Ugly Duckling (hip hop group)
| Ugly Duckling | |
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Ugly Duckling
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| Background information | |
| Origin | Long Beach, California, United States |
| Genres | Alternative hip hop, underground hip hop, jazz rap |
| Years active | 1993–present |
| Labels |
XL Recordings Fat Beats Emperor Norton/Rykodisc 1500/A&M/Interscope/Universal Records |
| Associated acts |
Jurassic 5 Dilated Peoples Fathead |
| Website | www.uglyduckling.us |
| Members | Andy Cooper Dizzy Dustin Young Einstein |
Ugly Duckling is an American hip hop group that formed around 1993 in Long Beach, California. Ugly Duckling's members include Dizzy Dustin (Dustin McFarland), Young Einstein (Rodney Pleasant Jr.) and Andy Cooper. The band decided to take the name Ugly Duckling because they felt like outcasts on the Southern California hip hop scene of the mid-1990s. According to the book How to Rap: the Art & Science of the Hip-Hop MC, it is one of the most prominent underground hip hop groups.
Each of the members of the group is from Long Beach, California. Dizzy, Einstein and Andy met each other through mutual friends and eventually began creating and performing music together.
In 1995, the group independently released their first album Down The Road and began to build a local following. Two years later, they pressed up a 12" single "Fresh Mode" which was eventually distributed worldwide and led to the band getting their first record deal with 1500 Records/Universal.
The group's style is primarily a throwback to the kind of hip hop popular in the late 1980s and early ’90s. It uses samples (particularly drum breaks and loops) as the foundation of most tracks, whereas many modern artists have given up sampling in favor of synthesized sounds and drum-machine beats. The two MCs, Andy and Dizzy, frequently alternate lyrics and often punctuate each others lines, reminiscent of early groups like the Double Trouble, The Treacherous Three and Beastie Boys. Ugly Duckling is known for humorous and intelligent lyrics, "lampooning the excesses of modern hip hop" and modern hip hop's obsessions with sex and materialism.
In live shows, the group's DJ Young Einstein employs complex scratching routines with vinyl instrumental records to provide the musical backdrop for the rappers unlike many modern hip hop groups who work from digital media. Einstein is also the owner of the group's unofficial mascot, the rope, which is the subject of the song "Eye on the Gold Chain" and is worn by Einstein during live performances. The group is renowned for their live act, performing various antics on stage and making every effort to involve the crowd in their shows. They have performed in more than 30 countries around the globe including Australia, China, Japan, and Korea, and most of Europe including Poland, the United Kingdom and Scandinavia.
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