House of Krazees

House of Krazees

The House of Krazees was a group of rappers from Detroit, Michigan from 1993 to 1997. With 8 albums (including solo albums) and a compilation.

History

1993: The creation of the group

• Formed in 1993 by members "Big J", "E.X.P., and "The R.O.C." (standing for Raps On Contact), the House of Krazees originally began as a two-man project. When The R.O.C. (a childhood friend of the two rappers), was approached by Big J and E.X.P. to produce their music and be featured as a guest spot rapper, and "The R.O.C." accepted. The R.O.C. was already in a rap group named "Strength Productions", consisting of himself and the members "J HO", and The R.O.C.'s cousin "Big Father Hightop". They had released an LP in 1992 entitled Rollin With Strength (which had guest features Big J and E.X.P. on it). After Strength Productions finished with the album "Rollin With Strength" J Ho left the group to go team up with "J MO" and created the rap group "Krazy Klan" (where The R.O.C. would do production for their album DevelopMENTAL). In early 1993, The R.O.C. was approached by "Big J" and "E.X.P." to produce their tracks, and be featured as a guest artist on their not yet named album, "The R.O.C." accepted. After they were done, they realized that they had an entire album together after he ended up doing multiple guest appearances instead of one, he was on every song. The R.O.C. was then asked to join the group, which he accepted, abandoning Strength Productions. As the group had no name, they had decided to take it form a old movie called House of Crazies, modified, the "House of Krazees" was created.

• The House of Krazees had all of their music recorded at "Red House Studios". With limited funding, their Extended Play they had recorded (not yet named), had poor quality due to them having no investor at the time. As October was coming up, they thought it would be the perfect time to release their EP, but they needed a label to release it on. As they found Scott Chapman (who had also helped The R.O.C. produce the album), he had decided to help create the label "Retro Horror Muzik". As again poor funding would be another obstacle, making them limited to how many copies they could print, the group (along with Scott Chapman) came across Walter Stephanenko who told them he knew much about the music industry, he ended up paying for them to reproduce a few tapes, but then stopped funding for unknown reasons shortly after. Again looking for another financier, they came across Asylum Records who helped them and decided to print 500 copies of this Extended Play record, (Asylum Records only printed 500 copies, because the EP was low quality and not expected to sell any copies). Having someone to put their record in print, the House Of Krazees released their first album on October 1, 1993, Home Sweet Home. They did not sell all 500 copies, as they only sold a portion of that amount. Being upset about this, Asylum Records decided not to put any more of their albums in print. Although this was a downfall, "Big J" claimed "we sold enough to keep up our spirits and have hope".

• With the House Of Krazees having an album finally out and for sale, they had songs to perform live. As they were trying to find somewhere to open a show, Detroit rap legend and House Of Krazees inspiration "Esham" was starting his tour for his new album, titled KKKill The Fetus as the tour was entitled "KKKill The Fetus Tour". With the House Of Krazees seeing an opportunity to get publicity, they approached Esham and asked him if they could open for him on his tour, and Esham accepted. In October 31, 1993 the House Of Krazees got their first live show opening for Esham on the "KKKill The Fetus Tour". After the show, the House Of Krazees were told that the feedback was great, and the crowd loved them, they had also managed to sell another small portion of their EP Home Sweet Home. Doing nothing but promoting their album all throughout the rest of 1993, they were gaining a fan base. They were not one of the most popular rap groups in Detroit right then, but they did have a small fan base and were starting to become somewhat popular.

1994: House Of Krazees Gains Popularity

• Due to the House Of Krazees not being able to sell all 500 copies of Home Sweet Home, Asylum Records refused to keep publishing their music. Big J and E.X.P. decided to change their name to Mr. Bones and Hektic. Since they had already promoted "Home Sweet Home" to its fullest and as best they could (receiving a small fan base in exchange), they had decided to record a new album. 1993, was already over, so in the beginning of 1994 they would start on their new album "Return Of The Mad Men". As they were recording, they were on the search for another record label that would publish and produce their next album. As explained by Mr. Bones, "they had searched through many labels to put out this next album. Finally not to long before they finished the record, they found the label "Mazz Musik" who had agreed to produce, publish, and finance the album for them. At the time when they were finished recording "Return Of The Mad Men", Mazz Muzik backed down from the deal before it could be released. Seeing this as another downfall, "Return Of The Mad Men" was delayed. Scott Chapman, who helped The R.O.C. produce Home Sweet Home and this album, stepped up and agreed to help finance the album. But, due to limited finances, only 200 copies of the album were produced. Before the release, the group decided to change the records name to "Homebound". So on June, 1994, the Houe Of Krazees second album "Homebound" was released as another Extended Play.

