A team straight out of Brooklyn, New York, FOX 5 is quite like any other rap crew that follows after the team’s leader. In the mid-90s, you had the late great Notorious B.I.G. who introduced the world to his entourage, Junior M.A.F.I.A., and in today’s music scene, you have rap stars like Ludacris who made his DTP (Disturbing tha Peace) family a team to remember, a household name. In an industry that is predominantly male dominated, a dude usually leads most rap groups. The breadwinner, the one who has already achieved tremendous success. Nowadays, things are getting different and times have changed, women in Hip-Hop are starting to break down barriers and setting trends. “Fox lead, bitches follow,†raps Foxy Brown, multi-platinum selling female rapper from Brooklyn who entered the music industry in 1995. Brown, who has 3 studio albums under her belt, 1996’s Ill Na Na, 1999’s Chyna Doll and 2001’s Broken Silence wants to welcome her posse, FOX 5 to the world. In 2002, Foxy and her younger brother, Young Gavin would produce a handful of emcees, who would come together to form a group that consisted of Curtains, Mouse Murdah, Red Handed & Gavin himself. FOX 5 Productions is the actual production team that Young Gavin runs and he’s the one behind most of his sister’s album tracks. In 2003, Young Gavin introduced his team during an episode of MTV Duets, which featured Foxy Brown. The group of young guys would then start releasing songs to mixtape circuits. Young Gavin, Mouse Murdah (a.k.a Mousey), Red Handed & Curtains all made their debut on Foxy’s unreleased Ill Na Na 2: The Fever album on a track called, “Jumpin’.†Curtains made a solo appearance on the album’s cut, “Now I lay me Down to Sleep†and both Gavin and Red Handed did the chorus on “We Makin' It.†FOX 5 released 2 other songs to mixtapes, “Why You Hatin,†which featured their team leader, Foxy and the club-banger, “Turn It Out.†The group made enough noise to land an album deal through Elektra Records but before they could put out an official first single, the label had folded in 2004 and left the team without a parent recording home and forced them to disband. Today, FOX 5 is more family-oriented and only consists of Foxy Brown, Young Gavin & Mousey. Foxy’s young protégé, Mouse Murdah (born James Thomas, 23) will be the first solo act to drop with his self-titled debut sometime in 2007.
Side note: Mousey made a cameo in Destiny’s Child’s “Bootylicious†(Rockwilder Remix) video in 2001.
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