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House Of
Krazees were an underground rap group in Detroit, Michigan from
1993-1999. From 1993-1997, the group consisted of 3 members, Hektic (Monoxide
Child, and yes, this is the correct way you spell Hektic. Anyone who owns
"Head Trauma" knows it for sure), Mr. Bones (Jamie Madrox), and The
R.O.C. (Sol). The original line-up released 6 albums. House Of Krazees are a
classic horrorcore rap group that opened the doors for later Detroit rappers
and groups to come.
As children, Paul Methric (Monoxide Child), James Spaniola (Jamie Madrox),
and Brian Jones (Sol) grew up in the same South-East Detroit neighborhood.
They always hung out together and were best friends. Horror movies, heavy
metal hair bands, and rap music is what later shaped their music. They were
also friends with the godfather of acid-rap, Esham. Paul said their
relationship goes as far back as when they were in the 3rd grade, so probably
around the early eighties.
In 1991, Brian teamed up with his cousin, Evol, and their friend
J-Ho (Lavel, Mr. Realist, ect.) to form "Strength Productions". In the winter
of 1991, they released their first and last album called "Rollin' With
Strength". The album features Paul and Jamie as well as J-Mo (Native Funk,
Anybody Killa, ect.). The group broke up in early 1992, due to the fact that
J-Ho left and hooked up with J-Mo to form the Krazy Klan, and Brian left with
Paul and Jamie to form House Of Krazees. Paul now assumed the rap name
"E.X.P." and Jamie as "Big J" and Brian as "The R.O.C.". They made 9 songs
for their upcoming release titled "Home Sweet Home". They made their own
independent label, Retro Horror Muzik, and came across Asylum Records to
publish the album. On October 1, 1993, "Home Sweet Home" was released. They
didn't expect to sell many copies, so only 500 originals were manufactured.
"Home Sweet Home" may have not hit number 1 on the charts, but they still
sold enough to have the spirit to continue in the rap-game. On October 31,
1993, House Of Krazees was able to do their first live show opening up for
Esham on the "KKKill The Fetus Tour". The House Of Krazees were getting
popular with the horrorcore underground rap scene. Fans were demanding new
material, and in late 1993, they decided to head back into the studio. From
January to May of 1994, they were writing and recording rhymes for their new
up-coming release. In June of 1994, they released "Home Bound". They still
didn't have a whole lot of money, so they were again forced to press this only
on tape. Only 200 originals were made, so if you don't have an actual copy
now, chances are you wont ever have one. This too was released on the Retro
Horror Muzik label, only this time, there was no publisher so that's the main
reason why they were limited copies to 200. E.X.P. changed his name to Hektic
and Big J changed his to Mr. Bones.
After "Home Bound's" release in 1994, HOK made a guest appearance on
Evol's solo album, "Satanix 4 Life" on a song called "Satanic 4 Life". That
same year, Mr. Bones released a 6 track solo EP with Looney Toon and Lock
Down, aka the Sons Of Midnight, called "The Demon Inside" which was released
on Skeleton Records.
The buzz of HOK was increasing day by day, and were to release their
first full-length LP attentively entitled, "Season Of The Pumpkin". For this
release, they had a lot more freedom then their previous 2 releases. Brian
fired Scott Chapman from producing their albums and took over his job. On
this release they decided all 3 members would have their own solo track.
Many misinformed people claim this album to be a double album, that was the
original lay-out, but they realized they didn't record enough material to fill
a whole other disc. On October 31, 1994, "Season Of The Pumpkin" hit music
stores around Detroit. They made enough money selling their first 2 releases
as well as doing live shows for local clubs that they were able to make a lot
of copies for this release. This album is the first HOK release that was made
on both CD and Cassette Tape. With the release of this album, they were
getting more and more popular everyday. "Season Of The Pumpkin" is a landmark
album and is a true horrorcore classic loved by many.
