Dog Eat Dog

Originating from several former participants in New Jersey hardcore metallists Mucky Pup, Dog Eat Dog ranked among the earliest hard rock acts to adopt Anthrax's example by merging metal and rap into a hybrid that later grew familiar. At the heart of the lineup throughout multiple personnel shifts stood founding members Dave Neabore on bass and vocals together with Sean Kilkenny on guitar. The band began performing without a name in friends' basements and slowly developed a local audience before securing club dates that produced a five-song demo. Biohazard's Billy Graziadei received the recording and forwarded it to an A&R executive at Roadrunner Records, leading promptly to a label deal and the 1993 six-song EP Warrant (the glam metal band Warrant having issued an album titled Dog Eat Dog one year earlier, the new group now returned the gesture).

Dog Eat Dog issued its debut full-length All Boro Kings in 1994 and supported the record by opening for Biohazard on tour; the band also enjoyed considerable European success, earning MTV Europe's Breakthrough Artists of the Year designation in 1995. The next album, Play Games, arrived in 1996 and included several tracks produced by the Butcher Brothers, whose prior credits encompassed Cypress Hill and the Fugees, along with guest spots from Ronnie James Dio and Wu Tang Clan's RZA. A wide-ranging world tour followed, with the group serving as support at shows and festivals headlined by Rage Against the Machine, No Doubt, Sepultura, Kiss, Ozzy Osbourne, and Metallica. Three years elapsed before the release of the third full-length Amped in 1999; after the album failed to achieve commercial breakthrough, the band parted ways with Roadrunner. The former label issued the 2001 compilation In the Dog House: The Best and the Rest.