Gravediggaz — 6 Feet Deep
Throwback Review | March 2024
A side project from four artists who were frustrated with the music industry, led to a cult-classic debut album, and the creation of a new Hip-Hop sub-genre called Horrorcore.
Gravediggaz
(From left to right: Prince Paul, Frukwan, RZA and Poetic)
Group members Prince Paul, RZA, Frukwan and Poetic were all individual artists who were signed to Tommy Boy records and all four of them would go through a difficult time individually within their respective careers. Frukwan and Prince Paul left Stetsasonic, an influential group of the 1980s. Paul specifically, who helped produce De La Soul’s first two albums, 3 Feet High and Rising and De La Soul Is Dead, would become alienated after the group took full control of their production. RZA, though going on to form one of the most iconic Hip-Hop groups, the Wu-Tang Clan, was dropped from Tommy Boy after his 1991 solo single “We Love You Rakeem” underperformed. The same would occur for Poetic as he too was dropped from the same label. Eventually, Paul would call for the other three members to get together, and in the end they formed the Gravediggaz.
Released in the summer of 1994, 6 Feet Deep is a dark and eerie album, but it does come with its fair share of humour. Viewed as the album that spawned the Horrorcore sub-genre, 6 Feet Deep does come across as the soundtrack of either a 1970s or a 1980s horror flick. This is shown with song titles such as “Nowhere to Run, Nowhere to Hide”, and “Diary of a Madman”. These two records were singles off of the album, and both tracks delve into themes of paranoia, and the production on both singles are incredibly haunting. Though they are great and are highlights off of the album, both however don’t come close to the greatness of the album’s biggest single, “1-800 Suicide”. Beautifully sampling Booker T and MG’s “Sunny”, the song at face value may be about suicide, but it’s a reflection of the Horrocore sub-genre, as the Gravediggaz use dark humour and exaggerated imagery to discuss the subject matter.
Along with the singles, there are plenty of enjoyable and high quality album cuts. Mostly produced by Prince Paul, Paul’s production and the atmosphere he created with the album’s instrumentals fit perfectly with the album’s themes. 6 Feet Deep’s production is the complete opposite of Paul’s work on De La Soul’s 3 Feet High and Rising, with the latter’s debut album being more joyful and bright. Particular production highlights on 6 Feet Deep include “Constant Elevation” and “2 Cups of Blood”, the latter being recently sampled by Tyler the Creator for his 2021 single, “Lumberjack”. “2 Cups of Blood” may be only a minute and a half long, but the haunting instrumental, along with RZA and Poetic going back and forth throughout the whole track, make the song an easy standout on the whole album. Another standout from the album is “Deathtrap”, an additional example of masterful production from Prince Paul, as the drum work on the record is impeccable. On this record RZA, Frukwan and Poetic sharpen their pens and all three drop great verses. Each of them telling unique and tragic tales of people’s demise, from a lyrical perspective it’s one of the group’s best tracks.
There are just a couple of tracks towards the end of the album that could have been left out, the first being the eleventh track “Bang Your Head”, due to it’s minimalist production and the chorus has RZA just screaming “bang your head!”, which can become tiresome. The final track before the outro, “6 Feet Deep”, also suffers from lacklustre production, especially when you compare it to the production on the other tracks. Instead of Prince Paul, RZA produced this track as with two other tracks on the album, that being “Diary of a Madman” and “Graveyard Chamber”. Whilst, RZA is one of the greatest Hip-Hop producers of all time, there are many other beats he has made that are much better. Besides from these two tracks, the rest of the album is flawless.
An album built out of frustration, 6 Feet Deep left an obvious mark on Hip-Hop. It’s influence and impact may not scream as loud as other influential Hip-Hop albums from the same era, for example Nas’ Illmatic, Dr. Dre’s The Chronic or even Wu-Tang Clan’s 36 Chambers. Gravediggaz’s debut album may not have the same popularity as those albums that were just mentioned, but the group’s lyrical approach, sound and subject matter helped usher in the Horrocore sub-genre, which was incorporated within music from Three 6 Mafia and Eminem. It could even be argued that the idea and creation of Gravediggaz influenced RZA to create the Wu-Tang Clan, essentially a super group of MCs, because that was the crux of Gravediggaz. Whilst, credit will be given to RZA, Frukwan and Poetic for their verses, a huge credit should be given to Prince Paul for his production. Going from 3 Feet High and Rising to 6 Feet Deep, proves how versatile he is as a producer, and of course he pretty much created a huge butterfly effect by forming the group, as there would be no Gravediggaz if he didn’t call for the other three to join him and in order to create a group.