Lord Finesse

Meeting up with Diamond on the way to school one day in the late 80's, Lord Finesse helped lay the foundation of what would later be known as Diggin' In the Crates. Having known of each other through reputation only, they soon established a rep as a crew not to be messed with. Lord Finesse was in it for the fame, not the fortune, so he began travelling to other high schools throughout the Bronx to battle other emcees. Undefeated, Finesse only had one draw (with a young emcee named Infinite, who would later change his name to Andre The Giant). After hooking up with DJ Mike Smooth, Finesse dropped his first album "Funky Technician" in 1990, utilizing production help from Diamond and Showbiz. He also dropped "Return Of The Funky Man (1992) and "The Awakening" (1995). Lord Finesse has also produced classics for other artists such as Biggie Smalls ("Cum On Muthafucka", "Suicidal Thoughts"), Capone-N-Noreaga ("Channel 10") and the Artifacts ("Collaboration Of Mics"). Lord Finesse was also recently immortalized as the voice on 1998's monster hit "Rockafella Skank (Funk Soul Brother)" from Fatboy Slim, and produced the track "The Message" for Dr. Dre's "2001" LP which featured Mary J. Blige and Rell. Finesse has been busy in recent years producing tracks for Akinyele's LP, "Anakonda aka Benny Ill", Rell's upcoming debut, and OC's "Bon Appetit" LP. He has made appearances on the Wildife EP ("That's Bless"), the "Next Level Records Vol. 1" LP ("Down For The Underground"), and the white-label single "Ya Better Recognize", as well as various DITC/Wildlife guest appearances.