Cosmic Slop Shop

After controversies over their label head and the horrific actions of group member Big Lurch, Cosmic Slop Shop's brief musical career will probably be better-remembered for the strange situations that resulted from it. Composed of rappers Doonie Baby, Lurch, and producer Rick Rock, the group came together in the San Francisco Bay Area's Slop Shop Studios, the inspiration for their name along with the Funkadelic single "Cosmic Slop." Rock had worked on a number of indie releases, as well as a disc from Compton's Most Wanted, but found Lurch and Doonie took to his beats easier than most rappers he worked with. Meanwhile, James Mtume was looking at acts for his record label, and was turned onto the group by a rep for MCA Records. This was a curious situation, since his reputation in hip-hop circles was blemished, stemming from a feud with Stetsasonic over his outspoken condemnation of sampling. In 1997, the signing of Cosmic Slop Shop was met with raised eyebrows from his critics, who thought he was just smoothing over his perception in the hip-hop community. Still, the group released Da Family on Mtume's label in the summer of 1998. Despite the group's attempts to promote the "Sinful" single throughout the fall, it went nowhere on the charts. By 1999 they decided to go their separate ways instead of recording a second disc, leaving Rock to become a successful producer for Xibit and Busta Rhymes, among others. Doonie Baby became a freelance rapper in the California area, while Big Lurch became one of rap's most gruesome figures only three years later. In the summer of 2002, he was found by a friend roaming the streets of Los Angeles, naked and bloody. When investigated, police discovered that he had murdered and partially ate his girlfriend after smoking PCP, and he was...