Diggin in da (indie)cratez: Nine

NINE, who’s civil name is D. Keyes, started his career in the late 80s. That time this NY-emcee was joined together with well-known DJ Funkmaster Flex in a group called “The Masters of Funk” (released among others tracks as “go bang”, “six million ways to die”). This is the time when he still called himself “Nine Double M”, what he later on shortened to “9 Double M” and finally to simply “Nine”. The reason for this name is obvious as he was born on 9.9.1969, his shoe size is 9 and guess his lucky number?.... I think you get it!
Now, NINE, as he’s known nowadays, dropped his 1st record under this name in 1993/94 with his smashin’ single “whutcha want” and then had many other single and album releases within the next decade (see more here).

Alright, that’s the basics of this man so let’s get to some of his more exclusive work. We’ll only present here the releases that are rather hard to find n not that well known.
The 1st piece is a record that was not on any label and dropped in 1996. it brings the 2 awesome tracks “when the shit hits the fan” and “ghetto near you”. Raw, dark and slow beatz with Nine’s typically ruff voice over them, that’s how I’m luvin’ it!

Nine_when the shit hits the fan-12"

Next jewel is again such a “no-label-production” and to my knowledge it was also dropped in the same period (1996/97). On this wax you gonna find the two songs “the veteran” (solid mix but lil’ bit to “soft” for a rapper like NINE) and my winner on this “rah digga”.

Nine_the veteran-12"

And to the last one: on this track you find a collaboration between NINE and the crew DEMASTAS (name variation: Demasters). This 1-track-single features the following “feel no guilt” track. Note: there are at least two version of this wax out there. The one you see here “Nine ft. Demasters” on this red-stickered non-label wax and the version “Demastas ft. Nine” on London Records (see here).