Early years The roots of Black Moon go back to Brooklyn's
Bushwick High School, where Kasim "5ft" Reid and Ewart "DJ Evil Dee" Dewgrade met and formed a group called Unique Image. The two later met a former backup dancer Kenyatte "
Buckshot" Blake in the
Brownsville, Brooklyn and formed a friendship based on similar musical aspirations. The trio released their first single "Who Got da Props" in 1992, which peaked at number 86 on the U.S.
Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. With the help of
DJ Chuck Chillout, the group signed a record deal with
New York-based independent label
Nervous Records, becoming the first hip hop act on then-
house music-oriented record label. The group recruited Evil Dee's older brother Walter "Mr. Walt" Dewgrade for recording the pre-production of their debut studio album, which eventually led to the formation of
hip hop production team
Da Beatminerz between Dewgrade brothers. Black Moon premiered its debut studio album,
Enta da Stage, on October 19, 1993, including "Who Got da Props?", "Son Get Wrec", "
How Many MC's...", "
Buck Em Down" and another Hot 100 hit single "
I Got Cha Opin (Remix)". The album featured guest appearances from
Havoc of
Mobb Deep, Nervious Records' intern and promoter
Drew "Dru-Ha" Friedman, and debuting hip hop duo
Smif-N-Wessun.
Enta da Stage went on to sell over 350,000 copies in the U.S. Following the album's release, the group temporarily broke up. The year 1995 saw the release of Smif-N-Wessun's debut album ''
Dah Shinin''' through Nervous Records' sub-label Wreck Records, which featured contributions from Evil Dee with his extended production team Da Beatminerz and Buckshot, who recruited fellow Brooklyn local groups
Heltah Skeltah and
Originoo Gunn Clappaz to form a
supergroup called the
Boot Camp Clik. In 2005, Buckshot released a collaborative album with producer
9th Wonder titled
Chemistry. In 2006, DJ Evil Dee and Mr. Walt released a mixtape titled
Alter the Chemistry, which paired Buckshot's vocals from the
Chemistry album with classic Black Moon beats. However, the event did not happen until 2019, when the group scheduled to reunite for their first album in 16 years. The trio's fourth studio album entitled
Rise of da Moon was released on October 18, 2019, featuring guest appearances from
Method Man,
Rock of Heltah Skeltah, and the group's long time collaborators Swif-N-Wessun. == Discography ==