West Coast rappers
Outlawz are known primarily for their affiliation with
2Pac. It was on
2Pac's
Makaveli album that
Outlawz first came to the greater rap community's notice, appearing on a few songs. In 1999 they were co-billed on the posthumous
2Pac album
Still I Rise, granting them even more recognition and furthering their short-lived affiliation. It wasn't until late 2000, though, that they finally got the go-ahead to release their debut album,
Ride wit Us or Collide wit Us. Featuring a cover that placed
2Pac's image in the foreground, along with numerous references to the deceased legend, this debut made the most of
Outlawz's reputation for being
2Pac's supposed protégés.
Unfortunately, the album didn't prove to be much of a success, and neither did the group's follow-up album a year later, Novakane, also released on the group's Outlaw Recordz label (distributed by Koch). While
Outlawz no doubt retained
2Pac's West Coast thug/gangsta style, they unfortunately were fairly average rappers in terms of skills and too often fell back on their
2Pac affiliation and descended into generic thug motifs. And it didn't help that they weren't aligned with any of the West Coast's better producers. In fact,
Outlawz weren't really aligned with anyone on the West Coast -- not
Snoop Dogg and his Dogghouse clique, nor the Bay Area scene centered around
E-40 and
Spice 1. Member
Young Noble collaborated with
Layzie Bone in 2006 for the album
Thug Brothers, released by the Real Talk label. The label also released the
Outlawz album
Against All Oddz later that same year. ~ Jason Birchmeier