Biography of Silkk the Shocker

Next to Master P (and maybe C-Murder), Silkk the Shocker (born Vyshonne Miller) was the preeminent rapper on No Limit Records, the underground hardcore rap label that became a sensation in the late '90s. Since he is the brother of Master P, the founder of the label, you'd expect nothing less, actually. As a member of Tru, as a guest rapper, and as a solo artist, Silkk the Shocker appeared on most of No Limit's most successful records. His omnipresence says more about the way No Limit was run than it does about his skills. No Limit aggressively marketed each of its artists so they appeared to be superstars before they ever released an album; Silkk was no different. A modestly gifted rapper, Silkk never wanted to break boundaries, only to work within the confines of gangsta rap, and that's exactly what he did, turning out a series of records that celebrated all the clichés gangsta critics dismissed. Obviously, that's what his audience wanted, since his first two records went platinum without support from radio, MTV, or the music industry at large. Like his brothers Master P and C-Murder, Silkk the Shocker was born and raised in New Orleans. He began rapping as a teenager, joining a number of gangsta crews including the Down South Hustlers. He also joined Master P's group Tru, which also featured C-Murder. Before he launched his solo career, he had appeared on albums by the Down South Hustlers, the West Coast Bad Boyz, and Tru. In 1996, Silkk released his debut, The Shocker, on No Limit Records. Shortly after its release, he appended "The Shocker" as a surname. The Shocker slowly became an underground success, largely based on strong word of mouth. Throughout the course of 1997, Silkk the Shocker was all over No Limit releases, appearing on the I'm Bout It soundtrack, Tru's Tru 2 da Game, Mia X's Unlady Like, Mystikal's Unpredictable, and Master P's Ghetto D. His long-awaited second album, Charge It 2 da Game, finally appeared in February 1998, after being promoted by No Limit for nearly eight months. My World, My Way was released three years later. Based on a True Story hit the streets in 2004. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Biography of Master P

Master P created a hip-hop empire without registering on any mainstream radar. For several years, he operated solely in the rap underground, eventually surfacing in the mid-'90s as a recording artist and producer who knew exactly what his audience wanted. And what they wanted was gangsta rap. With his independent label No Limit, Master P gave them gangsta rap at its most basic -- violent, vulgar lyrics, hard-edged beats, whiny synthesizers, and blunted bass. He wasn't a great rapper, nor was anyone on No Limit; occasionally, the No Limit rappers were even talentless and clumsy. But in a time when major labels were running away from the controversy that gangsta rap caused and Dr. Dre, the father of the genre, was proclaiming it dead, Master P stayed on course, delivering album after album of unadulterated gangsta. It was recorded cheaply and packaged cheaply, and almost all of the records on No Limit were interchangeable, but that didn't matter, because Master P kept making money and getting paid.Appropriately for someone who operated outside of conventional hip-hop circles, Master P (born Percy Miller, circa 1969) didn't come from such traditional rap locales as New York or California. Master P was based in New Orleans, a city with a rich musical tradition that nevertheless had an underdeveloped hip-hop scene. It also had an unspoken violent side that affected Master P as a teenager. After his parents' divorce, he moved between the homes of his father's mother in New Orleans and his mother in Richmond, CA. During his teens, he was on the outside of the drug and hustling culture, but he also pursued a love of basketball. He won a sports scholarship at the University of Houston, but he left the school and moved to Richmond, where he studied business at Oakland's Merritt Junior College. His grandfather died and left him ten thousand dollars in the late '80s, which Master P invested in No Limit Records. Originally, No Limit was a store, not a label. While working at No Limit, Master P learned that there was a rap audience who loved funky, street-level beats that the major labels weren't providing. Using this knowledge, he decided to turn No Limit into a record label in 1990. The following year, he debuted with Get Away Clean and later had an underground hit with The Ghettos Tryin to Kill Me! in 1994. Around this same time, the compilation West Coast Bad Boyz, which featured rappers Rappin' 4-Tay and E-40 before they were nationally known, was released and spent over half a year on the charts. These latter two albums were significant underground hits and confirmed what Master P suspected -- there was an audience for straight-ahead, unapologetic, funky hardcore rap. He soon moved No Limit to New Orleans and began concentrating on making records.By the mid-'90s, No Limit had developed its own production team, Beats by the Pound (comprised of Craig B., KLC, and Mo B. Dick), which worked on every one of the label's releases. And there were many releases, hitting a rate of nearly ten a year, all masterminded by Master P and Beats by the Pound. They crafted the sound, often stealing songs outright from contemporary hits. They designed album covers, which had the cheap, garishly colorful and tasteless look of straight-to-video exploitation films. And they worked fast, recording and releasing entire albums in as quickly as two weeks.Included in that production schedule were Master P's own albums. 99 Ways to Die was released in 1995, and Ice Cream Man appeared the following year. By the time Ghetto Dope was released in the late summer of 1997, Master P had turned No Limit into a mini-empire. He had no exposure on radio or MTV, but No Limit's records sold very well, and Tru -- a group he formed with his younger brothers Silkk the Shocker and C-Murder -- had Top Ten R&B hit albums. His success in the recording industry inspired him to make I'm Bout It, an autobiographical comedy-drama titled after Tru's breakthrough hit. Master P financed the production himself, and when he found no distributor, it went straight to video in the summer of 1997. His next film, I Got the Hook Up, appeared in theaters during the summer of 1998, concurrent with the release of his album MP da Last Don. In between flirtations with the sports world -- including a tryout with the NBA's Toronto Raptors and negotiating the NFL contract of Heisman Trophy winner Ricky Williams -- Master P recorded 1999's Only God Can Judge Me. Ghetto Postage and Game Face followed. The double CD Good Side, Bad Side appeared in 2004 and marked P and No Limit's new relationship with the label/distribution company Koch. Both Ghetto Bill and Living Legend: Certified D-Boy arrived a year later. The 2007 compilation Featuring...Master P rounded up some of the rapper's collaborations. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Biography of Fiend

