Necro

Hailing from Brooklyn, hardcore rapper Necro elevated explicit extremes through his recordings and films across the late 1990s and early 2000s. Drawing from narcotics, graphic violence, pornography, and brutality, he deliberately wove those elements into his rhymes and realized that vision on his first full-length release, I Need Drugs (2000). The record contained drug-themed cuts such as the title track—an interpolation of LL Cool J's "I Need Love"—alongside gore-focused numbers like "Your Fucking Head Split," porn-oriented tracks such as "Get on Your Knees," and violent selections including "The Most Sadistic." Necro also helmed a video for "I Need Drugs" that showed individuals injecting heroin and smoking crack as he performed, while the accompanying booklet displayed numerous unsettling photographs.

He launched his independent imprint Psycho + Logical Records and established the site www.necrohiphop.com to promote his music and movies. After the debut, he issued multiple collections drawn from scattered 1990s material, chiefly radio freestyles and home-recorded demos, then issued the similarly provocative follow-up Gory Days (2001). His films—187 Reasons Y (1997) and The Devil Made Me Do It (1998)—match or exceed that level of provocation, taking direct cues from vintage gore cinema as well as snuff and pornographic works. In keeping with this approach, Necro partnered with several pornographers and began selling their products via his website, thereby stretching his brand identity to its furthest reach.