• In order to promote the album, the House Of Krazees saw a need to do shows live, as they only opened up for Esham before. So the House Of Krazees would have clubs and bars agree to let them do shows, and to promote these shows the House Of Krazees would use fliers. This getting a few but not many copies sold, the House Of Krazees needed another way to promote. As the Detriot rapper Esham would release his new album Closed Casket and was going to tour to promote it, the House Of Krazees jumped on this as another chance to promote "Homebound" and asked if they could open for him on some of his shows, as "Esham" agreed. After this was finished, the House Of Krazees managed to sell many more copies of "Homebound" and gained a even larger fan base (though it was not known if they sold all the copies of Homebound, it is said today that many of them were sold for cheap and profits were made). As they were done doing shows with Esham, they decided to work on another album which would be a double album, with a solo track from each member. As they started to work on this album, for unknown reasons Scott Chapman was fired and The R.O.C. became the main producer, and the money used to fund their next album was from what they made off of the shows they did with Esham, and the money from the sold Homebound tapes.

• As the group was working on their next album which they decided would be released on October 31, 1994 (The R.O.C.'s birthday) they decided to name it "Season Of The Pumpkin". Mr. Bones wanted to do a solo project, so he got three friends together and created the "Sons Of Midnight" which consisted of Looney Toon, Dark Angel, and DeathLock. It wouldn't take much time at all to finish their first record, which only contained five tracks, with three songs, they would name this album "The Demon Inside", and release it on Mr. Bones own label "Skeleton Records" where Mr. Bones himself would do the album artwork, and the EP would have full production by The R.O.C.. This compilation album was very limited to how many copies it would produce due to poor funding, and not many were even sold, even after Mr. Bones and the Sons Of Midnight did some shows to promote it. With Mr. Bones seeing no success in his project, he decided not to continue it. As October 31 was nearing, they decided that they didn't have enough songs to release a double album, so they would only release it as a full LP. On October 31, 1994, the House Of Krazees released their third studio record, and first full length album, Season Of The Pumpkin with a solo track from each member, full production by The R.O.C. and nineteen tracks, and a CD and Cassette version, on "Retro Horror Muzik".

• In order to promote this, the House Of Krazees went and did more small time shows, selling some copies. As the House Of Krazees went on to promote their album for the rest of 1994, they went to be featured on "2 Krazy Devils" album "Flipped Insanity" with the entire House Of Krazess on the track "Back 2 Out Gravez" and The R.O.C. on "Lettin Ya Know". The R.O.C. had also produced some of their tracks for them. As Season Of The Pumpkin was being promoted and gaining the House Of Krazees recognition and expanding their fan base they saw that they were becoming widely known in Detriot, but if they were to get as popular as "Esham", "Insane Clown Posse" or some of the other big acts coming up in "Detriot", they would need a manager that would finance all their actions. The House Of Krazees had a fan base, but it was nothing huge, nothing outside of "Michigan".

1995: Latnem Intertainment

As House Of Krazees went on looking for a manager to properly finance their first LP, they had gone through a lot of people, but found none who were willing to put in enough money to produce as many copies as they wanted and get proper promotion. To make further copies and give the album more publicity, all three members engaged in minimum-wage employment or other hustles to finance HOK properly. In early 1995, they came across a financier—Walter Stepananko—who was willing to fully finance them, but only if they signed to his label he created for them, Latnem Intertainment, which would mean them signing over the rights to the House of Krazees name and their music. They accepted the deal. (Stepananko would later turn his back on them when he was supposed to finance Home Sweet Home.) Instead of moving on to work on another album, Walter and the group decided to re-release Season of the Pumpkin with 3 more tracks. With better funding, Season of the Pumpkin sold a lot of CDs and cassettes all throughout Michigan, mainly Detroit, making them one of Detroit's most popular upcoming groups, behind Insane Clown Posse, Kid Rock, and acid-rap legend Esham. Though they didn't tour with anyone this time, they still did more small-time shows, only this time those small shows were full of people who came specifically to see them. Members of House Of Krazees have publicly stated that they were not paid for this album, although they did get full financing from Stepananko.

