The Lords of the Underground (L.O.T.U.G.) is an American hip-hop trio based in
Newark, New Jersey
Newark ( , ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the seat of Essex County and the second largest city within the New York metropolitan area.MCs Mr. Funke and DoItAll Dupré met DJ Lord Jazz (a native of
Cleveland
Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...
) when all three were undergraduates at
Shaw University
Shaw University is a private Baptist historically black university in Raleigh, North Carolina. It is affiliated with the American Baptist Churches USA. Founded on December 1, 1865, Shaw University is the oldest HBCU to begin offering courses in ...
in North Carolina. A friend of Doitall's introduced the group to legendary producer
Marley Marl
Marlon Williams (born September 30, 1962), better known by his stage name Marley Marl, is an American DJ, record producer, rapper and record label founder, primarily operating in hip hop music. Marlon grew up in Queensbridge housing projects ...
, who invited them to record at his studio with help from
K-Def
K-Def (full name Kevin Hansford) (born June 17, 1970) is an American, New Jersey based, hip hop producer/ DJ who has been actively involved in the music industry since the early 1990s. He has recently produced music for artists such as Ghostface ...
. In 1990, Redman at the beginning of his career served as DJ for DoItAll of Lords of the Underground at Club Sensations in Newark, New Jersey.
The group released its debut album, ''
Here Come the Lords
''Here Come the Lords'' is the debut studio album by American hip hop music, hip hop group Lords of the Underground. It was released in 1993 by Pendulum and Elektra Records. It was produced by Marley Marl and K-Def.
The album was a success for the ...
'', on March 9, 1993, on Pendulum/Elektra, with production handled by Marley Marl and K-Def. In 2013, the American magazine ''
Spin
Spin or spinning most often refers to:
* Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thread by twisting fibers together, traditionally by hand spinning
* Spin, the rotation of an object around a central axis
* Spin (propaganda), an intentionally b ...
'' added the album to its list of "The 50 Best Rap Albums from 1993". The album peaked at 66 on the ''Billboard'' 200 and featured five charting singles, including the group's
signature song
A signature (; from la, signare, "to sign") is a Handwriting, handwritten (and often Stylization, stylized) depiction of someone's name, nickname, or even a simple "X" or other mark that a person writes on documents as a proof of identity and ...
, "
Chief Rocka
"Chief Rocka" is the third single released from the Lords of the Underground's debut album, ''Here Come the Lords''. The song was produced and featured scratches by K-Def, with K-Def and Marley Marl mixing it. "Chief Rocka" became the group's most ...
". In 2015, ''
Complex
Complex commonly refers to:
* Complexity, the behaviour of a system whose components interact in multiple ways so possible interactions are difficult to describe
** Complex system, a system composed of many components which may interact with each ...
'' placed the song in 85th place on its list of "The 100 Greatest Hip-Hop Beats of All Time".
By the end of 1993, the Lords had received an award from BET as best rap group of the year.
The group released its second album, ''
Keepers of the Funk
''Keepers of the Funk'' is the second studio album by American hip hop group Lords of the Underground. It was released on November 1, 1994 via Pendulum Records. Recording sessions took place at House of Hitz in Chestnut Ridge, New York. Production ...
'', on Pendulum/EMI, the following year on November 1, 1994. ''Keepers of the Funk'' peaked at 47 on the Billboard 200 and featured three charting singles, the most successful of which was " Tic Toc".
The group received negative criticism when it was implied in their 1995 single "Burn Rubber" that they condoned car-jacking. The group claims the song was created specifically for the soundtrack of the car-jacking movie ''
New Jersey Drive
''New Jersey Drive'' is a 1995 crime drama film written and directed by Nick Gomez and executive produced by Spike Lee. The film is about joyriding teenagers in 1990s Newark, New Jersey, then known as the "car theft capital of the world". The fi ...
''.
They reunited for a third album with 1999's ''
Resurrection
Resurrection or anastasis is the concept of coming back to life after death. In a number of religions, a dying-and-rising god is a deity which dies and is resurrected. Reincarnation is a similar process hypothesized by other religions, which ...
''. Released via
Queen Latifah
Dana Elaine Owens (born March 18, 1970), known professionally as Queen Latifah, is an American rapper, actress, and singer. Born in Newark, New Jersey, she signed with Tommy Boy Records in 1989 and released her debut album ''All Hail the Que ...
