Shut 'Em Down

About

Shut 'Em Down is the third studio album by American hip hop group Onyx, released on June 2, 1998, by JMJ Records and Def Jam. The album was produced by Keith Horne and Self, with help from DJ Scratch of EPMD, Bud'da and Latief. The album features guest appearances from Onyx's affiliate X1, DMX, a then-unknown 50 Cent, Still Livin from Gang Green, All City, Mr. Cheek, Wu-Tang Clan, N.O.R.E., Big Pun and other. Shut 'Em Down debuted at number 10 on the U.S. Billboard 200, and number 3 on the Top R&B/Hip Hop Albums chart and sold 90,000 copies in its first week. The album features three the Billboard singles The Worst, Shut 'Em Down and React. The album sold fairly well, moving over 500,000 unit. "Shut 'Em Down" was the last album released by Onyx on Def Jam / JMJ Record, and Onyx were also officially removed from Def Jam on "Black Thursday" - January 21, 1999 - because the label PolyGram, who in 1994 purchased 50% of Sony's Def Jam, was sold to Seagram on December 10, 1998. "Shut 'Em Down" was originally supposed to be released on March 17, 1998, but was delayed until April 17, then May 19, and was finally released on June 2. Chyskillz was originally picked as the main producer of the third album. This was written in the "Billboard Magazine" on July 13, 1996. In February 1998, in an interview for MTV over the phone line, Sticky Fingaz told about the new album: "...It's like a combination of both of the (first two) albums taken to the next level. All We Got Iz Us was more narcissistic, it was a dark album. This one has elements of both, style flipping. We got appearances by Nas and Wu-Tang". The album was recorded in New York City and Los Angele. The album features guest spots from Onyx's affiliate X1, DMX, Chocolate, Clay The Raider (also known as Scarred 4 Life), 50 Cent, Bonifucco, Still Livin' from Gang Green, Sunshine, Bubba Smith, All City's J. Mega and Greg Valentine, Mr. Cheek, Killa Sin, Method Man, Raekwon, N.O.R.E. and Big Pun. Most of the album was produced by Self and Keith Horne, with help from DJ Scratch on the songs "Street Nigguz", "Conspiracy" and "Black Dust", Bud'da also produced the songs "React" and "Ghetto Starz". Latief made music for collaboration with Wu-Tang Clan called "The Worst". According to Keith Horne, one of the producers of the album "Shut 'Em Down", this album was technically the fourth studio album by Onyx. It was recorded a lot of songs for two album, but eventually only one album was released. Keith Horne made 11 songs with Onyx, but only 5 of them were included on the album. "Take That" was cut from the album to not make a double album. The song "Broke Willies" samples a portion of Rolling Stones's song Miss You. Self was introduced to the group by Onyx's road manager Eat 'Em Up. Self did seven tracks for their third album Shut 'Em Down, but only five of them were placed on the album. He produced the single Shut 'Em Down, the first record with DMX. He also produced the remix for this song featuring Big Pun. The 40th Annual Grammy Award, were held on February 25, 1998, at Radio City Music Hall, New York City. Sticky Fingaz told Ol' Dirty Bastard of his plan to take over the stage to promote Onyx's new album "Shut 'Em Down" at that evening the Grammys were going to take place. "...This time I need to promote 'Shut 'Em Down' album... Me and my DJ LS One, we ain't even have tickets to the Grammy... we just walked through security, talking to each other like we supposed to be here... I went to the bathroom, I washed my hands and I'm looking at the mirror and saw a nigga ODB, I'm like 'Who the fuck is this? What up my nigga! Yo, I'm about to go shut this shit down, basically go onstage and promote the motherfucking album' and I told the nigga my plan, he's like, 'Alright! Let's go! Do it!'. Along the way, I stopped to talk to a motherfucking bitch... ODB was with U-God. I was with LS One, so I asked 'Yo! LS, where's this nigga Dirty go?'. He's like 'I don't know'. We walk into the auditorium, open the door, and who the fuck do I see onstage? ODB. I'm like, 'This motherfucker stole my shit and did it without me?'". Ol' Dirty stole his idea and did it without him. Shawn Colvin's trip to the podium to pick up her award for Song of the Year was interrupted by the Wu-Tang Clan's Ol' Dirty Bastard who stole the mic to praise his group, and his new clothe, after Wu-Tang lost the Grammy Award for Best Rap Album. The album in question was Wu-Tang Forever. They lost to Puff Daddy's "No Way Out". O.D.B. urged the crowd to "Please calm down," and launched into a confusing speech thusly: "...I went and bought me an outfit today that cost me a lot of money, because I figured that Wu-Tang was gonna win. I don't know how you all see it, but when it