180-Gs

The 180-Gs began in 2001 when David Minnick and his four or five brothers got together to sing and perform in their family's two-car garage in Rochester, Michigan. Soon the whole neighborhood knew of the "Singing Minnicks" and the crazy ruckus that David, Chris and the triplets set up on those hot summer nights. It wasn't long before their pastor, Reverend Al "Sugar" Sweet heard them and decided to take the youngsters under his wing. It was in Reverend Al's venerable Airstream Trailer home that David Minnick found, under a dusty anorak, the album which was to transform the sound of the group: Negativland's "Points."
Under Reverend Al's tutelage the Minnick boys redirected their energies into the delightful and stunning arrangements found on the recordings. Christened "The 180-Gs", their performances went from basements and garages in Bloomfield Hills to crowded church halls and Elk's Lodges in the entire Detroit Metro area. Their soulful styling of such Negativland classics of "Car Bomb" and "I am God" were particularly uplifting in the tough times that followed 9/11, and their popularity came to the attention of local DJ and impresario D'Andre Xavier Jones, who produced their first singles. Jones sold these out of the trunk of his car - often moving as many as three crates in a weekend - first to folks in the neighborhood, but later to people all over who had heard bootleg cassette recordings of the Gs at block parties and dance clubs throughout the city. What started as a local phenomenon had broken out into the world, and the 180-Gs were going to ride it to the top.
"The mission of the 180-Gs is to bring music with a positive message to the youth of today. Their music is the complete opposite of the gangsta rap and techno devil music and all the stuff kids think they're supposed to like. They're 180 degrees away from that. In fact, the sound of their voices is an insult to the entire gangsta rap community. Coming up in the streets, the Gs learned the hard way that you've got to use your head to get ahead. There's just no other possibility."
- Reverend Al "Sugar" Sweet - 2006