Keith Omar Murray (born May 29, 1972) is an American rapper from New York. He is best known for being a member of the hip hop group

Def Squad Def Squad is an American rap supergroup consisting of Erick Sermon, Redman, Keith Murray, Hurricane G, and Jamal Jamaal ( ''/'') is an Arabic given name and surname meaning "beauty."Redman and fellow Long Island native

Erick Sermon Erick Sermon (born November 25, 1968) is an American rapper and producer. He is best known as one-third—alongside PMD & DJ Scratch—of 1980s/1990s hip hop group EPMD and for his production work. Early life Erick Sermon was born on November ...

. The group released their debut album, ''El Niño'' in 1998. In 1994, Murray released his debut single "

The Most Beautifullest Thing in This World ''The Most Beautifullest Thing in This World'' is the debut solo studio album by American rapper Keith Murray. It was released November 8, 1994, via Jive Records. The recording sessions took place at Rockin' Reel Studios in East Northport, New Y ...

" for

Jive Records Jive Records (later stylized as JIVE Records) was a British-American independent record label founded by Clive Calder in 1981 as a subsidiary of the Zomba Group of Companies, Zomba Group. In the US, the label had offices in New York City and Chic ...

, which was quickly followed up by his debut album of the same name, released to critical and commercial success. His delivery has been described as "spaced out, complex, ndmulti-syllablistic".

Career

1990–1995: Early years

Murray got his start in the music industry under the name MC Do Damage, but later decided to just go by his birth name. In 1993, he was introduced to Erick Sermon of

EPMD EPMD is an American hip hop duo from Brentwood, New York. The duo's name is an initialism for "Erick and Parrish Making Dollars", referring to its members: emcees Erick Sermon ("E" a.k.a. E Double) and Parrish Smith ("PMD" a.k.a. Parrish Mi ...

by his friend

K-Solo Kevin Madison, also known as K-Solo (born April 17, 1968) is an American rapper from Brentwood, New York who, along with Redman, EPMD, Das EFX, and Keith Murray, was part of the Hit Squad in the 1990s. Career K-Solo was a member of EPMD's "Hi ...

. Sermon included Murray on his album '' No Pressure'' on the single "Hostile", with critics praising Murray's lyrical ability. His appearance on Hostile led to Murray being signed to

, and work began on his first album. Murray's debut single, ''

'' was released in 1994 and was a hit. The song was produced by

(who also provided background vocals) and peaked at number 50 on the

Billboard 200 The ''Billboard'' 200 is a record chart ranking the 200 most popular music albums and EPs in the United States. It is published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists. Sometimes, a rec ...

and number 3 on the Hot Rap Singles chart. Murray's debut album ''

'', was named after the single and released in 1994 to widespread critical acclaim and commercial success, being certified Gold by the

Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

(RIAA) in August 1995. The album was also given "4 mics" by ''

The Source The Source may refer to: Film and television * ''The Source'' (1918 film), 1918 American drama directed by George Melford * ''The Source'' (1999 film), a 1999 documentary film about the Beat generation * ''The Source'' (2002 film), a 2002 scienc ...

''. Murray continued to enjoy a high media-profile by appearing on a

Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a cola soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. In 2013, Coke products were sold in over 200 countries and territories worldwide, with consumers drinking more than 1.8 billion company beverage servings ...

advertisement and as a featured guest on

Mary J Blige Mary Jane Blige ( ; born January 11, 1971) is an American singer, songwriter, rapper, actress, and entrepreneur. Often referred to as the " Queen of Hip-Hop Soul" and " Queen of R&B", her accolades include nine Grammy Awards, a Primetime Emmy A ...

's " Be Happy",

Total Total may refer to: Mathematics * Total, the summation of a set of numbers * Total order, a partial order without incomparable pairs * Total relation, which may also mean ** connected relation (a binary relation in which any two elements are comp ...

's " Can't You See", R Kelly's "Home Alone" and both versions of

LL Cool J James Todd Smith (born January 14, 1968), known professionally as LL Cool J (short for Ladies Love Cool James), is an American rapper and actor. He is one of the earliest rappers to achieve commercial success, alongside fellow new school hip ho ...

's "

I Shot Ya "I Shot Ya" is a song by American rapper LL Cool J featuring Keith Murray, from his sixth album ''Mr. Smith''. The remix version, which featured Prodigy of Mobb Deep, Fat Joe, and Foxy Brown, of the song was released as a B-side to " Hey Love ...

". However, his appearances of both versions of "I Shot Ya" led to brief friction with rapper

Tupac Shakur Tupac Amaru Shakur (; born Lesane Parish Crooks; June 16, 1971 – September 13, 1996), also known by his stage names 2Pac and Makaveli, was an American rapper and actor, regarded as one of the greatest and most influential rappers of all tim ...

, who believed that the song was a diss towards him being shot and robbed at Quad Recording Studios, regarding the timing, title, and lyrical content. Sometime in the following year, Tupac Shakur approached Keith Murray at the California

House of Blues House of Blues is an American chain of live music concert halls and restaurants. It was founded by Isaac Tigrett, the co-founder of Hard Rock Cafe, and Dan Aykroyd, co-star of the 1980 film ''The Blues Brothers (film), The Blues Brothers''. The ...

