The conception of the Gravediggaz group came at a low point in the careers of each of the group's members, each of which had at one point or another been signed to Tommy Boy Records and had not had good experiences with the label. Prince Paul had also contributed drums to the RZA's early single "Ooh We Love You Rakeem".[1][2] According to Paul, the RZA was trying to get signed to Doo Dew Man Records, Paul's vanity label distributed by Def Jam Records,[1] but Paul had failed to launch the label, and Def Jam put Resident Alien's It Takes a Nation of Suckers to Hold Us In, the label's lone album, on hold.[2] Additionally, Paul and rapper Frukwan had both recently left Stetsasonic, and while Paul had received much praise for his instrumentals for De La Soul's acclaimed debut album, 3 Feet High and Rising, the group's follow-up album De La Soul is Dead was not well received, and De La Soul were beginning to handle more of their own production, alienating Paul from the group and leaving him in a "dark [and] depressed" mood, which was reflected in the instrumentals he was creating at this time.[1][2][3] Paul called rappers RZA, Frukwan, and Poetic separately, inviting them to listen to these new instrumentals in his home, and RZA suggested that they form a group together and proposed they name it Gravediggaz, which met with the approval of the four, who each took on "grave-themed" aliases - the Undertaker (Prince Paul), the Grym Reaper (Poetic), the Gatekeeper (Frukwan) and the RZArector - and recorded the demo "The House That Hatred Built".[1][3] The formation of the Gravediggaz made the group one of hip hop's first supergroups.[3]
The demo was shopped to Def Jam and Jive Records, who both passed on the group. Subsequently, Poetic began working at a bagel factory, Frukwan got a job making clothes, and the RZA co-founded the Wu-Tang Clan, which Paul later observed had been influenced by the Gravediggaz' conceptualization as a concept-oriented rap supergroup.[1][3]Eazy-E offered the Gravediggaz a contract with Ruthless Records, but Paul turned it down due to Jerry Heller's contract, which Paul described as "one of the worst [contracts] I’ve ever seen in my life."[3] Several years after the demo was recorded, Gee Street Records offered a better contract, and subsequently signed the group.[1] "Constant Elevation" was the first song recorded by the group after signing with Gee Street. Poetic rewrote his intro verse after some bad takes, establishing the energy that would carry over to the rest of the album's vocal sessions.[2] RZA intended to record "Nowhere to Run, Nowhere to Hide" as a solo track, but Prince Paul recorded additional verses from Frukwan and Poetic.[2]
Composition
Gravediggaz was one of the first rap groups in the subgenre horrorcore, which The Quietus writer David Bennun described as "a then novel means of addressing black life at street level [and] finding a new way of getting that message across".[3]Q magazine said that the Gravediggaz "use death, burial and The Grim Reaper as central themes for a chilling mid-tempo stomp through America's urban problems."[4] Bennun connects Gravediggaz' lyrics not only to the hardcore rap lyrics of the Geto Boys and Cypress Hill, but also to EC Comics' Tales From The Crypt.[3] According to John-Michael Bond in his review for Rap Reviews, the album's unifying theme is hate, which Gravediggaz use as "a metaphor for murdering the mindless drivel that infected early '90s rap".[5] Hip hop at this time had shifted towards violent gangsta rap, due to the popularity of N.W.A and Ruthless Records, and the lyrical content of early-90s rap acts was seen as "vying to outdo the last for cold-blooded gruesomeness, justified on the grounds that it was simply portraying life as it is on the street", according to Bennun.[3] In contrast to the serious-toned violent threats of hardcore rap, the Gravediggaz' lyrics combine horror themes with black comedy and satire, exemplified by the album's original title, Niggamortis.[3] According to Bond, "Gravediggaz were born out of a disdain and hatred for the bullshit that surrounded four men whose talents were under represented at the time and set out to make the most uncompromising music possible." Bond compares 6 Feet Deep to socialhorror films like The Last House on the Left and Dawn of the Dead.[5] Gravediggaz also drew inspiration from the lyrical themes and imagery of heavy metal music.[3] "Diary of a Madman" uses imagery from the crucifixion of Jesus in RZA's verse.[2] Despite the group intending the lyrics of "1-800 Suicide", which appear to encourage suicide, as dark humor, high scrutiny of rap lyrics at this time meant that the Gravediggaz had to record an alternate lyric version as an anti-suicide PSA.[2]
Most of the album's instrumentals were created by Prince Paul. According to Rolling Stone, Paul's production "[evokes] the atmosphere of horror movies and ominous effects".[6] The piano loop of "Constant Elevation" was sampled from Allen Toussaint's "Louie".[2] "Nowhere to Run, Nowhere to Hide" samples Eugene McDaniels "Jagger’s Dagger".[2] "Defective Trip (Trippin')" utilizes psychedelic rockelectric guitar playing.[3] It samples John Ussery's "Listen to the Melody" and Alvin Cash's "Twine Time".[7] "2 Cups of Blood" samples it's keyboard loop from Larry Willis' "Inner Crisis."[2] "Blood Brothers" does not utilize any samples.[7] Paul's instrumental for "Bang Your Head" was originally created for the Cold Crush Four, but after the group rejected the instrumental, RZA proposed using it for the Gravediggaz.[7] "Diary of a Madman", one of the album's only tracks to feature an instrumental by the RZA, utilized a shelved instrumental demo intended for a Wu-Tang Clan song, sampling Johnny Mathis.[5] "1-800 Suicide" samples Booker T. & the M.G.'s "Sunny".[2] "Death Trap" samples the Whole Darn Family's "7 Minutes of Funk";[7] The song's lyrics refer to drug overdoses, murder and Lorena Bobbitt.[7]
Release and reception
This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (September 2022)
The album was released on August 9, 1994.[2] It was released under the title Niggamortis outside of the United States.[8]Entertainment Weekly wrote that "the flustered beats, washed in minor chords, are strangely irresistible".[9]NME praised the album for "feverishly [documenting] the low life".[10] The magazine later ranked the album at #22 on their list of the "Top 50 Albums Of 1994".[13] In 2009, Fangoria named it as an iconic horrorcore album.[14]
