The Goats were an American

alternative hip hop Alternative hip hop (also known as alternative rap) is a subgenre of hip hop music that encompasses a wide range of styles that are not typically identified as mainstream. AllMusic defines it as comprising " hip hop groups that refuse to confor ...

trio from

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

History

The group (whose name, according to Swayzack, was chosen to join the word "scapegoats" and the saying "Don't get my goat," concluding that they felt the government had definitely gotten their goat at the time of formation) began in 1991 with founding vocalists

rapper Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...

s OaTie Kato (James D'Angelo), Madd (a.k.a. "the M-A-the-double-D", Maxx Stoyanoff Williams), and Swayzack (Patrick Shupe). Earlier lineup formations during the 1991 era featured the sisters Love and Rucyl Mills and Oatie's brother Vinnie Angel. Unusually for a rap group, the Goats had a full musical band as well, which included drummer

Chuck Treece Chuck Treece (born May 30, 1964) is a session musician and professional skateboarder from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In 1984, he became famous for being the first African-American skateboarder to be featured on the cover of ''Thrasher'' magazin ...

and multi-instrumentalists Pierce Ternay and bassist E.J. Simpson. Mark Boyce ( Boss Hogg, Delta 72, and G. Love and Special Sauce) contributed keyboards and voiced many of the characters on "Tricks of the Shade" A Ruff House promotion photo shows an eight-piece lineup. The group recorded on

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...

Ruffhouse Records 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 Re ...

, and their first album, ''Tricks of the Shade'' (1992), has been called one of the best Philadelphia albums of all time. They released two studio albums. ''Tricks of the Shade'' (1992) was produced by OaTie Kato and producer Joe "the Butcher" Nicolo) and released by

. It peaked at No. 58 in the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts C ...

in August 1994. Their follow-up album was '' No Goats, No Glory'' (1994), released by Columbia Records. The Goats toured with

Urge Overkill Urge Overkill is an American alternative rock band, formed in Chicago, Illinois, United States, consisting of Nathan Kaatrud, who took the stage name Nash Kato (vocals/guitar), and Eddie "King" Roeser (vocals/guitar/bass guitar). They are widely ...

, Dog Eat Dog,

Cypress Hill Cypress Hill is an American hip hop group from South Gate, California. They have sold over 20 million albums worldwide and have multi-platinum and platinum albums. They are considered to be among the main progenitors of West Coast and 1990 ...

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Beastie Boys Beastie Boys were an American rap rock group from New York City, formed in 1978. The group was composed of Mike D, Michael "Mike D" Diamond (vocals, drums), Adam Yauch, Adam "MCA" Yauch (vocals, bass), and Ad-Rock, Adam "Ad-Rock" Horovitz (voca ...

and

Luscious Jackson Luscious Jackson is an alternative rock/ rap-rock group formed in 1991. The band's name is a reference to former American basketball player Lucious Jackson. The original band consisted of Jill Cunniff (vocals, bass), Gabby Glaser (vocals, guit ...

. In 1994, OaTie Kato departed The Goats, reportedly because he missed a plane flight to a tour date. He was replaced by vocalist and drummer Derek "D'Recka" Pierce. later projects have included working alongside his brother directing and writing the 2007 film, ''

The Orange Thief ''The Orange Thief'' is a Sicilian/Italian film shot in Lucca Sicula by a group of American and Italian actors and filmmakers. It stars newcomers Andrea Calabrese, Alessio Giottoli, and Micaela Helvetica Saxer. The film was written by Sicilian-A ...

'', which won a number of festival circuit awards, and founding the group

Jimmy Luxury Jimmy Luxury, also known as Jimmy Luxury and the Tommy Rome Orchestra, is a swing- hop duo with its two main members based in Philadelphia and San Francisco. The group features vocalists Jimmy Luxury (James Kelleher), Brett "Songbird" Abramson ...

in 2009 which was signed to

Sony Records Sony Records was a record label founded by R&B duo Ike & Tina Turner in 1963. It was not affiliated with Sony Group Corporation. Ike Turner produced singles by members of the Kings of Rhythm and the Ikettes on Sony Records. Records on the label ...

. He has since left the music business and now holds seminars on the use of

Bitcoin Bitcoin ( abbreviation: BTC; sign: ₿) is a decentralized digital currency that can be transferred on the peer-to-peer bitcoin network. Bitcoin transactions are verified by network nodes through cryptography and recorded in a public distr ...

and various other topics such as

climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...

. Swayzack would cease all musical activity after the band broke up. Remaining member Madd continued to perform and produce music until the early 2000s, first with the Goats spin-off group Incognegro and later with Black Landlord. In 2019, they released a live album, ''Live at Khyber Pass — July 4th, 1993'', which was featured on the iTunes UK landing page for a week. In the introduction to the 2019 book about Ruffhouse Records, by Chris Schwartz,

The Roots The Roots are an American hip hop band formed in 1987 by Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter and Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. The Roots serve as the house band on NBC's ''The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy F ...

lead man

QuestLove Ahmir Khalib Thompson (born January 20, 1971), known professionally as Questlove (stylized as ), is an American musician, record producer, disc jockey, filmmaker, music journalist, and actor. He is the drummer and joint frontman (with Black Thou ...

writes that the Goats requested his band to warm up for them, resulting in their first live show.

Discography

Albums

* ''

Tricks of the Shade ''Tricks of the Shade'' is the debut album by American hip hop group the Goats. It was released on November 3, 1992 though Columbia Records sub-label, Ruffhouse Records and was produced by OaTie Kato and Joe "The Butcher" Nicolo. Release ''Tri ...

-'' Ruffhouse/ Columbia – 1992 * '' No Goats, No Glory'' - Ruffhouse/Columbia – 1994 * ''Live at Khyber Pass — July 4th, 1993'' – 2019

History

Discography

Albums

References

External links