As the trio hit the studio for their next release, Mr. Bones was twice as busy because he was working on his first full solo LP. As the House Of Krazees decided that they were going to record an EP again instead of a full LP, they also took a different turn in styles in this record. Instead of using a more dark horror theme with rock samples, it seemed like a pure "hip-hop" album. They took the song that they did with 2 Krazy Devils in 1994, "Lettin Ya Know" and put it on this EP without 2 Krazie Devils, and also remastered it. Outbreed was an album described as "more about thereselves [sic] and what they wanted to do". It also contained a lot of disses to all the other small-time local acts that were "dissing" them at the time. At the same time, Mr. Bones had finished up his first solo LP, which he decided to name Sacrifice. Since Stepananko would own the rights if the LP were released on Latnem, Mr. Bones decided to release it on his own made-up label called Brain Dead Records. Sacrifice featured 12 tracks, with Hektic and The R.O.C. on the last song, "Insomnia," and full production by The R.O.C. He created the artwork, managed to produce 500 copies, and did all but a small amount of the promotion of this record.

Afterward, the group finally released the EP they had been working on in May 1995 with full production from The R.O.C. and named it Outbreed, with 8 tracks, and again only on cassette. In order to promote this album, the House Of Krazees headlined a small tour throughout Michigan. This was the first time that they had headlined their very own tour. They had a local upcoming act open up for them, going by the name Eminem, who used the tour to promote his new full-length LP, Infinite. Hektic had met him at a Kinko's printing up flyers for the Outbreed tour, and listened to a sample of his music then asked him to join the tour. As the House Of Krazees sold most of their tapes on this tour, they received complaints from their pre-existing fanbase about Outbreed because of its more hip-hop turn and its lack of dark horror themes unlike their previous albums. It was a complete change in direction not only in the beats, but in the theme. Since they decided to do this, Outbreed did not do as well as other previous albums. Regardless, House Of Krazees said nothing about it and continued to promote it, and it still sold most of the copies and extended their fanbase. Many liked this new turn they were taking, and many hated it. Again, the House Of Krazees were barely paid anything by Stepananko. After they had done all this, they continued to promote the album throughout the rest of 1995. This was one of their unsuccessful CDs, but it still sold some copies and made a profit from the tour. In late 1995, they decided to move on and work on their next release. This time, it would be The R.O.C. with the most busy schedule because he was starting to work on his own full-length album.

1996: The Start Of National Exposure

• As the House Of Krazees was very busy in all working hard on their next full length LP, all of The R.O.C.'s extra time would go to his first solo LP, in which he decided to name X-Posed. Spending significant time on both these trying to get both of them released, he got a group of other underground Detroit acts to fill guest spots he wanted on his LP. He wanted to get it out sometime before House Of Krazees next album so that it wouldn't stand in the way of his LP making it lack sells. After having financing it himself with all his extra money, he would finally release it in early 1996, on Latnem Intertainment with 14 tracks, the House Of Krazees on the song Intro To My Click, Mr. Bones on the song Outrage and other Detroit acts he gathered up on other songs, including his cousin. Although it did not press more copies than a House Of Krazees tape, it did get somewhat good promotion, with him managing to sell a decent amount of copies in Detroit only. With Spring time coming up, the House Of Krazees was nearly finished, with no guest spots on the album (like all their others). They had stuck with the hip-hop type turn they did with Outbreed although they had a few dark themed songs on it, so it was sort of a mixture of styles, they decided to name it Head Trauma. The awaited album was released Spring of 1996, on cassette (to save money) with a major hit upon both old and new House Of Krazees fans Nosferatu. The House Of Krazees would continue to do non-stop promotion of Head Trauma, leaving a mark all of Michigan, every fan of the underground in the state knew who they were.