comes to the children, Wu-Tang is for the children. We teach the children. Puffy is good, but Wu-Tang is the best. I want you all to know that this is ODB, and I love you all, peace". This incident was immortalized by Sticky Fingaz in the song "Shut 'Em Down Remix": "They scared to death mothafuckas trying to ban me / I'm the one who told Ol' Dirty to shut down the Grammys". "Shut 'Em Down" is the last album released by Onyx on Def Jam. JMJ Records as well as Onyx were officially removed from Def Jam on "Black Thursday" - January 21, 1999 - because the label PolyGram, who in 1994 purchased 50% of Sony's Def Jam, was sold to Seagram on December 10, 1998. Only four years earlier, Onyx were "saving Def Jam", as Sticky Fingaz put it, but now they were hoping the label would save them. Their third—and what would become their final—album on Def Jam, "Shut 'Em Down", barely went gold. "...Our unity with Jay was broken, our unity with the label was broken", says Sticky, who came by the office one day and threw a tantrum. "I flipped out, pulling plaques off the wall, throwing shit around, mad", he remember. Four singles were released from this album: "The Worst", "Shut 'Em Down", "React", and "Broke Willies". The first single, "The Worst", featuring Wu-Tang Clan's Method Man, Raekwon, and their affiliate Killa Sin, was released on December 23, 1997. The song appeared on the Ride soundtrack. Fredro Starr and Sticky Fingaz also starred in the movie Ride, which was originally titled I-95. The song peaked at #6 on the Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales chart for two week, #22 on the Hot Rap Singles chart for two week, and #64 on Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart for two week. The video was directed by Diane Martel and depicts a post-apocalyptic world where rap is banned. It was filmed in Chinatown, Manhattan, New York City (Ipoh Garden Malaysian Chinese), in December 1997 and premiered on The BOX on March 14, 1998. In February 1998, during an interview for MTV, Sticky Fingaz spoke about collaborating with Wu-Tang: "...It was a collaboration. Working on the soundtrack was a lot like the tour we did with them, we're on the same vibe... It's about the worst of the worst, meaning the best. We're the worst nightmare for everyone in hip-hop. That shit is fucking right." The second single, "Shut 'Em Down", featuring DMX, was released on February 6, 1998. The single carried a promotional sticker reading: "From the forthcoming album 'Shut 'Em Down' in stores March 17, 1998." The song debuted at #43 on the Hot Rap Singles chart on February 7, 1998, later peaking at #26 on the Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales chart for two weeks and #61 on Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. In an interview on White Label Radio, Fredro Starr told the story of how Onyx recorded the title track. DMX arrived at Sound On Sound Studios in New York City to record "Shut 'Em Down", accompanied by his pit bulls and members of Ruff Ryder. However, when it came time to film the music video in Downtown Los Angele, he showed up alone with only the dog. The video was directed by Gregory Dark, filmed in Downtown Los Angeles in December 1997, and released on The BOX in February 1998. The third single, "React", featuring Bonifucco, X1, 50 Cent, and Still Livin, was released on June 2, 1998. The song peaked at #44 on the Hot Rap Singles chart and #62 on Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. "React" marked the directorial debut of the renowned music video director Little X and premiered on Rap City (aired on BET). 50 Cent later recalled appearing in the video when asked about the last time he went ice-skating: "...It's been a long time," 50 Cent said. "It actually was the Onyx video. I had to learn for the video. I didn't know why. I was like 'What the—?' I asked them to put me in the box. Like an actual ." The fourth single, "Broke Willies / Ghetto Starz", featuring X1 and Mr. Cheek, was released in September 1998 with a promotional sticker reading: "The next single from the gold album Shut 'Em Down '98." An alternative radio version of "Broke Willies" appeared on both the "React" and "Broke Willies" single. The explicit ("dirty") single version has never been officially released. The video was directed by Little X on August 1 and premiered on Rap City (aired on BET) in September 1998. Reviewing the song, one critic wrote: "The Queen, N.Y., natives give R. Kelly's 'I Believe I Can Fly' a macabre reworking, offering a somewhat controlled version of their seemingly endless rage." In February 1998, during an MTV phone interview, Fredro Starr explained the meaning of "Raze It Up": .

via Last.fm

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