Biography
After a string of controversies surrounding their label chief and the nightmarish conduct of member Big Lurch, Cosmic Slop Shop's short-lived run is likely to linger in memory chiefly because of the bizarre chain of events it produced. The trio—rappers Doonie Baby and Lurch alongside producer Rick Rock—formed inside Slop Shop Studios in the San Francisco Bay Area, a facility whose name, paired with the Funkadelic track "Cosmic Slop," supplied the group's own moniker. Rock had already handled several independent projects as well as a Compton's Most Wanted album, yet he found that Lurch and Doonie adapted to his productions more readily than most MCs he had previously encountered. At the same time James Mtume was scouting talent for his own imprint when an MCA Records representative steered him toward the crew. That connection raised eyebrows in hip-hop circles, where Mtume's standing had already suffered from his public clash with Stetsasonic over his vocal criticism of sampling. When Cosmic Slop Shop signed with him in 1997, skeptics viewed the move as an attempt to repair his image within the community. Nevertheless the group issued Da Family on Mtume's label during summer 1998. Although they pushed the single "Sinful" through the autumn, the track failed to register on the charts. By 1999 the members chose to disband rather than cut a follow-up, freeing Rock to build a thriving production career with clients that included Xibit and Busta Rhymes. Doonie Baby continued working as a session rapper across California, while Big Lurch became one of rap's most notorious figures only three years afterward. In summer 2002 a friend discovered him wandering the streets of Los Angeles naked and covered in blood; authorities later determined he had killed and partially consumed his girlfriend following PCP use, leading to his arrest and eventual imprisonment.