That same year, HOK was in the market for a manager. They came across a
"real fine snake" as Jamie put it, by the name of Walter Stepanenko. Walter
claimed to know a lot about the recording industry, and claimed to make House
Of Krazees a house hold name not just in Detroit, but everywhere. Walter
signed them to his record label, Latnem Intertainment shortly after "Season
Of The Pumpkin" was released. In the winter of '94, they were back in the
studio recording another release.
In the spring of 1995, "Outbreed" was released. This is the group's very
first EP, and probably the most versatile. Thanks to a bigger label, HOK was
able to get this release out to more stores in not just in Detroit, but in
cities all around Michigan. While popular in the Detroit area, there were
still some haters out there dissin' HOK. This album was made to fire back at
these people. This album was released on Cassette Tape and CD as well. In the
same year, Mr. Bones released his first and unfortunately his last solo
release titled, "Sacrifice", on Brain Dead Records. It contained 11 tracks
and was limited to 500 copies and only made on tape. It features a track with
R.O.C. and Hektic called "Insomnia". Mr. Bones also provided the artwork on
the first Krazy Klan release titled "Frustrations". Limited to 200 copies,
"Frustrations" is sought after by many Detroit rap collectors. The whole
album was recorded in the basement of Dead-Mike, former member of Krazy Klan.
That same year, Jamie and Paul came across a guy named Chris in front of a
Hot Hits (a record store in Detroit). Chris, better known as Psycho-C or Blaze
Ya Dead Homie, introduced Jamie and Paul to Krazy, better known as Skrapz.
Krazy and Psycho-C had a group called 2 Krazy Devils. They had a release
called "Flipped Insanity", but there were no actual copies made. They were
only dubbs to begin with and only a handful of people had one, but now the
album has leaked out and isn't as rare as it was a year ago.
In late 1995, they went back in the studio to record their 5th release.
At about this time, the group members noticed Walter wasn't exactly doing his
job as their manager. He was financing their music and not paying them for
the music they've recorded. But the whole time they just kept recording for
him. In early 1996, "Head Trauma" was released on Latnem Intertainment. It
was their first full-length release since "Season Of The Pumpkin". It wasn't
pressed on CD, just Cassette Tape, they had the money to press it on CD, but
for some reason didn't. R.O.C. released his solo album on Latnem Intertainment
the very same year. It was made on cassette only and is called "X-Posed".
In 1997, members Paul and Jamie saw the end for House Of Krazees and were
planning on leaving. They were noticed by the infamous Detroit rap duo,
Insane Clown Posse. Violent J heard a song from "Head Trauma" on the radio
and wanted to sign them to Psychopathic Records. Paul and Jamie agreed, but
were still in the process of making one last album for the HOK fans. They had
decided to re-do some old favorites with new beats. They decided to re-do
every song they planned out to do. They re-did songs from each of their 5
previous releases added with a lot more bass, which a lot of these songs lacked
when made at the time. In February 1997, they released "97 Collector's
Edition (Rewind & Remix)" on the Latnem label. Jamie and Paul left HOK and
went to record songs for their upcoming album on Psychopathic Records. Right
before leaving, the original HOK line-up decided to record one last track
called "Ghost". This song was released on the "Mob Mentality Compilation"
which is compiled of Detroit rap groups, it was released on tape only.
In the mean time, Brian formed the group, The Howse. They released
"Esohpromatem" on Latnem Records shortly after the break up of HOK. The Howse
didn't last any longer than a year when they decided to break up. It was now
1998, Paul, now known as Monoxide Child, and Jamie, now known as Jamie
Madrox, now went by Twiztid and released the original "Mostasteless" on
Psychopathic Records. The R.O.C. is credited in the booklet for doing the
drum programming on "Murder Murder Murder".
After the break up of HOK and now The Howse, Brian was still urging to
make new music. That's when he remembered an old friend by the name of Krazy
who was in the 2 Krazy Devils. He asked Krazy if he wanted to do a few cuts.
