Craig G

Craig G launched his path in the closing years of the 1980s through an alliance with famed producer Marley Marl and the Juice Crew collective. The Queensbridge MC first linked with Marley in 1985 to cut “Shout” and “Transformer,” both issued on Pop Art Records. Although these sides never achieved the lasting esteem granted to Marley productions such as MC Shan’s “The Bridge” or Kool G Rap & DJ Polo’s “Poison,” they marked some of the producer’s earliest work and survive today as rare but significant artifacts. Shortly afterward G delivered his standout early tracks: the solo cut “Droppin’ Science” and the Juice Crew ensemble piece “The Symphony,” both from 1988. The latter helped define the emerging hardcore-rap template that later crews such as the Wu-Tang Clan would follow, while the former endures as G’s most resonant individual performance; Marley later anthologized both selections on the 1995 compilation House of Hits.

After “The Symphony,” G moved to Atlantic even though most Juice Crew members stayed with Cold Chillin’. In the track “The Blues” G later stated that the new label withheld his royalty payments. The switch proved costly: neither The Kingpin (1989) nor Now, That’s More Like It (1991) registered commercially, despite Marley’s involvement. Meanwhile peers including Big Daddy Kane, Biz Markie, Masta Ace, and Kool G Rap & DJ Polo built sustained careers, while G’s momentum faded. He kept a low profile for much of the decade before resurfacing in the late ’90s as an underground MC. G returned with the full-length This Is Now on D&D Records in 2003. Four years later he appeared on Polish rapper O.S.T.R.’s album HollyLódz and worked with Dutch rapper Jerome XL. In 2008 he released Operation Take Back Hip-Hop through Traffic Entertainment/Good Hands.