Flatlinerz was a hip hop group from Brooklyn, New York. The group was one of the early acts involved in the horrorcore genre of Hip-Hop, along with The Gravediggaz.
The group was led by Jamal "Redrum" Simmons (nephew of Russell Simmons) and two other emcees named Gravedigger and Tempest. The strategy thought up by Def Jam and Flatlinerz was that the group was to create a style of hip hop music that moved away from the popular gangsta style at the time and deal with darker subjects such as Satanism, horror movies, and gruesome murder. The group was heavily promoted as the next big thing by Def Jam after it signed with Def Jam by Jam Master Jay (contrary to belief, Russell Simmons apparently didn't sign the group because he couldn't take the concept seriously) and released its only album, U.S.A (which stood for Under Satan's Authority) and was produced by Tempest, Rockwilder, Russell Simmons and DR Period. However, the album was not released by Jay's JMJ imprint.
The album didn't sell well, and there was a lot of controversy surrounding the videos for "Live Evil" and "Satanic Verses" (it featured things like frontman Redrum rhyming while hanging from a noose and Gravedigger rhyming from a crucifix), and the group was later dropped, since no one seemed to understand the concept of horrorcore at the time, and the group was seen by many as a facsimile of The Gravediggaz, who explored many of the same concepts, albeit in a more tongue-in-cheek (And arguably skillful) manner. The failure of the group derailed several side projects, such as a Comic book, and two of Flatlinerz's associates (namely the Headless Horsemen and Omen, who were featured on the debut album) who had been promised releases were also dropped.
Erick Sermon (born November 25, 1967, Bay Shore, New York, United States) is an American rapper, musician, and producer.
Sermon is best known as half of late-1980s–1990s hip hop group EPMD and for production work. He currently resides in Islandia, New York.
The Green-Eyed Bandit also made multiple solo recordings and albums. He began recording solo albums for Def Jam in 1993; in 1997, he rejoined EPMD. The following year, Sermon, Murray and Redman recorded a cover version of "Rapper's Delight" by the Sugarhill Gang, the first hit hip hop record. EPMD disbanded a second time in 1999.
In 2000, Sermon moved over to J Records, and released the album Music the following year. The title track (a Top 40 pop hit that also made it to #2 on the US Billboard R&B chart), featured guest vocals from Marvin Gaye, culled from unreleased recordings which Sermon reportedly found in a small record shop in London.
Sermon continued working on an album. React was released in 2002. The title track became a major hit song, though the album still had disappointing sales. In 2003, J Records dropped Sermon due to poor record sales. However, he still went on to establish his Def Squad imprint with Motown Records. At this time, he recorded an album, Chilltown, N.Y., which was released a year later in 2004. The album was powered by the single "Feel It" (which contained a sample of reggae/R&B singer Sean Paul), a song which became a success in the United States.