All City was an American rap duo composed of

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

-based rappers J. Mega and Greg Valentine. The duo was formed in 1993 and achieved wide popularity in 1998 with the release of the debut album, '' Metropolis Gold'', on the

MCA Records MCA Records was an American record label owned by MCA Inc. established in 1972, though MCA had released recordings under that name in the UK from the 1960s. The label achieved success in the 1970s through the 1980s, often by acquiring other ...

History

All City was formed in

, New York in 1993. Both group members, rapper J. Mega and rapper/singer Greg Valentine performed as a solo artists at

Lyricist Lounge The Lyricist Lounge is a hip hop showcase of rappers, emcees, DJs, and Graffiti artists. It has spawned the album '' Lyricist Lounge, Volume One'', '' Lyricist Lounge 2'' and '' Lyricist Lounge & Ecko Unlimited presents: Underground Airplay'', ...

on the Lower East Side of

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

, New York. After receiving a positive reaction from the fans, they decided to create their own group. The name of the duet comes from the

graffiti Graffiti (singular ''graffiti'', or ''graffito'' only in graffiti archeology) is writing or drawings made on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from simple written "monikers" to elabor ...

-term "All City", this is how graffiti artists mark trains going through the whole New York. Later they were discovered by then-popular

hardcore rap Hardcore hip-hop (also known as hardcore rap) is a subgenre of hip hop music that developed through the East Coast hip hop scene in the 1980s. Pioneered by such artists as Run-DMC, Schoolly D, Boogie Down Productions and Public Enemy, it is ...

group

Onyx Onyx is a typically black-and-white banded variety of agate, a silicate mineral. The bands can also be monochromatic with alternating light and dark bands. ''Sardonyx'' is a variety with red to brown bands alternated with black or white bands. ...

, who signed them to their new label, Armee Records, which was distributed by

Mercury Records Mercury Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group. It had significant success as an independent operation in the 1940s and 1950s. Smash Records and Fontana Records were sub labels of Mercury. Mercury Records released ...

. In 1995, All City released their debut single, "Who Dat"/"Metro Theme", through Armee Records. In the same year, the group took part in the recording of the second Onyx's album, ''

All We Got Iz Us All We Got Iz Us is the second studio album by American hip hop group Onyx (hip hop group), Onyx, released on October 24, 1995, by JMJ Records and Rush Associated Labels. The album was produced by Onyx. The album features guest appearances from r ...

'', in the songs "Purse Snatchaz" and "Getto Mentalitee". Three years later, the duo reappeared on the third Onyx's album, '' Shut 'Em Down'', in the songs "Fuck Dat", "Overshine", and also on the track "Wilin' Wilin'" which was not included on the album. In 1996, All City became the guest of Stretch & Bobbito, a popular radio show at the time. The program was broadcast on February 29, 1996. In 1997, Onyx helped get the duo a record deal with

, as a result of which their second single, "Move On You"/"Basic Training", was released on the

Geffen Records Geffen Records (formerly The David Geffen Company from 1980 to 1992 and Geffen Records Inc. from 1993 to 2004) is an American record label, founded in late 1980 by David Geffen. Originally a music subsidiary of the company known as Geffen Pi ...

. On June 9, 1998, MCA Records released their third single, "The Actual"/"Priceless", produced by

DJ Premier Christopher Edward Martin (born March 21, 1966), known professionally as DJ Premier (also known as Preemo), is an American record producer and DJ. He has been frequently lauded as one of hip hop's greatest producers by publications such as '' ...

and

Pete Rock Peter O. Phillips (born June 21, 1970), better known by his stage name Pete Rock, is an American record producer, DJ and rapping, rapper. He is widely recognized as one of the greatest hip hop producers of all time, and is often mentioned along ...

. On both tracks were shot videos, in which

took part, as well as the producers of the songs themselves. DJ Premier-produced single " The Actual" peaked at number 3 on the

Hot Rap Singles Hot Rap Songs (formerly known as Hot Rap Tracks and Hot Rap Singles) is a chart released weekly by ''Billboard'' in the United States. It lists the 25 most popular hip-hop/rap songs, calculated weekly by airplay on rhythmic and urban radio statio ...

for 23 weeks, making the song the most hit song of the duo to date. On September 15, 1998, MCA released another single, "The Hot Joint", with a remix of it on the B-side, on which was shot the video. The song peaked at 93 on the

. The label also released the single "Ded Right". All City's debut album, entitled '' Metropolis Gold'', was released on MCA Records on November 3, 1998. The album peaked at number 42 on the

Top R&B/Hip Hop Albums Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums is a music chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine that ranks R&B and hip-hop albums based on sales in the United States and is compiled by Luminate. The chart debuted as Hot R&B LPs in the issue dated January 30, ...

and number 18 on the

Top Heatseekers The Heatseekers charts were "Breaking and Entering" music charts issued weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. The Heatseekers Albums and the Heatseekers Songs charts were introduced by ''Billboard'' in 1991 with the purpose of highlighting the sales b ...

in the American magazine ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

''. However, the album was not commercially successful, not selling enough copies to reach the ''Billboard'' 200. After the release of the album, the duo disbanded without further releases. Greg Valentine continues to perform and record with other rap artists, but it's not known what J.Mega is doing today.

Discography

Albums

Singles

* 1995: "Who Dat" / "Metro Theme" * 1997: "Move On You" / "Basic Training" * 1998: "The Actual" / "Priceless" * 1998: "The Hot Joint" * 1998: "Ded Right"

Videos

Abdul Malik Abbott shot all 3 videos: * 1998: "The Actual" * 1998: "Priceless" * 1998: "The Hot Joint (Remix)"

References

External links

All City at Discogs

All City at Rapgenius

All City
at

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

All City at IMDb
{{Authority control 1993 establishments in New York City African-American musical groups American hip-hop duos Hip-hop groups from New York City MCA Records artists Musical duos from New York (state) Musical groups established in 1993 Musical groups disestablished in 1998 Musical groups from Brooklyn