's Jersey Kidz imprint, it was so small-scale a release that few realized that it had been recorded at all. The Lords returned again in 2007 for a fourth album, titled ''
House of Lords
The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the Bicameralism, upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by Life peer, appointment, Hereditary peer, heredity or Lords Spiritual, official function. Like the ...
''; like ''Resurrection'', it failed to reach the Billboard charts.
The Lords are best remembered in connection with
the golden age of hip hop
Golden age hip hop is a name given to mainstream hip hop music created from the mid-1980s to early-mid 1990s, particularly by artists and musicians originating from the New York metropolitan area. An outgrowth of the new school hip hop movement, ...
. As such, when
Nas
Nas (born 1973) is the stage name of American rapper Nasir Jones.
Nas, NaS, or NAS may also refer to:
Aviation
* Nasair, a low-cost airline carrier and subsidiary based in Eritrea
* National Air Services, an airline in Saudi Arabia
** Nas Air ( ...
decided in 2007 to do a
remix
A remix (or reorchestration) is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, video, poem, or photograph can all be remixes. The o ...
of his song " Where Are They Now?" which asked the fates of several long-forgotten golden age rappers, the Lords were among those requested to appear. DoItAll Dupré performed eight bars on the track.
DoItAll appeared briefly in the final scene of the final episode of ''
The Sopranos
''The Sopranos'' is an American Crime film#Crime drama, crime drama television series created by David Chase. The story revolves around Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini), a New Jersey-based American Mafia, Italian-American mobster, portraying h ...
'' credited as Du Kelly, as one of a series of potentially ominous figures entering the diner. He also appeared on other TV shows: ''
Law & Order
''Law & Order'' is an American police procedural and legal drama television series created by Dick Wolf and produced by Wolf Entertainment, launching the '' Law & Order'' franchise.
''Law & Order'' aired its entire run on NBC, premiering on ...
'' as Two Tone, on '' Oz'' the HBO series, and on the Christmas episode of ''
30 Rock
''30 Rock'' is an American satirical sitcom television series created by Tina Fey that originally aired on NBC from October 11, 2006, to January 31, 2013. The series, based on Fey's experiences as head writer for ''Saturday Night Live'', takes ...
'' on NBC (2008). He has also been in independent movies such as ''Somewhere in the City'' with
Bai Ling
Bai Ling (, born October 10, 1966) is a Chinese-American actress known for her work in the films ''The Crow'', ''Nixon'', ''Red Corner'', '' Crank: High Voltage'', ''Dumplings'', ''Wild Wild West'', ''Anna and the King'', ''Southland Tales'', and ...
, Rhyme & Reason, and with Treach of Naughty By Nature. He has also starred in an off Broadway play entitled ''Diss Diss & Diss Dat''.
In 2012, the group first performed in Russia as part of the Hip-Hop Don't Stop event and the Soul City 2012 festival.
In 2017, DoItAll revealed he planned on running for Councilman-at-Large for his hometown of Newark. He started his campaign in 2018; although defeated in that year, he was elected on June 14, 2022, to represent the West Ward. ("On June 14, 2022, The Honorable Dupré L. Kelly became the first platinum-selling Hip Hop artist in the United States of America to win elected office.")
In 2020, Lords of the Underground released its comeback song "Insomniac", produced by
Snowgoons
History
Snowgoons is a German underground hip hop production team composed of DJ Illegal (Manuu Rückert) and Det Gunner (D. Keller). In 2011, producers Sicknature (Jeppe Andersen) from Denmark and J.S. Kuster (Johann Sebastian Kuster) from Ger ...
. The track is the first single off ''So Legendary'', the group's first album in over a decade. At the end of January, Lords of the Underground released a video for the song "Whats Up", recorded with
Onyx
Onyx primarily refers to the parallel banded variety of chalcedony, a silicate mineral. Agate and onyx are both varieties of layered chalcedony that differ only in the form of the bands: agate has curved bands and onyx has parallel bands. The c ...
, which was later released in a single for this song.
RapGenius
Genius is an American digital media company founded on August 27, 2009, by Tom Lehman, Ilan Zechory, and Mahbod Moghadam. The site allows users to provide annotations and interpretation to song lyrics, news stories, sources, poetry, and document ...
Spotify
Spotify (; ) is a proprietary Swedish audio streaming and media services provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. It is one of the largest music streaming service providers, with over 456 million monthly active us ...