Black Sheep is an American hip hop duo from

Queens Queens is the largest by area of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Located near the western end of Long Island, it is bordered by the ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

, United States, composed of Andres "Dres" Vargas Titus and William "Mista Lawnge" McLean. The duo was from New York but met as teenagers in

Sanford, North Carolina Sanford is a city in Lee County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 30,261 at the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Lee County. The geographic center of North Carolina is located northwest of the city, in Chatham County. His ...

, where both of their families relocated. The group was part of the Native Tongues collective, which included the

Jungle Brothers Jungle Brothers are an American hip hop trio composed of Michael Small (Mike Gee), Nathaniel Hall (Afrika Baby Bam) and Sammy Burwell (DJ Sammy B). Hailed as pioneers of the fusion of jazz, hip-hop, and house music, they were the first hip-hop g ...

A Tribe Called Quest A Tribe Called Quest was an American Hip hop music, hip hop group formed in Queens, New York City, in 1985,Q-Tip< ...

, and

De La Soul De La Soul ( ) is an American hip hop music, hip hop group formed in the village of Amityville on Long Island, New York (state), New York in 1988. They are best known for their eclectic sampling, eccentric lyrics, and contributions to the evoluti ...

. After getting together in 1989, Black Sheep debuted in 1991 with the hit song "Flavor of the Month" and later released its first album, '' A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing'', which gained them praise and recognition in the hip-hop community for the album's unique rhythms and intelligent, often humorous lyrics. After six years together, Black Sheep disbanded in 1995, citing creative differences.

Biography

Initial career and break up (1989–1995)

Black Sheep was formed in 1989 by William "Mista Lawnge" McLean. While working as a DJ in New York, McLean met Mike Gee of the

and

DJ Red Alert Frederick Crute (born November 27, 1956), known professionally as Kool DJ Red Alert, is an Antiguan-American disc jockey who rose to fame on WRKS 98.7 Kiss FM in New York City and is recognized as one of the founding fathers of hip hop music ...

, who encouraged him to start his own hip hop group. He recruited Dres, who he had grown up with in North Carolina. Black Sheep was the first hip-hop act to appear on ''

The Tonight Show with Jay Leno ''The Tonight Show with Jay Leno'' is an American television talk show broadcast by NBC. The show is the fourth and sixth installment of ''The Tonight Show''. Hosted by Jay Leno, it aired from May 25, 1992, to May 29, 2009, replacing ''The Ton ...

'' after the departure of

Johnny Carson John William Carson (October 23, 1925 – January 23, 2005) was an American television host, comedian, and writer best known as the host of NBC's ''The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson'' (1962–1992). Carson is a cultural phenomenon and w ...

. Their first official appearance as Black Sheep was on

's 1991 album '' De La Soul Is Dead''. Dres was featured on the track "Fanatic of the B Word". '' A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing'' charted three times on the ''

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 ...

Hot Dance Music/Club Play The Dance Club Songs (also known as National Disco Action, Hot Dance/Disco Club Play, and Hot Dance Club Play) was a chart published weekly between 1976 and 2020 by ''Billboard'' magazine. It used club disc jockeys set lists to determine the mos ...

chart in 1992 with " The Choice Is Yours (Revisited)" (#9), and " Strobelite Honey" (#1). Black Sheep was also featured on the

remix A remix, also sometimes called reorchestration or rework, is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, poem, or photograph ca ...

Vanessa Williams Vanessa Lynn Williams (born March 18, 1963) is an American singer, actress, model, producer and dancer. She gained recognition as the first Black woman to win the Miss America title when she was crowned Miss America 1984. She would later Vanes ...

's single "Work to Do" (#8). The group's relationship with its label, Mercury/PolyGram, allowed Dres to establish a boutique label through which he could sign his own acts. Mercury distributed the imprint, which was called One Love, through PolyGram's Independent Label Sales division rather than PolyGram Group Distribution. However, only one full-length title was ever released, the only album by affiliated act the Legion, titled ''Theme + Echo = Krill'' from 1994. The group's second album, ''

Non-Fiction Non-fiction (or nonfiction) is any document or content (media), media content that attempts, in good faith, to convey information only about the real life, real world, rather than being grounded in imagination. Non-fiction typically aims to pre ...

'', was released later that year. Because of virtually no promotion and a generally poor reception, the album managed only lackluster sales. Black Sheep broke up shortly after its release.

