Seagram

Equally adept at dealing out narrative reflections and fearsome threats over laid-back funk grooves and menacing productions worthy of horror films, unsung Bay Area gangsta rapper and producer Seagram left behind a small if revered body of work. It's limited to The Dark Roads (1993), Reality Check (1994), and the posthumous Souls on Ice (1997), all of which were released on Rap-A-Lot and charted. Oakland native Seagram Miller debuted in 1992 with "The Dark Road," a grim G-funk track that helped push the parent LP, The Dark Roads, into Billboard's hip-hop/R&B chart the following February. In addition to close friend and collaborator Gangsta P, Geto Boys' Scarface, Willie D, and Bushwick Bill, along with fellow Houston heavyweight Ganksta N-I-P, made appearances. The smoother Reality Check, boasting a verse from Too $hort on "Gangstas & Players," followed in 1994 and fared even better commercially, reaching number 53 R&B/hip-hop. Two years later, Seagram and Gangsta P were victims of a shooting in East Oakland. P survived, but Seagram died. Souls on Ice was issued posthumously in 1997. The lead track "Sleepin in My Nikes" reappeared on Scarface's double-platinum 1998 album My Homies. ~ Andy Kellman, Rovi