The Lox

Veteran East Coast hip-hop outfit the LOX sustain the legacy of forceful New York rap. In a brief span spanning the tail end of the 1990s and the ensuing decade, the trio factored into both Bad Boy’s commercial supremacy and Ruff Ryders’ upward trajectory. After accumulating exposure through numerous guest spots, the LOX reached the Billboard 200’s upper tier with their first album, Money, Power & Respect (1998), then shifted to a more compatible home at Ruff Ryders, where We Are the Streets (2000) also landed inside the Top Ten. Solo endeavors by MCs Styles P, Jadakiss, and Sheek Louch each achieved broad commercial traction, making the LOX one of the rare collectives to place a Top Ten Billboard 200 entry from every member. More than a decade later, the group reconvened for the Trinity series, delivering Filthy America...It's Beautiful (2016) and Living Off Xperience (2020), followed by the 2024 single “Isley Money,” all released on their own D-Block imprint.

Styles P (David Styles), Jadakiss (Jason Phillips), and Sheek Louch (Sean Jacobs) first rhymed together in Yonkers high school as the Bomb Squad—distinct from Public Enemy’s production unit—before adopting the name the Warlocks. A demo produced with Jaz-O caught the ear of fellow Yonkers native Mary J. Blige and, in turn, Sean “Puff Daddy” Combs, who brought the group to Bad Boy Entertainment. Combs shortened their name to the LOX, later understood as Living Off Experience, and the trio broke through commercially in 1997. They supplied “We’ll Always Love Big Poppa” to the maxi-single of Puff Daddy’s chart-topping “I’ll Be Missing You” and appeared on several high-profile tracks, most notably the remix of Puff’s “All About the Benjamins” and the Bad Boy remix of Mariah Carey’s “Honey,” both major pop successes that year.

Those contributions set the stage for the LOX’s full-length debut. Money, Power & Respect arrived in January 1998, entered the Billboard 200 at number three, and yielded Top 40 singles in “If You Think I’m Jiggy” and the title track, the latter featuring Lil’ Kim and DMX and topping the rap chart. Despite their success at Bad Boy, the group chose to align fully with Ruff Ryders, whose tougher image matched their style more closely. They returned in January 2000 with We Are the Streets, produced almost entirely by Ruff Ryders mainstay Swizz Beatz, which debuted at number five on the Billboard 200; its biggest single, “Ryde or Die, B****,” united them with Timbaland, Eve, and Drag-On.

Each member soon launched a solo career. Jadakiss’ Kiss tha Game Goodbye, Styles P’s A Gangster and a Gentleman, and Sheek Louch’s Walk witt Me all reached the Billboard 200 Top Ten between 2001 and 2003. Under the D-Block banner, the three assembled the 2009 compilation No Security to showcase themselves alongside emerging label artists. Between 2013 and 2014 they issued the EPs The Trinity and The Trinity: 2nd Sermon plus the mixtape The Trinity: 3rd Sermon.

Their first proper album in sixteen years, Filthy America...It's Beautiful, surfaced in 2016 via a joint D-Block/Roc Nation deal, featuring production from DJ Premier, Pete Rock, and Dame Grease and peaking at number 42 on the Billboard 200. In 2020 the LOX approached their fourth album, Living Off Xperience, through the singles “Loyalty and Love” and “Gave It to ’Em”; the project arrived that August and included the DMX collaboration “Bout Shit.” Additional group guest appearances followed before the LOX resurfaced in 2024 with the stark, menacing “Isley Money.”