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The Los Angeles based Boo-Yaa T.R.I.B.E. are oneof the early influential acts from the West Coast rapscene. Emerging from
the same era of West Coasthip hop greats such as Cypress Hill and Ice Cube,the Boo Yaa T.R.I.B.E. are one of the
moreunderground legendary acts, but command muchrespect from the hip hop community and hardcorehip hop fans. They are
known for incorporatingheavy metal and Funk into their hip hop.
The T.R.I.B.E. (Too Rough International Boo-YaaEmpire) originally consisted of six SamoanAmerican brothers from Los
Angeles, California,including Paul “Ganxsta Ridd” De ...read more
The Los Angeles based Boo-Yaa T.R.I.B.E. are oneof the early influential acts from the West Coast rapscene. Emerging from
the same era of West Coasthip hop greats such as Cypress Hill and Ice Cube,the Boo Yaa T.R.I.B.E. are one of the
moreunderground legendary acts, but command muchrespect from the hip hop community and hardcorehip hop fans. They are
known for incorporatingheavy metal and Funk into their hip hop.
The T.R.I.B.E. (Too Rough International Boo-YaaEmpire) originally consisted of six SamoanAmerican brothers from Los
Angeles, California,including Paul “Ganxsta Ridd” Devoux, Ted“Godfather” Devoux, Danny “O.M.B.” Devoux,Roscoe “Murder
One” Devoux, David “E.K.A.”Devoux, or Kobra, and Donald “Don L” Devoux. Aseventh brother, Vincent “Gawtti” Devoux,
wouldjoin later on.
One of the unique aspects of the group that setsthem apart from most West Coast acts and hip hopgroups is that the
brothers can all play musicalinstruments, making them an interesting live act.They often insist on playing their own
instrumentson their albums as well as on stage. Introduced tomusic via the Baptist church, Gawtti, the youngest,explained, ”
Our father was a minister of a churchand we had to learn instruments to play at hisservices. We’d go in the morning and set
up theinstruments and play a lot of funk before folk camein.”
Despite their religious background, the brothers fellinto the local west coast gang lifestyle. Theybecame members of the
Samoan Mob Piru Bloods,and eventually all of the brothers had at some pointserved prison time on drug and/or
weaponscharges. It was the death of their younger brother,Robert ‘Youngman’ Devoux, in a 1987 shooting thatbecame the
turning point in their lives. The brothersquit the gang-banging lifestyle cold turkey.Godfather explained, “The gangsta way of
life cameat a high price. At the time me and family was atwar with different enemies and he got caught up inthe cross fire……
y’know, you gotta understand, yougrow up in life with your brothers, and even thoughyou’re in a war zone you don’t think
about losingsomeone, and when it happens to you, you can dotwo things: you can get madder or you gotta runwith it.” This
changed all the brothers lives, Gawttiexplained “It made us choose whether we wantedto go war or to music. We chose the
music becausethat’s what he would have wanted.” « hide |
Similar Bands: Cypress Hill, MC Eiht, Funkdoobiest, Aggravated, Snoop Dogg Contributors: PolyrhythmStew, discovolante, Meatplow, Deviant., angrysamoan22, Deviant.,
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