Vinnie Paz

Vinnie Paz has built a reputation in underground rap circles through his combative style, coarse vocal tone, and unflinching, brutal verses. His themes regularly encompass conspiracies, warfare, supernatural phenomena, and faith, frequently shaped by his identity as a Muslim. First recognized via Jedi Mind Tricks and the wider Army of the Pharaohs collective, he issued his initial solo full-length, Season of the Assassin, in 2010 while launching Heavy Metal Kings that same year alongside Ill Bill of Non Phixion and La Coka Nostra. He has sustained activity across these projects while continuing to drop solo work, among them God of the Serengeti in 2012 and Burn Everything That Bears Your Name in 2021.

Born Vincenzo Luvineri in Sicily, Italy, and raised in Clifton Heights, Pennsylvania, Paz started Jedi Mind Tricks in 1996 with his high-school associate Stoupe the Enemy of Mankind. He initiated the Army of the Pharaohs endeavor two years later, a fluid assembly in which Paz remained the sole steady member as figures ranging from Bahamadia to Esoteric cycled through over the ensuing decade. Although a Paz track titled “Raw Is War” surfaced in 2000, a decade passed before he resumed solo pursuits in earnest, delivering Season of the Assassin along with the Prayer for the Assassin EP. The following year he teamed with Ill Bill for the joint Paz/Bill release Heavy Metal Kings, and in 2012 his second solo album God of the Serengeti arrived featuring Mobb Deep, R.A. the Rugged Man, and DJ Premier among its contributors. Another solo EP, Carry on Tradition, followed in 2013 before Paz redirected primary attention toward his affiliated crews.

Army of the Pharaohs issued two LPs in 2014—In Death Reborn and Heavy Lies the Crown—while Jedi Mind Tricks released its eighth album, The Thief and the Fallen, the next year. Four years after his previous solo outing, Paz presented his third LP, The Cornerstone of the Corner Store, in 2016. Heavy Metal Kings returned with its second album, Black God White Devil, in 2017. Issued independently on his Enemy Soil imprint like most of his solo catalog, Cornerstone included appearances from Ghostface Killah, Ras Kass, Army of the Pharaohs affiliate Demoz, Stoupe, and Malik B of the Roots. Paz followed with the solo album The Pain Collector in 2018.

A 2019 collaboration with Tragedy Khadafi produced Camouflage Regime. Paz released the solo album As Above So Below and the mixtape Savor the Kill in 2020. Burn Everything That Bears Your Name arrived in 2021, featuring contributions from Chino XL, M.A.V., and Crimeapple.