Wreckx-n-Effect

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Wreckx-n-Effect was a New Jack Swing Hip-Hop group who had the multi-platinum hit "Rump Shaker" in 1992/1993, which was produced by Teddy Riley.

History

The group, originally composed of then adolescent Aqil "A-Plus" Davidson, Brandon Mitchell and Markell Riley, was formed around 1988 as Wrecks-n-Effect. Their first release, an eponymous EP of six tracks for Atlantic Records, included the singles "Go For What You Know", "Let's Do It Again" (which sampled The Staple Singers hit song), and a self-titled track sampling Jimmy Castor's "Bertha Butt Boogie". They received little promotion from Atlantic however, and, with the help of one-time manager and alleged gangster Gene Griffin, jumped ship for Motown Records. When they released their self-titled debut album the following year, "K.C." had left and the group had become a trio. Wrecks-N-Effect was produced by producer/songwriter Teddy Riley (brother of Markell Riley), and rapper/producer Redhead Kingpin; reached #16 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart and #103 on The Billboard Top 200 chart, while its singles "Juicy" and "New Jack Swing" met a similar fate with the exception of "New Jack Swing" becoming a #1 single on the Billboard Rap chart. Tragically, Mitchell was killed in a shooting incident shortly after its release in 1990.

The group, now a duo of Aqil Davison and Markell Riley, changed the spelling of their name from Wrecks-n-Effect to Wreckx-n-Effect (the "X" symbolizing the loss of Mitchell) and followed up their first self titled album with 1992's Hard or Smooth on MCA Records. Hard or Smooth fared far better than their debut, selling just under 2 million copies and reaching #9 on the Billboard Top 200 and #6 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart.

The album also produced the multi-platinum, #2 hit single Rump Shaker, kept at bay on the charts only by Whitney Houston's I Will Always Love You, from her best-selling The Bodyguard Soundtrack. The accompanying video received substantial criticism for its "exploitation" of women in bikinis, despite its setting of a fun day at the beach, with the New York Daily News referring to Wreckx as "Horny Little Rap Kids". Rump Shaker is also notable for featuring a verse (performed by Teddy Riley) written by a young Pharrell, who, along with fellow future-Neptune Chad Hugo, contributed additional production work as Teddy Riley's then-protégés.

Wreckx-n-Effect had by this point seemingly reached the peak of their career as a group. Their long-delayed third album, 1996's Rap's New Generation, was not well-received or supported by their label MCA, who had grown weary of internal differences between the Riley brothers and Davidson. Not long afterwards the group disbanded.

In 2003 Aqil Davidson launched the indie label Control Records, and continues to perform under the name EmperA.

In October 2004, "New Jack Swing" appeared in the popular video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, playing on the in-game New Jack Swing radio station, CSR 103.9.

Discography