After making his debut in 1995 with Won't Be Denied, rapper Fiend joined the No Limit label to record his 1998 follow-up, There's One in Every Family. ~ Jason Ankeny

Biography of Mystikal

Originally one of the leading rappers on Master P's No Limit record label, Mystikal quickly evolved beyond the label's clichéd thug trappings and found himself one of the Dirty South's most recognized rappers, alongside Juvenile. Like No Limit itself, Mystikal is a New Orleans native. He released an eponymous debut on the independent label Big Boy in 1995. It earned the attention of Jive Records, who signed him later that year. His official, major-label debut, Mind of Mystikal, was released early in 1996 and became a major hit in the rap underground, falling just short of going gold. He then hooked up with Master P and No Limit; the union produced Unpredictable, which was released in the fall of 1997 and helped the rapper build a substantial following. Ghetto Fabulous followed in early 1999, falling just short of debuting at number one on the album charts. Consolidating his status as a hot property, Mystikal wasted no time in issuing a follow-up; Let's Get Ready appeared in the fall of 2000, eclipsing his preceding releases in sales terms, as expected. Driven by the James Brown-like "Shake Ya Ass" as a lead single -- an MTV staple before the album even hit the streets -- it had become increasingly difficult to trace Mystikal's roots back to the trademark sound and motifs of the thuggish No Limit camp. Let's Get Ready demonstrated the wide-reaching ambitions that had only been hinted at in successive releases, eliminating the No Limit stigma and finally making his unique rhyme delivery accessible enough to cross over to the masses. In 2001, Mystikal's bombastic rap stylings came together for a fifth album, Tarantula. "Bouncin' Back (Bumpin' Me Against the Wall)" was one of 2002's hottest singles; the next year Mystikal garnered two Grammy nods for Best Male Rap Solo Performance and Best Rap Album. The hit-grabbing compilation Prince of the South dropped in 2004 with the new single "Oochie Pop." ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Biography of Mia X

No biography available