• After excessive promoting of Head Trauma, in October The R.O.C. asked major success rap group Insane Clown Posse if they could join their up coming annual Hallowicked show, and Insane Clown Posse accepted. Finishing the show, House Of Krazees sold many copies of Head Trauma, and got an even bigger growing fanbase this time it was starting to grow to border states. Not much later afterwards, ICP (Insane Clown Posse) invited House Of Krazees to join the Milenko: All Up In Yo Face Tour, as House Of Krazees accepted. They would open from the tour headliners, Insane Clown Posse along with Myzery, ICPS labelmate. Since Insane Clown Posse was having a lot of trouble with Hollywood Records, the tour was delayed for several months. After Insane Clown Posse signed to Island Records (which was currently in a deal with Deff Jam). The tour then continued on like it was supposed to, and with House Of Krazees doing so much with ICP, rumor had it they were going to try to sign to Psychopathic Records. Soon after this rumor started, for unknown reasons House Of Krazees was pulled off the tour by Walter in early 1997 being unable to finish the second leg of the tour. This, upsetting the three very much, because they had been exposed to many states (about half the United States, and should they had finished the tour, they would have been exposed nationally.)

1997: The Departure Of Two Members Of The House Of Krazees

• As Insane Clown Posses tour continued on, House Of Krazees returned to Detriot (unpaid) almost becoming known throughout the nation, though they did sell many copies of Head Trauma on the tour. As they came back to Detriot to record their next album in which they named Evolution, where they hyped the name before they even started on it in interviews. In February, they released Collectors Edition '97 (a.k.a. Remix & Rewind) which was a compilation tape put together from their proclaimed "Best Songs" from all their past releases, with three different versions. A little bit later, they were asked to do a song for a upcoming compilation put together of random local Detriot underground acts, called Mob Mentallity which House Of Krazees accepted. They did the song Ghost. Afterwards, they changed the name of their album Evolution to Shit To Make Ya Ears Bleed and finished three songs for it, Murder, Murder, Murder, Ghost, and Scare. Later on, the owner of Latnem Intertainment would release the album "Evolution" as a best-of, HOK album, featuring both of the unreleased "Murder Murder Murder" and "Ghost" tracks. Very few copies of the album circulated.

• Mr. Bones was starting to work on a second solo record which was going to be a EP, entitled Something Weird, in which was to be released late 1997, several songs were already finished, with full production by The R.O.C.. After Hektic and Mr. Bones stated that they were rarely getting paid for what they did, if not at all, they decided to leave Latnem Intertainment. They invited The R.O.C. to leave with them, but he refused, as he didn't want to leave behind what he helped build for so long.

• As the original House Of Krazees parted ways, Mr. Bones would go on to become Jamie Madrox and Hektic Monoxide Child, and recruit Psycho C (changing his name to Blaze Ya Dead Homie) to be in a group with them called I.S.I. standing for Infamous Superstars Incorporated which seemed to take a completely different direction from the dark themed House Of Krazees. They would record a few songs, and then later show the demo tape to Psychopathic Records Joseph Bruce and Alex Abbiss where they would later sign (only) Jamie Madrox and Monoxide Child to Psychopathic Records as Twiztid. Twiztid would go on to release Mostasteless where they would go and ask The R.O.C. if they could use Murder, Murder, Murder for a song on their album, and The R.O.C. accepted only at the conditions that they give him props in the booklet. As they did, they cut his verse out, gave him props in the booklet like he requested and dissed him in other songs.

• The R.O.C. would go on to create the group The Howse. He recruited a group of local Detriot acts, The Beast, Armageddon (A.K.A. "Mr. Vitology"), and Miz Korona All of those members, including him put out the cd Esphormatem with two different versions. Afterwards, the group disbanded for unknown reasons and The R.O.C. was left once agian solo.

There is rumor of past mixtapes and a unreleased secret album by the group as well. The group was only officially "R.O.C.", "Armageddon" (A.K.A "Mr. Vitology"), and "The Beast". Miz Korona was never a official member of this group, she only did work with them although on the album she is portrayed as "Black Widow", a second alias for herself within the group.

