Gravediggaz
6 Feet Deep

THE REVIEW

Among the best East Coast 90's projects, undoubtedly occupying a prominent place is the Gravediggaz collective, a Brooklyn Wu-affiliated supergroup formed by four highly respected names, who for the occasion will present themselves with four respective new alter-egos: we are talking about RZA (Wu-Tang Clan) who will add to his already numerous aliases "The RZArector", Frukwan (Stetsasonic) here as "The Gatekeeper", the legendary Prince Paul (Stetsasonic, The Handsome Boys, early De La Soul) who will be "The Undertaker", and not least the late Poetic (The Brothers Grym), who rose to fame precisely with Gravediggaz, and recently honored on Gang Starr's successful The Ownerz, who presents himself as The Grym Reaper. 

Authors of a rap with nihilistic-pessimistic themes ("There's no need to cry... cause we all die!"), and with a sound so dark, heavy, and mysterious that it earned them the title of Horrorcore, the four, driven by the production duo of RZA-Prince Paul as cohesive as ever (also on the mic), bring out a work that will go down in history in its own small way: "6 Feet Deep", a sizzling debut dated 1994, unfortunately never reached by subsequent disappointing releases, (due to Prince Paul-Rza duo’s forfeiture first, and the premature death of Poetic later, they will not leave a mark more than necessary).

Prince Paul with 11 productions, Rza with 3, and Frukwan with only one good appearance divide the share on the beats, all united by a hypnotic, threatening, and unsettling atmosphere, between horror samples and delirious sounds that seem tailor-made for Poetic's sharp flow (an amazing performance here) & co. RZA, fresh from the success just achieved with the great "Enter The Wu-Tang 36 Chambers" continues the sonic concept begun there with "Graveyard Chamber" (it is not difficult to mistake it for a hypothetical bonus track of the aforementioned disc), the hallucinatory "6 Feet Deep" (the deliberately dissonant sounds are spectacular) and "Diary Of A Madman" (the best beat of the lot, with an undeniably disturbing lyrical chorus), the latter being strong for the convincing feature of Killah Priest and Scientific Shabazz.

Prince Paul amid sporadic scratches and decidedly dark beats does most of the work, tying the 16 tracks together with sharp cuts like a mixtape (I dare you to notice the change between the second and third track). Tracks like 1-800 Suicide, "Constant Elevation", "Nowhere To Run, Nowhere To Hide" with its noir pace, and "Defective Trip" with that exaggerated bass impress quite a bit.

RZA also confirms himself as an excellent rapper with extraordinary performances where his most aggressive style easily makes its way (who mentioned Killa Hill Niggas?) on "2 Cups Of Blood", and especially "Bang Your Head" two simply devastating episodes: it is indeed in the quirkiness of the latter along with the psychofunkyfusion of "Deathtrap", in the coexistence between unbalanced raps, distortions, pushed snare drums, jazzy samples a-là Premier that you notice all the strength of this group, which among precise and well-fitted verses supported by a particularly hardcore style with insane-schizoid peaks (specifically Poetic) they keep at a high level for all 50 minutes, not even faltering in the skits.

The unique atmosphere breathed in this album will rarely be replicated with such triumphant results, and if you appreciated the already mentioned "Enter The Wu-Tang 36 Chambers", and "Temples Of Boom" for the mood, but also milestones like "Only Built 4 Cuban Linx", "The Infamous" and "Bacdafucup" for rapping and beat, then you cannot miss Gravediggaz's 6 Feet Deep.