De Facto!!
That is the term used to describe this VA Emcee. Born in NW DC but raised in Northern VA, Crisis Black is the prototype modern Hip Hop emcee. Able to roam the complete landscape of concepts and topics without ever stepping to far outside of his character, Crisis hits the battle rap tracks just as hard as he hits the storytelling tracks.
Crisis got his start as apart of the group Endless Descendants in 1994, using the moniker Mista Digg he teamed up with Springfield rapper AC doing many underground cuts before moving on in 1995. Landing a role as the special guest on tracks with the VA duo known as Close Encounters aka Before Adam (consisting of Blitz Legacy & He Allah), Crisis would make appearances on tracks such as Constilations, We Live 4 Today, and others.
As Crisis began to gain notoriety for his punchlines and metaphores, enough so that it caught the eye of area producer The Wizard, who promptly snatched Crisis up and made him a member of the Rude Clique recording songs What Is On Your Mind (With Fellow VA Emcee Wordsmith), Life of a Soldier, and many other tracks. Rude Clique proved to be a jump off point for many of the Northern Virginia areas best emcees as its camp was made up of some of the best emcees from the area, emcees like Doc Doom, Plan B, Natty Dred, and Before Adam.
In 1998 with the disbanding of Rude Clique, Crisis found himself finally being pushed as the featured act that he saw himself as when he joined Global Currency. Global Currency (Founded by Blitz Legacy and Ade) proved to be a good fit for the hungry emcee as he florished under the guidence of Blitz and Ade competing in the local battle scene quickly making a name for himself as a vicious battle rapper and wordsmith. Spitting over the production of Tre Pound, Ade, and Blitz Legacy, Crisis quickly made strides to define himself as an emcee to be taken serious. Crisis would team with Blitz Legacy when doing shows and that also got them quick notoriety in the DC Area garnering them wall of fame status at the now defunct State Of The Union on U St as well as Erico's Lounge and the now defunct Kafa House all U st Hip Hop landmarks.
In 2000, Crisis made his way to Richmond to attend VCU and established himself as one of the premier emcee's in the local scene of the VA capital as well. Doing tracks with emcee's such as Antagonist, AJ Da Smuck, and many others as well as displaying his raw lyrical skills in ciphers with everyone from Canayda to 106 & Park champ Nick Fury, Crisis also recorded his first solo album titled "Manic Depression," during that time. Crisis returned to NoVa from his college stint with renewed focus and with a new agenda. Project Iron Triangle is what it would be called.
With the help of his long time friend Ace Luciano, Crisis laid the foundation for what would become the premier Hip Hop movement in the DC Metro Area. Iron Triangle was to be for the DC Area what Wu Tang was for Staten Island. A collection of the best emcee's and the best producers all under one flag. Hanging up his emcee cap and trading it in for his CEO hat, Crisis quickly began the painstaking tast of pulling together a group from a loose nit association and making them a power player in the local Hip Hop scene. He still drops mixtapes and singles in an effort to help push the movement which to date has affilations in Gainesville Florida, Atlanta Georgia, Brooklyn New York, as well as the DC Metro Area. Even after the breaking up of the group Iron Triangle, Crisis has not missed a step as he sets to release the solo project American Graffiti this summer.
