It started back in the mid 90's when they were teenagers rapping under the group name Dramacydal. At the time it was 4 of them (Napoleon, Kadafi, Edi Amin & Kastro). Through the years a few more members joined; Young Noble and Hussein Fatal, as well as 2Pac being part of their 1st album, and have been on some albums and not others. Really only Edi Amin is the one who has been through all the ups and downs and been on every album. Though you could easily say Young Noble as well, since he has been on every album, just wasn't part of Dramacydal. Many ups and downs have hit the and a lot of their recent albums have had different members on it. The group the 2Pac brought to national attention, has had a rough time over the past 17 years since. 2Pac dying in September of 1996, followed up by Kadafi in November of the same year. Fatal not really getting on many projects through the late 90's until the mid 2000's, Napoleon stepping down from the rap game & away from the group about half a dozen years ago, and Kastro appearing on fewer and fewer songs with each of their last few releases, to just being a `guest' on 1 song this time. Through it all though, they have a good deal of group albums, then a lot of solo albums, partial group albums with just a few members, not the whole group, and a lot of times members have joined with other rappers to release other collabo/group albums. But through it all, they have remained consistent and put out many of quality albums, sticking to their same formula that made us all love them when they were still riding with 2Pac, some gangsta songs, a few dirtier one, hustling tracks, and like Pac; they have a knack for delivering deep, personal songs. Here is my breakdown of the albums of theirs that I own that they have been a part of through the years:
2Pac + Outlawz -- "Still I Rise" - (12/99) {2Pac, Napoleon, Kastro, Young Noble, Kadafi, Edi Amin, Hussein Fatal} -- 4.5/5 stars
Outlawz -- "Ride Wit Us or Collide Wit Us" - (11/00) {Young Noble, Napoleon, Kastro, Edi Amin} -- 4.5 stars
Outlawz -- "Novakane" - (11/01) {Napoleon, Young Noble, Edi Amin, Kastro} -- 4.5/5 stars
Outlawz -- "Neva Surrenda: The Rap-A-Lot Sessions" - (11/02) {Edi Amin, Young Noble, Kastro, Napoleon} -- 4/4.5 stars
Outlawz -- "Outlaw 4 Life: 2005 A.P." - (4/05) {Young Noble, Edi Amin, Kastro} -- 4 stars
Outlawz -- "We Want In The Streets LP" - (8/08) {Young Noble, Edi Amin, Stormy, Kastro} -- 4/4.5 stars
Fatal -- "In the Line of Fire" - (3/98) -- 4.5/4 stars
Kastro & Edi -- "Blood Brothers" - (5/02) -- 4/3.5 stars
Young Noble -- "Noble Justice" - (5/02) -- 4 stars
Young Noble & JT the Bigga Figga -- "Street Warz" -- (10/02) -- 3.5/4 stars
Fatal - (12/02) -- 4.5 stars
Hussein Fatal -- "Fatalveli Mixtape" - (6/04) -- 4 stars
Kadafi -- "Son Rize Vol. 1 Mixtape" - (11/04) -- 3.5/3 stars
Layzie Bone & Young Noble -- "Thug Brothers" - (2/06) -- 4 stars
Young Noble & Edi -- "Against All Odds" - (3/06) -- 4 stars
Napoleon Presents -- "Loyalty Over Money" - (10/06) --
Young Noble & Hussein Fatal -- "Thug In Thug Out" - (9/07) -- 4.5/4 stars
Lil Flip & Young Noble -- "All Eyez On Us" - (3/08) -- 4 stars
8Ball & Edi -- "Doin It Big" - (4/08) -- 4 stars
Hussein Fatal -- "Born Legendary" - (6/09) -- 4/4.5 stars
Back to this album, you only get 3 of the members on here: Young Noble, Edi Amin, and Hussein Fatal. Edi & Noble are both on every song, and Fatal is on 13 of the 15. Of the 15 songs on here: you get 1 near-classic, 1 ok song, and the other 13 are good or real good, none worth skipping over and the album can be listened to straight through from beginning to end without any kind of disappointment. Guests are pretty abundant and are on every song but 2: rapping on 7 and doing the hook on the other 6. Production is nice as well. Cozmo and The Formula each do 3, Aktual does 2, and Jay Mac, Focus, Maxwell Smart, Beat Nick & K-Salaam, A One, Lex Lucazi, and Automatic all do 1 song. A good album to have from a veteran group.
#2 - 9 (f/ Chae -- nice beat)
#3 - 8.5 (good beat)
#4 - 9 (f/ King Malachi -- nice beat)
#5 - 9.5 (f/ Kastro & Young Buck -- great beat, & my favorite track on here)
#6 - 8.5 (f/ Z-Ro, Trae, & June Summers)
#7 - 9 (f/ Scarface & Lloyd -- no Fatal on this one -- deeper song with nice beat)
#8 - 9 (nice beat)
#9 - 8 (f/ Aktual)
#10 - 8.5 (f/ Stormy)
#11 - 8.5 (f/ Bun B & Lloyd)
#12 - 7.5 (f/ Tony Williams)
#13 - 8.5 (f/ Livya Lee)
#14 - 8.5 (f/ Krayzie Bone & Aktual -- no Fatal on this one)
#15 - 8 (f/ Tech N9ne)
#16 - 9 (f/ Belly -- nice beat)
YOUNG NOBLE -- Rufus L. Porter -- b. 3/78 -- b. California moved to Montclair, NJ
EDI AMIN -- Malcolm Greenridge -- b. 7/7/76 -- b. New York, NY moved to NJ
HUSSEIN FATAL -- Bruce Washington -- Montclair, NJ