MC Ren
MC Ren is the stage name of Lorenzo Jerald Patterson (born June 14, 1969 in Compton, California) a rapper and hip hop producer.
Biography
Born and raised in Compton, California, MC Ren joined up with the groundbreaking gangsta rap group N.W.A. as he finished his senior year at Dominguez High School in Compton. He contributed hard-hitting vocals on the Straight Outta Compton (1988) album and soon found himself a much more valuable member of the group after Ice Cube departed in 1989.
N.W.A. became the first hardcore rap group to gain mainstream success. However, as their album Efil4zaggin, backwards for Niggaz 4 life, reached the #1 spot on Billboard in 1991, financial conflict between Dr. Dre and Ruthless Records led to the group disbanding. Dr. Dre left to help form Death Row Records. MC Ren subsequently released his debut album with the help of Eazy-E in 1992, entitled Kizz My Black Azz. Surprisingly enough, with little commercial promotion, the album went platinum, best known for it's hit single "Final Frontier". MC Ren's next album, Life Sentence, was scrapped while converting to the Nation of Islam with guidance from his DJ, DJ Train. Shock of the Hour (1993) was released the next year containing a few singles, none left any lasting impression, album was rumoured to have gone gold and it also features the single "Mayday on the Frontline" which appeared on the film CB4.
MC Ren soon found hard times when DJ Train died in a house fire before the release of the ill-fated The Villain in Black (1996), that album also did sell respectively well for a brief period. Before leaving Ruthless Records, Ren released Ruthless For Life (1998) which proved a worthy comeback, that also sold briefly. He appeared on the posse cut "Some L.A. Niggaz" from Dre's 2001, but only spoke the intro and did not actually rap on the track.
As of 2002, Ren was working on another album. His lyrical abilities have been displayed with many guest appearances with artists from Ice Cube, Kurupt, Snoop Dogg, Paris, The D.O.C., Cypress Hill and many others.He has also been talked about by artists like Nas in his song Hip Hop Is Dead i.e "So who is in your top ten? is it MC Shan, is it MC Ren?"
In addition, MC Ren released the straight to DVD movie entitiled 'Lost in The Game', released in 2004.
MC Ren's unique flow is perhaps best known for his odd choice of rhyme combinations, such as his frequent pairing of 'hostage' with 'ostrich'.
His most recent work has appeared on some more politically-oriented projects such as with Public Enemy, specifically Paris' album Hard Truth Soldiers V.1 as well as on Public Enemy's album Rebirth of a Nation (2006). Paris did state however in a recent interview with Rapstation.com that "MC Ren is retired and won't be doing a full-length album as far as I know. I get at him for verses, that's about it".
New information has come to light from dubcnn.com on November 1, 2006 that MC Ren will be recording again with RBX and Big Rocc to form the group 'Concrete Criminals'. Word is that they are already deep into recording new material for the group.
Word is also MC Ren may be helping out with Dr. Dre and appearing on his final album Detox, which is due to be released September 2007.
MC Ren appeared on the VH1 Hip Hop honors talking about Eazy-E in the tribute to Eazy-E.
Solo discography
- 1992 Kizz My Black Azz (Ruthless) Last RIAA certification: Platinum
- 1993 Shock of the hour (Ruthless) Last RIAA certification: Gold
- 1996 The Villain in Black (Ruthless) Last RIAA certification:
- 1998 Ruthless for Life (Ruthless) Last RIAA certification:
With N.W.A
| Album cover | Album information |
|---|---|
Straight Outta Compton
| |
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100 Miles and Runnin'
|
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Niggaz4life
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Greatest Hits
| |
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The N.W.A. Legacy, Vol. 1: 1988-1999
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The N.W.A. Legacy, Vol. 2
|
Appears on
- 1988 "Ruthless Villain" (from the Eazy-E album Eazy Duz It)
- 1988 "2 Hard Muthas" (from the Eazy-E album Eazy Duz It)
- 1988 "We Want Eazy" (from the Eazy-E album Eazy Duz It)
- 1989 "Comm. 2" (from The D.O.C. album No One Can Do It Better)
- 1989 "The Grand Finale" (from The D.O.C. album No One Can Do It Better)
- 1990 "We're All In The Same Gang" (from The West Coast Rap Allstars single)
- 1990 "Ren's Rhythm" (from the Capital Punishment Organization album To Hell and Black)
- 1990 "The Last Song" (from the Above The Law (band) album Livin' Like Hustlers)
- 1992 "Process Of Elimination (Untouchakickamurdaqtion)" (from the Above The Law (band) album Black Mafia Life)
- 1995 "Down Fa Mine" (from the Kam album Made In America)
- 1995 "Tha Muthaphukkin Real" (from the Eazy-E album Str8 off tha Streetz of Muthaphukkin Compton)
- 1996 "Killaz in the Park" (from the Above The Law (band) album Time Will Reveal)
- 1998 "24 Hours To Live (Remix)" (from the album Ruthless Records Presents: Decade of Game)
- 1998 "Stallion" (from the Yukmouth album Thugged Out: The Albulation)
- 2000 "Set It Off" (from the Snoop Dogg album The Last Meal)
- 2000 "Chin Check" (on the N.W.A. track from the Next Friday soundtrack)
- 2000 "Hello" (from the Ice Cube album War & Peace - Volume 2 (The Peace Disc))
- 2001 "The Hardest..." (from the Kurupt album Space Boogie: Smoke Oddessey)
- 2001 "Southland Killers" (from the Cypress Hill album Stoned Raiders)
- 2001 "Legend Of Jimmy Bones" (from the Bones soundtrack)
- 2001 "Bangin" (from the Ms. Toi album That Girl)
- 2002 "2 G's from Compton" (from the King Tee album Thy Kingdom Come)
- 2002 "Wanna Ride" (from the Wc album The Streets)
- 2003 "Tha ?hit" (from The D.O.C. album Deuce (album))
- 2006 "Still Ain't Free (from the Paris (rapper) album Paris Presents: Hard Truth Soldiers Vol. 1)
- 2006 "Raw Sh*t" (from the Public Enemy album Rebirth of a Nation)
- 2006 "Hard Truth Soldiers" (from the Public Enemy album Rebirth of a Nation)