There was many rumors surfacing of "The Howse" group reliving within the musical world when rapper Khaoz (Of the Greensburg/Pittsburgh areas of Southwest Pennsylvania) announced he will make contact with Walter Stepananko through The R.O.C.'s Detroit area brother's (Mr. Y.U.G.) manager Ed Smash of Welfare Entertainment, to obtain rights and re-release the original The Howse albums and mixtapes and carry the group onto further projects. To replace the four pre-existing members of the group, artists of Bad Mental Health Entertainment (www.myspace.com/17jokers (Khaoz page) and www.myspace.com/thepurgatorrealm (Khaoz music page and temporary music page) and Infektion Rekordz would take place. From Khaoz, Apakalypze (Co-Owner of Bad Mental Health Entertainment), BadNewz, and a fourth member is yet unknown. Bad Mental Health as of now has artists signed from Khaoz, BadNewz, Apakalypze, Krazy Kidd, and Mizchiev, and the sub-label Infektion Rekordz (Owned by Khaoz) consists of groups and future groups, Natural Born Killaz (N.B.K.), The Chaos Legion. All rights reserved and distributed through www.longrangedistrabution.com for more information contact Khaoz at myspace pages.

Khaoz attempt to obtain rights is brave but the chances are limited. His initial plan is to obtain rights and re-release Esohpromatem and redo it and sell it as a double disk feature set with original and new artwork and distribut it under his sub-label which consists of only groups and carry on any further group projects of The Howse afterwards.

1998: Dispute, and The Night They Kame Home

• The R.O.C., who took the name Sol, briefly reformed House Of Krazees other member of 2 Krazy Devils, Krazy under the name of Skrapz. They began working on a new album that was originally set to be called Season Of The Pumpkin 2, but they decided there was no way it could be released by October 31 that year, so they renamed it The Night They Kame Home and released it on CD only. It was a solid sounding offering from the newly reformed HOK, bringing back the theme they did of the original Season Of The Pumpkin and before, but even with the return of the older sound most fans were attracted to, it was ultimately rejected by a big number of fans who took issue with a House of Krazees album, minus Hektic and Mr. Bones. The disc featured the missing R.O.C. verse from House Of Krazees "Murder, Murder, Murder" as a secret track at the end. Coincidentally, during the making of the outro, dialogue was set in such a way that the statement "Kill Twiztid" can be heard. Taken by fans as a diss in retaliation of the things Twiztid said in their music, The R.O.C. stated that the statement happened to be a random pairing of words, as opposed to a challenge to his former group mates, and was never intended to be a diss to Twiztid.

• In 1999, the House Of Krazees would disband, due to The R.O.C. and Skrapz leaving for the same reason Twiztid did. They would go on to form HaLFBrEEd and start their own label, Virus Independent.

The Majik Recordz Situation

The New Millennium, Return Of HOK?

• A few years after House Of Krazees had been destroyed by itself, Twiztid sought to remind fans of their past, as they subtly did on "Cryptic Collection" releases in the past. After achieving success as Twiztid, they started the now-defunct Majik Records, with Psychopathic Records associate Tom Dub, on which they planned to re-release House Of Krazees back catalogue. After rumors of a "go-ahead" release of the albums, with all of The R.O.C.'s verses removed, Twiztid settled a lawsuit they were embroiled in with former manager Walter Stepanenko, allowing them to release the HOK albums on Majik Records, The R.O.C.'s verses intact.

• Home Sweet Home was remastered and released for the first time ever on CD, in 2003, on Majik Records, for sale in a set with matching T-Shirt and sticker on Twiztid's short lived webstore, Twiztidshop.com. Soon after, Homebound was re-released and packaged with a shirt and sticker, as Home Sweet Home had been, only without a Majik Records logo, since the label met with demise in 2004 when Tom Dub and Twiztid ended their partnership and all parties involved in the Majik Records venture refused to sell their portion of ownership. In 2004, Season Of The Pumpkin was remastered and given away to all in attendance of Twiztid's Second Annual Fright Fest, sans a record label. House Of Krazees, the original lineup, consisting of Mr. Bones, Hektic, and The R.O.C., would reunite one last time on stage as HOK at Fright Fest 2004, for its official farewell performance. Since then, the remaining HOK albums, Outbreed, Head Trauma, and Remix and Rewind, have yet to be re-released, and with the demise of Majik Records, there is a real doubt that they ever will, but only time will tell what the future holds.

The Reunion?