, wanting to know if the record was a diss to him. Upon questioning, Murray made it clear that the record was not about Shakur, peacefully resolving the situation. Murray has continued to publicly address this in several interviews over the following years.

1996–1998: Def Squad

Murray's second album '' Enigma'' was released on November 26, 1996, on Jive, once again to critical acclaim. The album peaked at number 39 on the U.S.

and reached number 6 on the

R&B 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, ...

chart. Murray also continued to work with other artists, appearing on tracks by

Busta Rhymes Trevor George Smith Jr. (born May 20, 1972), known professionally as Busta Rhymes, is an American rapper, singer and actor. Chuck D of Public Enemy gave him the moniker Busta Rhymes, after National Football League, NFL and Canadian Football Lea ...

UGK UGK (short for Underground Kingz) was an American hip-hop duo from Port Arthur, Texas, formed in 1987, by Mitchell "Big Mitch" Queen who would eventually leave the group to pursue a football career and Chad "Pimp C" Butler with Bernard "Bun B" ...

, Redman and

Jamal Jamaal ( ''/'') is an Arabic given name and surname meaning "beauty."Jamaal
at BehindTheName.com It is popular in th ...

. In 1998, Murray and The Def Squad released their debut album, ''

El Niño EL, El or el may refer to: Arts and entertainment Fictional entities * El, a character from the manga series ''Shugo Chara!'' by Peach-Pit * Eleven (''Stranger Things'') (El), a fictional character in the TV series ''Stranger Things'' * El, fami ...

'', which peaked at number 2 on the

and was certified Gold by the RIAA. Murray's third solo album '' It's a Beautiful Thing'' was released in 1998 while Murray was incarcerated for assault.

2001–present: He's Keith Murray and release from Def Jam

After Murray was released from prison, he signed with

Def Jam Def Jam Recordings (also simply known as Def Jam) is an American multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It is based in Manhattan, New York City, specializing predominantly in hip hop, contemporary R&B, soul and pop. The ...

who released ''

He's Keith Murray ''He's Keith Murray'' is the fourth solo studio album by American rapper Keith Murray. It was released on April 29, 2003, through Def Jam Recordings, making it his only studio album for the label. The recording sessions took place at Fox Hole S ...

'' in 2003, once again to critical and commercial success. The album contained the single " Yeah Yeah U Know It.", and featured guest appearances from

, Redman and

Jamie Foxx Eric Marlon Bishop (born December 13, 1967), known professionally as Jamie Foxx, is an American actor, comedian, and singer. Known for his work in both the screen and music industries, his accolades include an Academy Award, a Grammy Award ...

, among others. The same year, Murray was featured as a playable character in the video game ''

Def Jam Vendetta ''Def Jam Vendetta'' is a 3D professional wrestling fighting video game developed by AKI Corporation and EA Canada and published by Electronic Arts under the EA Sports BIG label. It was released for the GameCube and PlayStation 2 in April 20 ...

''. Despite the success and acclaim of his first album on Def Jam after this, Murray was dropped from the label just one day after its release after being accused of choking two label employees, although he said the confrontation was limited to words. After being released, Murray announced plans to continue recording music independently. He released his fifth solo album '' Rap-Murr-Phobia'' on July 31, 2007. It debuted at number 52 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' 200 chart. The lead single was "Nobody Do It Better" featuring Tyrese and Junior.

Legal issues

In May 25, 1995, Murray was arrested after being accused of hitting a man with a barstool in a fight and released on bail. After being sentenced to three years in 1998, Murray, who maintains his innocence, fled from authorities until October 1998, when he turned himself in. Murray filed a lawsuit for

wrongful conviction A miscarriage of justice occurs when an unfair outcome occurs in a criminal or civil proceeding, such as the conviction and punishment of a person for a crime they did not commit. Miscarriages are also known as wrongful convictions. Innocent ...

, and later dropped the suit in exchange for his sentence being reduced by three months. Murray served the latter portion of his sentence in the Maple Street Halfway House facility before being released on May 14, 2001.

Discography

Studio albums

* ''

'' (1994) * '' Enigma'' (1996) * '' It's a Beautiful Thing'' (1999) * ''

'' (2003) * '' Rap-Murr-Phobia (The Fear of Real Hip-Hop)'' (2007) * ''Intellectual Violence'' (2008) * ''Puff Puff Pass'' (2008) * ''Lord of the Metaphor'' (2018) * ''Lord of the Metaphor 2'' (2019)

Collaboration albums

*''

'' with Def Squad (1998) *Canibus & Keith Murray are The Undergods - In Gods We Trust, Crush Microphones to Dust (2011)

References

External links

Keith Murray
on

Myspace Myspace (formerly stylized as MySpace, currently myspace; and sometimes my␣, with an elongated Whitespace character#Substitute images, open box symbol) is a social networking service based in the United States. Launched on August 1, 2003, it w ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Murray, Keith 1972 births 20th-century African-American musicians 20th-century American male musicians 20th-century American rappers 21st-century African-American musicians 21st-century American male musicians 21st-century American rappers African-American male rappers 21st-century American male rappers African-American songwriters American male songwriters Def Jam Recordings artists Def Squad members East Coast hip-hop musicians Hardcore hip-hop artists Jive Records artists Living people People from Central Islip, New York Rappers from New York (state) Songwriters from New York (state)