Frank Nitt

Frank Nitt, born Frank Bush, emerged from Detroit’s esteemed underground circles with ties to the late J Dilla, stepping into view during the final years of the 1990s by teaming with fellow rapper Dankery Harv to form the duo Frank-n-Dank. The pair first drew notice after releasing the underground favorite “Everybody Get Up!” in 2000, which led to an appearance on Dilla’s Welcome 2 Detroit in 2001 and a subsequent contract with major-label MCA. Their Dilla-helmed debut full-length, 48 Hours, was shelved by the company in 2003 and soon circulated as a bootleg classic among dedicated hip-hop listeners. The shelving stalled the group’s momentum even as its individual members pressed forward, with Nitt—occasionally adopting the classic gangster spelling Frank Nitty—and Harv each issuing solo material. Nitt released The Concert Hall EP on the Digipop label in 2008, followed by the 2010 EP Jewels in My Backpack on Delicious Vinyl. The next year he collaborated with producer Madlib on Medicine Show No. 9: Channel 85 Presents Nittyville, a conceptual project that formed one installment in Madlib’s expansive 13-album Medicine Show series. In 2012 Nitt authored the 48-page memoir The View from the Underground, which arrived packaged with that year’s Digipop album Stadium Music. Once Frank-n-Dank’s long-unreleased 48 Hours finally received an official release through Delicious Vinyl in 2013, Nitt resumed his solo path with the album Frankie Rothstein, whose production credits included Dilla, DJ Rhettmatic, and J-Rocc.