Samhein Witch Killaz: Bloodletting

• On their website, Twiztid remade the HOK song "Nosferatu", featuring two new verses where The R.O.C.'s had originally been, under the alias "Samhein Witch Killaz". Rumors began to swirl about a possible "HOK reunion" under the new name. Originally supposed to be a project consisting of only Twiztid, going under their HOK names, and only to be released on Halloween every year, SWK's lineup was greatly speculated upon, placing many names in the lineup while the first "official" lineup was said to contain Twiztid, The R.O.C., and estranged ICP producer Mike E. Clark. After relentless touring and recording schedules, and contractual obligations of members involved, the as-of-yet untitled SWK album had been pushed back a number of times, until the lineup was said to have Blaze Ya Dead Homie in place of Mike E. Clark.

• With the lineup solidified, Twiztid proceeded to place an advertisement for a Samhein Witch Killaz album entitled Bloodletting, set for release on Halloween of 2006, in their album booklet for "Mutant (vol.2)". Said date came and went without so much as a word spoken about the mysterious and highly anticipated group. That year, Twiztid released "Cryptic Collection: Halloween Edition", featuring past Twiztid Halloween songs, as well as two brand new Samhein Witch Killaz songs, presumably pulled from the absent Bloodletting album. Those songs, "Spiderthing" and "Nightmares", were also available for download on the internet for Halloween that year and confirmed the group's lineup of Twiztid, Blaze Ya Dead Homie, and The R.O.C. There was also a message on the website stating that the SWK songs were to "hold us over" until the album dropped in 2007, even though the album still hasn't dropped as of December 2009.

• The last appearance made by Samhein Witch Killaz was on Blaze Ya Dead Homie's album, Clockwork Gray, in 2007. The song is called "Inside Looking Out", and is specifically labeled as a "SWK" song in the credits within the CD booklet.

• On an episode of Psychopathic Records Weekly Freekly Weekly, it had stated that The R.O.C. would be performing his last show at the Gathering of the Juggalos 2008, and would no longer be performing anymore. After this, he was taken off of Hatchet House, showing signs for more delay of Zodiac Mprint and Samhein Witch Killaz

• In a video on his Myspace page in September of 2009 The R.O.C. announced that he is done rapping until further notice, dismissing any current and future projects.

Discography

Discography

Title	Release Date	Record Label
"Home Sweet Home"	October 1, 1993	Retro Horror Muzik
"Home Bound"	June, 1994	Retro Horror Muzik
"Season of the Pumpkin"	October 31, 1994 (on Retro Horror Muzik), 1995 (On Latnem Intertainment)	Retro Horror Muzik (re-released) Latnem Intertainment
"Outbreed"	May, 1995	Latnem Intertainment
"Head Trauma"	February, 1996	Latnem Intertainment
"Collectors Edition '97"	March, 1997	Latnem Intertainment
"The Night They Kame Home"	February, 1998	Latnem Intertainment

Mr. Bones

• The Demon Inside (1994, Brain Dead Records)
• Sacrifice (1995, Skeleton Records)
• Something Weird (unreleased, recorded in 1996) *tracks include "I Could", "Bad Dream", "Blam!!!", and "Something Weird" from Twiztid's Cryptic Collection 1, "Unrational" from Cryptic Collection 2, and "Old School Pervert" from Psychopathics From Outer Space

The R.O.C.

• X-Posed (1995, Latnem Records)
• The Howse Esohpromatem (1998)
• Sol 46 Wormholes (2001, Virus Independent)
• Bits & Pieces Vol. 1 (2004, The R.O.C.)
• I'm Here EP (2005, Heavy Core Musik)
• Oh Hell nO! (2006, Heavy Core Musik)
• Welcome To The Dark Side (2008, Hatchet House)
• Digital Voodoo (TBA)

Samhein Witch Killaz

• "Nosferatu" (2002, Internet Single)
• "In the Dark" (album: "Fright Fest EP 2005", 2005)
• "Spiderthing" and "Nightmares" (album: "Cryptic Collection: Halloween Edition", 2006, Psychopathic Records)
• "Inside Looking Out" (album: "Clockwork Gray", 2007, Psychopathic Records)
• "Bloodletting" (In Limbo)