Gravediggaz

Gravediggaz fused hardcore gangsta rap with heavy metal in a brutal style that certain journalists dubbed "horrorcore." The tag carried an unexpected twist given the crew’s roots. Its central architect, known onstage as the Undertaker, is Stetsasonic’s Prince Paul (born Paul Huston), a producer whose résumé already included De La Soul and other alternative hip-hop acts. Completing the lineup were the Rzarector (RZA of Wu-Tang Clan), the Grym Reaper (Poetic), and the Gatekeeper (Frukwan, born Arnold Hamilton). The quartet’s first full-length, Six Feet Deep, arrived in 1994 and scraped into the pop album chart’s Top 40 while featuring the single “Diary of a Madman.” Two years afterward came The Pick, the Sickle and the Shovel; 1998 brought Scenes From the Graveyard. In July 2001, barely a month before another album was due, Poetic died from colon-cancer complications, yet the remaining members honored his request and kept the group active.