Wreckx-n-Effect (originally Wrecks-n-Effect) is an American
new jack swing group from
Harlem
Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and Central Park North on the south. The greater Ha ...
,
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
most known for their No. 1 Rap songs, "
New Jack Swing" & their multi-platinum hit "
Rump Shaker".
History
Wrecks-n-Effect was founded in 1988 by
Aqil Davidson, Markell Riley and Brandon "B-Doggs" Mitchell. A fourth member: Keith "K.C." Harris, was added while creating their demo but was a member only on their debut EP. One year later, Davidson, Riley and Mitchell reconvened and recorded their First LP containing New Jack Swing. Markell Riley is the brother of
new jack swing producer
Teddy Riley
Edward Theodore Riley (born October 8, 1967) is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer credited with the creation of the New Jack Swing genre. Riley credits Barry Michael Cooper with giving the genre its name.Hogan, Paul. "Tedd ...
. The group debuted in 1988 on
Atlantic Records and soon after transitioned to
Motown Records. The group achieved their first number one song on the
Billboard Hot Rap Songs
Hot Rap Songs (formerly known as Hot Rap Tracks and Hot Rap Singles) is a chart released weekly by ''Billboard'' in the United States. It lists the 25 most popular hip-hop/rap songs, calculated weekly by airplay on rhythmic and urban radio stati ...
chart with the single "
New Jack Swing" in 1989 on Motown Records.
In 1990 former member DJ "B-Doggs" Brandon Mitchell was killed in a local shootout, which nearly caused Davidson and Riley to end the group. The group continued after encouragement from producer
Teddy Riley
Edward Theodore Riley (born October 8, 1967) is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer credited with the creation of the New Jack Swing genre. Riley credits Barry Michael Cooper with giving the genre its name.Hogan, Paul. "Tedd ...
and
Michael Jackson
Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Over a ...
. Aqil Davidson changed the spelling of Wrecks-n-Effect to Wreckx-n-Effect in honor of Mitchell.
In 1991 Teddy Riley built Future Recording Studios, a multi-million dollar recording studio in
Virginia Beach
Virginia Beach is an independent city located on the southeastern coast of the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. The population was 459,470 at the 2020 census. Although mostly suburban in character, it is the most populous city ...
,
VA. Among the first records produced at Future Recording Studios was Wreckx-n-Effect's 1992 smash
Rump Shaker, which would go on to reach number 2 on the
Billboard Hot 100
The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streamin ...
. Wreckx-n-Effect also recorded their 1992 album
Hard or Smooth
''Hard or Smooth'' is the second album released by Wreckx-n-Effect. It was released on November 24, 1992, for MCA Records and featured production from Teddy Riley, Ty Fyffe, Riley's engineers Franklyn Grant and David Wynn and Wreckx-n—Effect. ...
at Future Recording Studios, which would go on to sell roughly 2 million copies and peak at number 16 on the
Billboard 200
The ''Billboard'' 200 is a record chart ranking the 200 most popular music albums and EPs in the United States. It is published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine and is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of ar ...
.
Conrad Tillard
Conrad Bennette Tillard (born September 15, 1964) is an American Baptist minister, radio host, activist, politician, and author.
Tillard was in his early years a prominent minister of the black nationalist organization the Nation of Islam (NOI) ...
, then known variously as the Hip Hop Minister and Conrad Muhammad, became a fixture in hip-hop in 1993 after he arranged a meeting and a truce in a feud between rising bands Wreckx-N-Effect and
A Tribe Called Quest, that Tillard said threatened to turn Harlem into a "war zone".
[Sacha Jenkins, Elliott Wilson, Gabe Alvarez, Jeff Mao, Brent Rollins (2014)]
"Hit 'em up,"
''Ego Trip's Book of Rap Lists''
Discography
Albums
Singles
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wreckx-N-Effect
American hip hop groups
African-American musical groups
New jack swing music groups
MCA Records artists
Musical groups established in 1988
Musical groups disestablished in 1996
Motown artists
Atlantic Records artists
American musical trios
Musical groups from Harlem