Thirty years ago, on August 9, 1994, The Gravediggaz released their Horrorcore album “6 Feet Deep.”
Jon Baker, founder of Gee Street Records and executive producer of the album, spoke to WMV about working with the group’s front-runner, RZA: “From a creative standpoint and what we had done on the first two Gravediggaz albums, he (RZA) felt comfortable with Gee Street.”
The Gravediggaz created hip-hop history using metaphors to paint pictures of the heinous American inner-city realities in the 1990s. The group consisted of former Tommy Boy Records artists Prince Paul as The Undertaker, Frukwan as The Gatekeeper, Too Poetic as The Grym Reaper, and Wu-Tang Clan member RZA as The RZArector. RZA had been signed to Tommy Boy in the ’80s and early ‘90s as Prince Rakeem, dropping the 12” single “Ooh, We Love You Rakeem.”
After their solo run with Tommy Boy, they all came together to reinvent themselves and prove to the industry that their run was not over.
The British hip-hop record label Gee Street was founded in 1985. Jon, the label founder, said, “As a label founder, I like to sign people with their own concepts and own creativity.”
Prior to Gee Street, the album’s demo, recorded in 1993, was shopped to Jive Records and other labels.
Jon explained the origins of the project: “It all came about because I met Prince Paul who was signed to Tommy Boy in the ’80s through the Jungle Brothers and later became friends. I relocated Gee Street from the U.K. to 4th and Broadway in New York and became a senior member of the A&R team at Island Records.”
Gee Street differentiated itself from the New York labels, and Jon emphasized the importance of developing close relationships with unconventional artists: “Gee Street always had a reputation for being a hip-hop label but being left of center. Tommy Boy had their niche, Loud Records had their style, and Def Jam had their own. So there were all these U.S. independent labels, but creatively, we looked at artist development slightly differently. We didn’t come from the same cultural background that all the labels born and bred on the East Coast had. We had groups like Stereo MCs and PM Dawn signed by then.”
When Prince Paul introduced his project to Gee Street, Jon said, “We were super excited. We had competition because Tommy Boy, Loud, and Jive wanted the project. After I sat down with Prince Paul, RZA came to check me out, and we talked for a long time and connected. Through that connection, he and Prince Paul decided to go with Gee Street.”
Prince Paul produced the majority of 6 Feet Deep with additional contributions from RZA, R.N.S., and Mr. Sime. The LP peaked at No. 36 on the US Billboard 200 chart, reaching higher than Wu-Tang’s ’93 debut, which peaked at No. 41.
The first single, “Diary of a Madman,” peaked in the top 10 on the Rap Singles Chart and at No. 82 on the Billboard Hot 100. The other singles, “1-800-Suicide” and “Nowhere to Run, Nowhere to Hide,” peaked at No. 46 and No. 32 on the Hot Rap Singles chart, respectively.
Jon also recalled the experience of working with Hype Williams on the video for “Diary of a Madman”: “It was one of Hype Williams’ earlier videos as an upcoming director, and we shot it on the Lower East Side of New York during a 24-hour shoot. The video was incredible because we thought it was important not to get this negative label of Horrorcore. The whole idea of the Gravediggaz was message-based. As much as they spoke of the horrors of America at that time, they contextualized it like a clever spin of horror stories that were very real. A number of groups tried to get this Horrorcore thing kicked off, but only the Gravediggaz took off. They were not always commercially successful, but they were innovators.”
Jon, now owns Geejam Hotel and Geejam Studios in Portland praised the talent of the group members, particularly RZA: “One of the most visionary and creative people I’ve worked with is the RZA. With this particular group, all of those individuals have had a big influence on hip hop. They have influenced this new era of hip hop.”
Regarding the possibility of re-releasing the album, Jon explained, “When I sold Gee Street with Richard Bronson’s V2 in 2000, it went through multiple ownerships. Especially with the advent of financial institutions buying intellectual property as an asset class, every time it gets under new ownership, I engage in discussions on buying the Gee Street catalog back so I can re-release and give it the attention it often doesn’t get as it goes through these ownership changes. I also chase royalties not for myself individually but for the artists who should still be paid royalties for these records because when these acquisitions happen, the royalties chain is broken, and it’s very difficult for artists to collect.”
