List of Oz (TV series) characters

The characters of Oz, fictional characters on the television series about prison life, are a diverse mixture of inmates from various gangs and prison staff.

Main inmates

Key

Prison staff

The corrections officers (COs) are mostly white (predominantly Irish and Italian) with many black and some Latino officers. The warden, Leo Glynn, is African American and started off his career as a CO at Oz. Most of the COs come from lower socio-economic classes. Some are amoral and prone to corruption. The main unit manager, Tim McManus, is the only authority figure who has not started off as a guard and this therefore gives him a different point of view about how to deal with the inmates. The rest of the non-correctional staff, such as Dr. Gloria Nathan and psychiatrist Sister Peter Marie ("Sister Pete") Reimondo, have a much more humane view of prisoners, and often push Glynn and the others to see the inmates as human beings. Overall, different factions within the staff are almost always at odds, trying to manage internal problems while keeping the public calm regarding the way the prison is being managed.

Method Man

Clifford Smith (born March 2, 1971), better known by his stage name Method Man, is an American rapper, record producer, and actor. He took his stage name from the 1979 film Method Man. He is perhaps best known as a member of the East Coast hip hop collective Wu-Tang Clan. He is also one half of the hip hop duo Method Man & Redman. In 1996, he won a Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group, for "I'll Be There for You/You're All I Need to Get By", with American R&B singer-songwriter Mary J. Blige.

Method Man has appeared in films such as Belly, How High, Garden State, The Wackness, Venom, Red Tails and The Cobbler. On television, he and frequent collaborator, fellow East Coast rapper Redman, co-starred on the short-lived Fox sitcom Method & Red. He also had a recurring role as Tug Daniels on HBO's Oz and Calvin "Cheese" Wagstaff on the HBO's The Wire.

In 2012, The Source placed him on their list of the Top 50 Lyricists of All Time.

Early life

Born on March 2, 1971, in Staten Island, New York, Smith divided his childhood between his father's Long Island residence and his mother's home in the Park Hill section of Staten Island (colloquially known as Killa Hill). He has two sisters, Terri and Missy.

Supreme Allah

Supreme Allah (real name Kevin Ketchum) is a fictional character of the HBO drama Oz. He is portrayed by Lord Jamar of hip hop group Brand Nubian.

Character overview

Prisoner #00K251. Convicted March 22, 2000 - Second degree murder. Sentence: 25 years, eligible for parole in 10.

A Five Percenter, he is serving time for murdering Gray Daniels, a man who laughed at him during a dice game. He often preaches Five Percenter philosophy while simultaneously dealing drugs. It is revealed that Supreme is responsible for the incarceration of Augustus Hill, having revealed Hill's location to the police after they picked him up on an old arrest warrant. As a result, Burr Redding, Hill's adopted stepfather, hates Allah. Despite his numerous enemies, lack of real allies, and his controversial and occasionally contradictory beliefs, Supreme survives numerous murder attempts, though he is killed eventually. It is possible that Ketchum's character and religion are a reference to Kenneth "Supreme" McGriff, a Five Percenter who ran the New York City based Supreme Team drug organization. (Lord Jamar, who portrays the character, is himself a Five Percenter.)

Big Shug

Big Shug (born Cary Guy) is a hip hop artist and actor from Boston, Massachusetts, and a member of the Gang Starr Foundation collective.

Biography

Born in Boston, Massachusetts, Cary spent much of his early life in Boston's Mattapan area (known locally as "Murdapan"). Growing up, he forged a friendship with future Gang Starr MC, Guru. The two were separated when Shug was imprisoned and Guru moved to New York, forming Gang Starr with DJ Premier.

On his release, Shug again hooked up with Guru, joined the Gang Starr Foundation, and contributed to each of Gang Starr's albums, beginning with Hard to Earn in 1994 (on "F.A.L.A."). He also appeared on DJ Krush's "Meiso" in 1995 as well as "The Militia" from 1998's Moment of Truth, and contributed to Guru's "Jazzmatazz" albums.

During the 1990s, Shug recorded a few 12-inch singles produced by DJ Premier for Payday and Chrysalis, but his first proper solo album, Who's Hard was not released until 2005 and half of the songs were handled by DJ Premier.

DJ Premier

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Christopher Edward Martin (born March 21, 1966), better known by his stage name DJ Premier (also known as Preem, Premo, or Primo), is an American Record Producer and DJ, and was half of the hip hop duo Gang Starr—alongside the emcee Guru—and forms half of the hip hop duo PRhyme, together with Royce Da 5'9".

For its 20th-anniversary issue in 2008, The Source selected DJ Premier for its list of the 20 greatest producers in the magazine's 20-year history. He also made the finals in Vibe magazine's 2010 search for the greatest hip hop producer of all time—he finished second after Dr. Dre received 62 percent of the votes.

DJ Premier hosts a weekly two-hour show, Live From HeadQCourterz, on Sirius Satellite Radio's Hip-Hop Nation every Friday.

On July 9, 2015, DJ Premier was chosen as one of three producers to curate the soundtrack to the forthcoming NBA 2K16, alongside DJ Khaled and DJ Mustard.