He agreed and began working on a new album. Krazy changed his name to Skrapz
and he and R.O.C. put out one last HOK album. While working on the album,
they had decided to call it "Season Of The Pumpkin 2". But before it went
into production, they changed the name to "The Night They Kame Home". In
February of 1998, this album was released on CD on the Latnem label. Skrapz
and Brian were having problems with Walter and realized to disband from the
group and form a new group with their own label. They decided on the name
Halfbreed and formed the record label "Virus Independent". And in 1999, they
released a sampler called "Virus Shit Sampler '99". The very same year they
released an EP entitled "Serial Killaz EP". Krazy Klan also put out 1 last
release on Slang Town Records titled "developMENTAL" in 1999. It features
House Of Krazees (not the original line-up, Sol and Skrapz) on a song called "2
Different Krazies".
In the meantime, Twiztid re-released "Mostasteless" in June of 1999 under
the Island/Def Jam label. They added a few new tracks and released it
Nationwide. Twiztid's popularity expanded with the ICP fan base known as the
Juggalos. In July of 1999, Twiztid released "Cryptic Collection" on
Psychopathic Records. It features Mr. Bones solo tracks and out-takes from
"Mostasteless" and compiled them to make this release. In the mean time,
Halfbreed signed with Brotha Lynch Hung's label, Siccmade Muzicc, and
released their first LP titled, "kontamiNATION". It was released in August of
2000 nationwide. On October 31, 2000, Twiztid released their 2nd nationwide
release titled "Freek Show". By this time, the Krazy Klan broke up and went
separate ways. J-Mo assumed the name "Native Funk" and put out a release on
Slang Town Records titled "Rain From The Sun" in late 2000. It features
Halfbreed on a track called "Gillatine", to hear this album, go to
www.NativeFunk.com
Immediately after "Freek Show's" release, Twiztid went back into the
studio to record "Black Majik". This album is compiled of rock-n-roll covers
by phaded out rock-n-roll bands and is slated to come out late 2001 or early
2002. In 2001, Halfbreed made it's final release entitled "Rage Of The Plague
EP" on Virus Independent. Right after it's release, Halfbreed teamed up with
Detroit rapper, F.R.eeze to form Level Jumpers. In the summer of 2001,
Twiztid released "Cryptic Collection 2: The Works of Madrox and Monoxide" on
Psychopathic Records. It contains more Mr. Bones solos, out-takes from "Freek
Show", and a HOK classic track, "Home Bound". It has R.O.C.'s verse cut off
and sounds re-mastered.
It is now 2001, Jamie and Paul are planning on buying the rights to the
House Of Krazees. Walter Stepanenko is still around, he is still making money
off the group to this day. He is the webmaster of
www.HouseOfKrazees.com.
R.O.C. is planning on releasing his 2nd solo album in November called "Worm
Holes". Anyone interested in buying original House of Krazees audio should
check out
www.2ndWindCD's.com for any horrorcore rap. As
of now, this amazing
store has 6 out of the 7 releases by HOK. If they don't have what you want,
try
www.HotHitsInc.com. Keep in mind that all the
HOK audio around right now
was re-released by Walter Stepanenko on Latnem Intertainment records. Some
songs (i.e. "Horror Story") were remixed when re-released by Walter. Also, many
of the re-released albums (i.e. Home Sweet Home, Season Of The Pumpkin), when
they were originally made they didn't have barcodes. When re-released by
popular demand on Walt's label, Latnem, they now have barcodes. Walter also
claims to be the producer of the albums, when he clearly wasn't. After "Rain
From The Sun" flopped, Jaymo left Slang Town and was noticed by Psychopathic
Records. He isnt signed to the label yet, but he is the 6th official member
of Dark Lotus. He now goes by "Anybody Killa", and will be doing a handful of
tracks on Blaze's debut LP titled "1 Less G In The Hood". It comes out
October 16th, so be on the look out for that. Sol and Skrapz teamed up with
F.R.eeze and now go by "Level Jumpers". The debut of them will be out
sometime in 2002.
Mad propz to
H2SkAbZ@aol.com for
hooking us up with this history.
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