Black Moon

Bushwick and Brownsville

Black Moon formed in Brooklyn in 1992. Kasim "5ft" Reid and Ewart "DJ Evil Dee" Dewgarde met at Bushwick High School, then met Kenyatta "Buckshot" Blake, a former backup dancer, in Brownsville. Spellings of the members' names vary between sources. Evil Dee and his brother Mr. Walt, both from Bushwick, formed the production team Da Beatminerz, which supplied the group's sound. The name is given as an acronym: Brothers Lyrically Acting Combining Kicking Music Out On Nations.

Enta da Stage

With help from DJ Chuck Chillout, Black Moon signed to the New York independent Nervous Records. Their debut album, Enta da Stage, was released October 19, 1993, on Nervous Records, with production by Da Beatminerz. It peaked at No. 33 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, and two singles reached the Billboard Hot 100: "Who Got da Props?" (No. 86) and the remix of "I Got Cha Opin" (No. 93). "How Many MC's..." and "Buck Em Down" were also released from the album.

The album introduced Smif-N-Wessun, who appear on "Black Smif-n-Wessun" and "U Da Man," and also featured Havoc of Mobb Deep. Recorded at D&D Studios in New York City in 1992 and 1993, the album had sold about 350,000 copies by 2006. AllMusic wrote that it "set the tone for much of the hip hop to follow." Buckshot's line "Straight from Crooklyn, better known as Brooklyn" is closely tied to the group.

Duck Down and Boot Camp Clik

In 1994 Buckshot and Drew "Dru Ha" Friedman founded Duck Down Management, which grew into Duck Down Records. Buckshot brought in fellow Brooklyn acts Smif-N-Wessun, Heltah Skeltah and Originoo Gunn Clappaz to form the collective Boot Camp Clik.

Later Albums

Black Moon released their second album, War Zone (1999, Duck Down/Priority), which reached No. 35 on the Billboard 200. Total Eclipse followed in 2003. They were active from 1992 to 2006 and again from 2011. Their fourth album, Rise of da Moon, came out on October 18, 2019. Enta da Stage remains the group's defining record and the starting point for the Duck Down and Boot Camp Clik camp.