Yo, Apparently Skee-Lo’s Alive. How About Some Other ‘90s Rappers? Posted by Nathan S. on 08/01/13 | Filed under Opinion, Rap Nerdery

I don't believe in God, but I do believe in sweet baby jesus (he's my favorite jesus). And today sweet baby jesus is telling me to forget everything that's happening in hip-hop today, soup up the Delorean, grab my BK Knights and go back to the '90s. Well then, in that case, who am I to deny the divine will of sweet baby jesus. So...

Fuck it, today is '90s rap day on RefinedHype.

— Refined Hype (@refinedhype) August 1, 2013

First Raekwon's "OB4CL", then Camp Lo's "Luchini", at this point I'm in too deep to back out now. So I might as well go all-in and try to figure out where some of my favorite '90s rappers are up to now. For the record, this isn't technically a list of "one-hit wonder" rappers, although some of them might be. Really, my only criteria was that they were primarily active in the '90s, they happened to pop into my head, and they made me go, "Oh yeah, that dude!" Then I searched around the interwebs*. I know, it's a very scientifical process and what not.

Enjoy, and if you think of some other '90s rappers, or you know more about the whereabouts of the folks below, share with RefinedHype Nation in the comments.

Skee-Lo "I Wish"


I have this very vivid memory of being in a middle school dance, "I Wish" coming on, and a teacher saying something to the effect, "Why can't all rap be like this?" If I heard that now I'd spend the next four hours arguing, but at the time I was too focused on finding a girl to dry hump on the dance floor to respond. So....that's what I think of when I think of "I Wish".

More importantly, according to DX, while Skee never had another hit, he did manage to carve out a nice career for himself writing music for movies and TV, and just dropped a new album, "Fresh Idea". Well then, fuck yeah for you Skee-Lo.

* Bonus '90s points for the "Forrest Gump" reference in the video.

Ahmad "Back in the Day"


I'm kind of cheating on this one since I actually know Ahmad pretty well. Long story short, he quit rapping because, you know, the rap game is insane. Was in a rock/soul/etc. band called "4th Avenue Jones", stopped that, went to Stanford and got his degree, and is not getting back into music, although he's focusing more on songwriting and production than rapping.

So, you know, just your typical rap story.

Positive K 'I Got a Man"


Fair warning, I'm about to ruin every positive association you have with this song. Did you know that Postive K is just one dude, and the female part on "I Got a Man" is him rapping with his voice sped up to sound like a woman? Or did I just blow you mind? After I learned that shit it made me question everything I thought to be real.

Anyway, after "I Got a Man" it never really happened for Positive K and he disappeared (as far as the music industry is concerned), only briefly surfacing on Nas' "Where Are They Now (90s Remix)", which I just realized is basically this entire article in song form, and better.

Arrested Development "Tennessee"


Do you realize how truly huge Arrested Development was? For a minute there (aka 1993), you could make the case that they were one of the biggest acts in hip-hop. We're talking multiple Grammys and a platinum album.

But then the inevitable "creative differences" set in and they broke up, disappearing for years and only re-emerging to sue Fox over the name of "Arrested Development". (True story). Now though, they've re-united and turned into a steady international presence, playing the European festival circuit and releasing albums overseas while continuing to be ignored in the Good 'Ol US of A.

Oh America, you're the best.

Digable Planets "Rebirth of Cool"


There's no way I could listen to "Tennessee" without immediately thinking about Digable Planets. The group's been through enough since '93 to fill a novel, but let's just say they broke up and got back together more times than a trailer park couple. Currently they're in a "broken up" phase, which appears to be permanent, but in the meantime, "we be to rap what key be to lock" continues to be one of the more sampled lines in rap history.

I was about to start looking up PM Dawn, which is probably my cue to stop before I really get sucked into a '90s rap vortex I can't get out of. Hope you enjoyed this little stroll down memory lane. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to listen to "Luchini" for the eleventy-millionth time.

See Also:  Camp Lo’s “Luchini” Is The Soundtrack to Everything Good Ever
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