Gee Street Records, who apparently were interested in distributing the album even without RZA’s involvement.
Listen to the Album:
Everywhere except the United States the album goes by the title N***amortis. It was changed to 6 Feet Deep stateside for self-evident reasons. It’s also technically the second Wu-Tang related album to hit the market after the late 1993 release of Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) (Shyheim’s AKA The Rugged Child is the first).
Gravediggaz had an interesting dynamic. It was very much Prince Paul’s brainchild, as he was instrumental in defining the group’s sound and direction. Even though RZA is clearly an extremely talented producer who was then entering his prime, he approached the album from an emceeing perspective, rather than as a beatmaker (though he did produce two and a half songs for the project). Lyrically, the group’s soul is Too Poetic, who leads off most of the tracks and sets the tone for each entry with his unhinged delivery and gravelly rasp of a voice.
Poetic set the album off on the right foot out of the gate on “Constant Elevation,” as he brays, “BEWARE! Four figures appear through the fog / Yeah, Gravediggaz cut like sword … / AHHHHHH!!!!! Fear makes ya brain go numb / You ain’t got a clue where the gods come from.” According to Paul, it was the first song the group recorded after signing with Gee Street, and Poetic rewrote his intro verse after a few bad takes, capturing the right energy that would echo throughout the rest of the group’s recording sessions. Poetic and Frukwan continue the song as a deranged version of EPMD, bouncing off each other with blood curdling energy over a piano loop from Allen Toussaint’s “Louie.” RZA contributes a similar madcap final verse, as he arrived to the studio session late and couldn’t fully integrate with Poetic and Frukwan.
6 Feet Deep has always been lumped in with the non-existent “Horrorcore” hip-hop “movement,” seemingly for no other reason than the album was released in close proximity to the Flatlinerz’ one and only album. For those who don’t know, Flatlinerz were a crew signed to Def Jam (and led by Russell Simmons’ nephew) that tried to make Horrorcore a thing. It didn’t work.
Gravediggaz did certainly incorporate some horrifying elements into their music, particularly their lyrics and imagery they used in some of the best-known songs and videos. But Six Feet Deep wasn’t a Horrorcore album.
That said, their first single “Diary of a Madman” is certainly disturbing. Framed around the sentencing phase of a trial where each member of the group has been found guilty of various horrific crimes, each emcee testifies to the miserable circumstances that brought them there. The song features the first notable appearance of Wu-Affiliates Shabazz the Disciple and Killah Priest. Shabazz’s opening salvo seemed destined to make him a superstar, as he commands the audience to “look deep into my eyes you’ll see visions of death / Possessed. By homicide is what I am obsessed” and then promising that “I'll give your ass a holy (holey) spirit.”
Still, the track (and album’s) most disturbing verse comes from RZA. He describes his brutal torture, much of which parallels the ordeal of Jesus during the crucifixion, along with having his eyelids sewn open, all before escaping his predicament by chewing his own arm off. The verse is not for the squeamish, but it’s nevertheless arresting in its amount of detail given and the commitment to the track’s premise.
Gravediggaz also use horror-themed imagery on 6 Feet Deep’s third single “1-800-Suicide.” Despite the somber track, sampled from Booker T and the MGs’ version of “Sunny,” it’s an utterly ridiculous song, with each member of the group suggesting different reasons to commit suicide and absurd ways to carry out the act. As Paul said in Check the Technique Vol. 2, “You’d have to be on serious drugs to take the song seriously.” Still, because it was the mid-1990s and anti-rap hysteria was at its peak, the usual crusading idiots started with their harangue that the track was to blame for various teenagers taking their lives. It led to the group recording a PSA for anti-suicide hotlines.
When it came to singles on 6 Feet Deep, Gravediggaz liked to keep things grim. “Nowhere to Run, Nowhere to Hide” is another ominous track, built around a sample of Eugene McDaniels’ “Jagger’s Dagger.” RZA had originally wanted to use the beat as a solo track, but Paul recorded deranged verses from Frukwan and Poetic. RZA is still the star of the track, reminding listeners that “me being wack is like naps on Kojack.”
Not all of 6 Feet Deep is death and despair. The track “2 Cups of Blood” is some straight emcee shit, with Poetic and RZA trading four verses over a sinister keyboard sample from Larry Willis’ “Inner Crisis.” You can tell that the song is older than most of the album’s other recordings, because you can still hear RZA’s Prince Rakeem “Ooh, We Love You Rakeem” voice and flow in his verses.
“Graveyard Chamber” is the closest approximation to a Wu-Tang track on 6 Feet Deep. Produced by RZA, it features a dusty drum track and a harsh piano loop that sounds like someone hitting all the keys at random. All three emcees in the crew are joined by Dreddy Kruger along with the aforementioned Shabazz the Disciple and Killah Priest, who promises to “dig through your chest like a jar of Vaseline.”
Throughout the album, Gravediggaz repeatedly establish their skills as storytellers, and not just when it comes to tales of chewing off their appendages. “Blood Brothers” is the album’s most uplifting track, as all three emcees describe growing up in abject poverty, struggling to survive. Yet all three make the best of their situations and bond with each other through the shared experience. The song was originally conceived and produced by Frukwan, with Poetic and RZA adding their contributions later. RZA delivers a vividly powerful verse, rhyming, “Acquired the knowledge how to master my thoughts / My skinny frail body couldn’t fuck with the sports / Six feet two, and still wack on the court / So I stalked New York with a black pitchfork.”
“Defective Trip” is another of the more overtly goofy entries on 6 Feet Deep, with all three emcees describing getting blitzed on that narcotic over a guitar sample taken from John Ussery’s prog rock “Listen to the Melody.” Frukwan keeps things simple with some really potent weed, while RZA recalls getting dusted out of his mind on PCP/leak during the mid ’80s. Poetic’s verse is the highlight of song, as he “get lifted off a whole gallon of glue,” finds himself pissing on the floor throughout his project , before running afoul of Old Fat Ned “scheming on a blow job from a crackhead.”
“Deathtrap” is a brief but foreboding story track, with Frukwan, RZA, and Poetic conveying three separate tales of ghetto-dwelling denizens getting caught up in dire circumstances they can’t escape. The subject of each verse tempts fate, but ultimately succumbs to it. Prince Paul does an excellent job with the production here, sampling a less-used bongo breakdown on the Whole Darn Family’s “Seven Minutes of Funk.”
Gravediggaz’ affiliation with Wu-Tang Clan is touted as a big reason for their success, but a co-sign alone doesn’t guarantee musical longevity. And both Gravediggaz and 6 Feet Deep specifically have held up better than many albums created by other more direct Wu-Tang associates. While Horrorcore is a punchline, hip-hop heads that came up during the ’90s recognize the dopeness of what this crew of oddballs created.
LISTEN:
Editor's note: this anniversary tribute was originally published in 2019 and has since been edited for accuracy and timeliness.