Both members of Black Sheep hail from New York, but they actually met quite a way away, in Stanford, North Carolina - both of their families had moved there. They formed their group in 1989, and it didn’t take too long for them to meet with genuine success - their first album, ‘A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing’, dropped in October of 1991, and eventually went gold in their native U.S. after hitting number thirty on the Billboard chart. The record also earned them the honour of being the first hip hop act to appear on The Tonight Show since the departure of Johnny Carson, and his replacement with Jay Leno.
Their second full-length record, ‘Non-Fiction’, didn’t quite meet with the same level of commercial success, perhaps owing to the lack of big-hitting singles like ‘Flavor of the Month’ and ‘The Choice Is Yours (Revisited)’. Nevertheless, Black Sheep remained revered in the hip hop world, and continued to tour sporadically until their initial dissolution in 1995. They reformed in 2000, and have put out two records since - ‘8VM/Novakane’ in October 2006, and ‘From the Black Pool of Genius’ - ostensibly a solo effort from Dres - in 2010. Live performances are currently occasional, but remain well-received.
The hip hop dup of Black Sheep made my year when they confirmed their reformation after their hiatus back in 2000. It’s mad that I’ve only just had the chance to see them live when I’ve been following them for so many years, but it was totally worth the wait. I originally became hooked on their music because of their catchy and clever lyrics, their intelligence is beyond that of a generic hip hop group, and they demonstrate their education elegantly through their music.
The duo are extremely enthusiastic in their performance, and it was great the degree that they got the audience involved to. From the moment they walked out on stage and shouted ‘put your hand in the air’, they completely won over the audience, and there was no going back. They opened with Similak Child from their debut album back in 1991, and had everyone singing along straight away. It was really cool how they played a lot of their older more famous material, as well as tracks from the newer albums. When they played Come Back Home from From The Black Pool of Genius, they made it really interactive, and taught us in the audience sections of the song to sing back in dialogue with them.
Seeing the way that the two of them interact together shows that they’ve been working together for such a long time, as their performance is clean and tight. They really showcased their talent, and what it means to be a hip hop performer. I was really impressed, and advise anyone to see them live if you get the chance.