Rawkus Records created in 1995 by Brian Brater and Jarret Myer, with financial backing from James Murdoch son of Rupert Murdoch. Rawkus Records had a hold on the underground hip hop in the late 90s to early 2000s in NYC.
Rawkus Records went on to record several notable independent hip hop artists, including Reflection Eternal, Company Flow, the High and Mighty, Mos Def and Talib Kweli (as Blackstar), Eminem, Common, Pharoahe Monch and Skillz. They failed to sign Kanye West when they had the chance.
Rawkus Records was one of the pioneers of the mixtape game. Rawkus put together a 17-track compilation album called Soundbombing. Released in 1997, it featured labelmates Mos Def, Talib Kweli, Hi-Tek, Company Flow, Sir Menelik, and Shabaam Sahdeeq. In particular, it launched the careers of Mos and Talib with standout tracks like "Universal Magnetic" and "Fortified Live." The label went on to release a sequel to the mixtape in 1999 and launched the Lyricist Lounge mixtape series shortly after.
Eminem's raw and nasty verbage was like a comic book being unleashed in lyrical form. He keeps you in the story as a person watching the tragedy unfold, but then creates humor with violence and absurdity. The roots of the SLIM SHADY LP can be heard in this contribution to Rawkus Sound Bombing 2. Many fans of underground rap, the verse EM wrote for High and mighty, "The Last Hit" off the duo's 1999 debut album Home Field Advantage; was their first introduction to the Slim Shady character. Em later appeared on "Any Man" for the label's Soundbombing 2 mixtape, a feature Em references in "Stan."
Mos Def was an incredible artist that has such a powerful clear crisp flow over any beat. I always enjoyed him more in the group with Talib called BlackStar, whom was also signed to Rawkus Records. In the label's golden era, it birthed Blackstar, Mos Def's iconic Black On Both Sides and Reflection Eternal. Mos dropped his own debut solo album Black on Both Side in 1999 to critical acclaim. The album went on to go platinum, making it the most commercially succesfull album in Rawkus' catalog and the only solo effort from Mos for the label before he left for Interscope/Geffen.
Never hear of this guy before or this song, but it some raw Rawkus Record.