Aftermath

Dres was featured on the second

Handsome Boy Modeling School Handsome Boy Modeling School is an American collaborative project between hip hop producers Dan the Automator (Gorillaz, Dr. Octagon, Deltron 3030) and Prince Paul ( Stetsasonic, De La Soul, Gravediggaz). The collaboration originally lasted ...

album ''

White People White is a Race (human categorization), racial classification of people generally used for those of predominantly Ethnic groups in Europe, European ancestry. It is also a Human skin color, skin color specifier, although the definition can var ...

'', on the track "First...and Then." In 2006, Dres released an

online In computer technology and telecommunications, online indicates a state of connectivity, and offline indicates a disconnected state. In modern terminology, this usually refers to an Internet connection, but (especially when expressed as "on lin ...

-only album titled '' 8WM/Novakane'', under the name Black Sheep, but Lawnge was not a part of the album. ''8WM'' stands for ''Women with Women with Weed with Wine with Me''. According to a 2006 article on AllHipHop.com, Mista Lawnge added another spelling of his name to Mr Long. He also released a mixtape called ''The Class of 89'' in 2006. Dres appeared on the 1990s remix of

Nas Nas (born 1973) is the stage name of American rapper Nasir Jones. Nas, NaS, or NAS may also refer to: Aviation * Nasair, a low-cost airline carrier and subsidiary based in Eritrea * National Air Services, an airline in Saudi Arabia ** Nas Air (S ...

' February 2007 song " Where are They Now?" In 2008, the single " The Choice is Yours (Revisited)" was ranked number #74 on VH1's 100 Greatest Hip Hop Songs. The song was featured in a commercial for the 2010

Kia Soul The Kia Soul () is a subcompact crossover SUV manufactured and marketed by Kia since 2008. Often described and marketed as a Crossover (automobile), crossover since its introduction, the Soul is a hatchback with a box proportion and tall roof, ...

Discography

Studio albums

As lead artist

Albums

Singles and EPs

* "Flavor of the Month" (1991) * "Flash's theme (remix)" on ''

Flash Gordon Flash Gordon is the protagonist of a space adventure comic strip created and originally drawn by Alex Raymond. First published January 7, 1934, the strip was inspired by, and created to compete with, the already established ''Buck Rogers'' ...

'' reissue (Sept 1991) * " The Choice Is Yours (Revisited)" (Oct 1991) **covered by several artists including

Trik Turner Trik Turner is an American rap rock band formed in Phoenix, Arizona in 1999. The band is best known for their song "Friends and Family", which reached the top ten on the ''Billboard'' Modern Rock chart and received significant airplay on MTV, ...

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, and the

Deftones Deftones is an American alternative metal band formed in Sacramento, California in 1988. They were formed by frontman Chino Moreno, lead guitarist Stephen Carpenter and drummer Abe Cunningham, with bassist Chi Cheng and keyboardist and tu ...

**(Used in the 2010 Kia Soul "Rapping Hamsters" commercial) * "Strobelite Honey" (1992) * "Similak Child" (1992) * "Without a Doubt" (1994) * "North South East West" (1995) * ''Redlight, Greenlight'' (EP) (recorded 2000, released 2002)

Music videos

* "Flavor of the Month" (1991) * "The Choice Is Yours" (1991) * "Strobelite Honey" (1992) *

ft. Black Sheep - " Work to Do" (Remix)

992 Year 992 ( CMXCII) was a leap year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Worldwide * Winter – A superflare from the sun causes an Aurora Borealis, with visibility as far south as Germany and Korea. Euro ...

* Showbiz & A.G ft. Black Sheep - "Bounce Ta This" (1992) * "Similak Child" (1992) * Flavor Unit ft. Dres - "Rollin' wit da Flava" (1993) * The Legion ft. Dres - "Jingle Jangle" (1993) * "Without a Doubt" (1994)

Notes

References

External links

Dres of Black Sheep interviewDres of Black Sheep on Myspace.comMr. Long's (formerly Mista Lawnge) Solo site

Last Black Sheep Interview as group
{{DEFAULTSORT:Black Sheep American hip-hop duos East Coast hip-hop groups Hip-hop groups from New York City Mercury Records artists Musical groups from North Carolina Musical groups established in 1989 Musical groups disestablished in 1995 Native Tongues members People from Sanford, North Carolina Progressive rappers 1989 establishments in New York City