Dewayne Battle (born December 24, 1970), known professionally as Young Zee, is an American underground hip hop emcee. He was a former member of the Outsidaz, alongside

Pacewon Jerome Derek Hinds Jr. (born August 1, 1974), known professionally as Pacewon (also spelled Pace Won), is an American rapper and producer. He rose to fame in the late 1990s as one of the prominent and founding members of rap group Outsidaz alon ...

Career

Outsidaz

The Outsidaz, a large hip hop crew that became the first act signed to Ruff Life Records, produced several singles and released a record in the mid-'90s. The group including Young Zee had guest vocals on the

Fugees Fugees (; sometimes The Fugees) is an American hip hop group formed in the early 1990s. Deriving its name from a shortening of the word "refugees", the group consists of Wyclef Jean, Pras Michel, and Lauryn Hill. The group rose to fame with i ...

' song "Cowboys" in 1996. Zee made an appearance on

Rah Digga Rashia Tashan Fisher (born December 18, 1974), known professionally as Rah Digga, is an American rapper and actress. She is best known as a longtime member of the Flipmode Squad, a hip hop group led by Busta Rhymes. Her debut album, ''Dirty H ...

's first solo album in 1999. The group released ''

Night Life Nightlife is a collective term for entertainment that is available and generally more popular from the late evening into the early hours of the morning. It includes pubs, bars, nightclubs, parties, live music, concerts, cabarets, theatre, ...

'' (2000) and '' The Bricks'' (2001). In 2002 his solo track, " That's My Nigga fo' Real", was included on the hit soundtrack to Eminem's film 8 Mile.

Solo artist

Due to a history of collaboration, Zee and fans expected him to be signed to Eminem's

Shady Records Shady Records is an American record label founded by rapper Eminem and his manager Paul Rosenberg, after the highly successful release of Eminem's ''The Slim Shady LP'' (1999). Shady has seen negative times when being part of the unsuccessful ...

label under

Aftermath Aftermath may refer to: Companies * Aftermath (comics), an imprint of Devil's Due Publishing * Aftermath Entertainment, an American record label founded by Dr. Dre * Aftermath Media, an American multimedia company * Aftermath Services, an America ...

/ Interscope records, but instead he signed as a solo artist to

D12 D12 (an initialism for The Dirty Dozen) was an American hip hop collective from Detroit, Michigan. Formed in 1996, the group achieved mainstream success with its lineup of ''de facto'' leader Eminem, Proof, Bizarre, Mr. Porter, Kuniva and Swift ...

members Kuniva and

Kon Artis Denaun Porter (born December 7, 1974), also known by the stage names Mr. Porter, Kon Artis, and more recently simply Denaun, is an American rapper and music producer. He was a member of Detroit hip hop group D12 until its disbandment in 2018. ...

' label Runyon Ave Records, but he made the only related appearance in "Commercial Break" on ''

D12 World ''D12 World'' is the second and final studio album by Detroit hip hop group D12, released on April 27, 2004. The album sold 544,000 copies in its first week on the U.S. Billboard 200. The album is also the last D12 release to feature Proof befo ...

.'' In 2005, Young Zee appeared on Casual's '' Smash Rockwell'' album. In 2009, he was featuring on Chicago rap duo Saurus and Bones's debut album '' Mind Like Mine''. Zee collaborated with

The Dirty Dozen ''The Dirty Dozen'' is a 1967 American war film directed by Robert Aldrich and starring Lee Marvin with an ensemble supporting cast including Ernest Borgnine, Charles Bronson, Jim Brown, John Cassavetes, Richard Jaeckel, George Kennedy ...

on their 2011 mixtape ''Return Of The Dozen Vol. 2''. Also in 2011, he performed on

Jedi Mind Tricks Jedi Mind Tricks (JMT) are an American underground hip hop group from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, founded in 1996 by two high school friends, rapper Vinnie Paz (Vincenzo Luvineri) and producer Stoupe the Enemy of Mankind (Kevin Baldwin). In ...

's ''

Violence Begets Violence Violence Begets Violence is the seventh studio album by underground Philadelphia hip hop duo Jedi Mind Tricks. This is their only album to not feature production from Stoupe the Enemy of Mankind because "his heart wasn't into making JMT reco ...

'' album. In 2012, Young Zee and Mr. Green released '' One Crazy Weekend'' featuring former Outsidaz members.

Personal life

He had a relationship with fellow rapper

. The couple has a daughter named Sativa, born in 1997. Young Zee has a son, Krash Battle (born on September 9, 1992), who is also a rapper.

Discography

*1996: '' Musical Meltdown'' *2002: 8 Mile Soundtrack *2009: ''Paranoia Archives'' *2009: ''The Album I Had When I Was Supposed to Sign to Shady!'' *2012: '' One Crazy Weekend'' (with Mr. Green) *2022: ''Around the World'' (Risskant and Sythe) *2022: ''Scumbag EP'' *2023: ''Skarekrow''

References

External links

*
Young Zee
on MySpace {{DEFAULTSORT:Young Zee Eminem Living people Underground rappers American male rappers Rappers from New Jersey 1977 births 21st-century American rappers