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T
he Empire is an underground American Hip-Hop group based out of
Fayetteville,
NC. The group is currently composed of Mista J, 5th Letter, Speak no Evil, & Prince
Imperial. They had 2 other members that left the group in 2000. The group is also the
cornerstone to the rap collective The Roundtable. They have released 2 albums
independently 2004.s NCC Records Presents.The Empire, and 2007.s The Dark Ages.
The Empire originated out of the break-up of one of Fayetteville.s earlier rap collectives Omega Clan. This included Mista J, Kid Kaos, 5th Letter and Prince Imperial. They had been performing locally and making demos. After Omega Clan imploded due to power clashes, egos and, and its unmanageable size (It swelled to about 32 members). The four previously mentioned went on as Omega Clan for a short while before basically stopping in 1996. At this time Mista J went off to college in Rhode Island and started focusing more show promotion. 5th Letter went on to work w/ former Omega Clan members 190 Proof and 24k also with members of what would become Ground Zero. Meanwhile Prince Imperial and Kid Kaos worked with a few other emcees in the group StormTroopaz. In the summer of 1998 Mista J returned and began working on a solo album with 190 Proof and a return of Omega Clan. At this time Omega Clan did get back together with the final four and adding former DeathAngel Bodybag to form the original line-up of The Empire. The quintet of emcees started out performing and recording under the banner even appearing in the Fayetteville Observer for there show at the Prince Charles in downtown Fayetteville. In about 2000 the group again succumbed to differences in direction of the group and The Empire disbanded for a short while with Kid Kaos and Bodybag going there separate ways. The 3 remaining members continued to make music together only sporadically and not under The Empire banner officially. At this time is when Mista J again starting to work on his solo album and hopefully a first group album ran into Rik Marvel former member of Hip-Hop group Characta Assasinz. During this period the 3 were contemplating a group album apposed to a demo but all plans were dashed due to 5th Letter going into the military.
==NCC Records Era== 5th Letter spoke of another talented producer/emcee that he had come in contact with Speak no Evil from Aberdeen, Maryland. With Speak.s lyrical prowess and like mindedness with the rest of the group he was invited to record on a post album single .It.s Wonderful. also featuring Shamrocc and D.O.S. from the group Ground Zero and became an underground classic. Shortly after this Speak was formally inducted into the group, during this juncture The Empire was enjoying moderate success. The singles .Ice Hot. and .Breathe. were in significant rotation and the group appearing regularly on the radio. .Breathe. the albums most popular song at the time went on to be a local favorite and charted in the top 10 of the Independent Countdown.
==The Dark Ages== All news and updates about The Empire, its' past, present, future projects and shows can be found right here at empiremusiq.com. We Hope you enjoy exploring our site, and welcome to the Empire Family. K.I.M. |