AZ
- Actor
- Writer
- Producer
One of the numerous thoughtful gangsta rappers to emerge from New York
during the mid-'90s, AZ enjoyed critical success early in his career,
particularly with his debut album, Doe or Die (1995), but commercial
success largely eluded him over the years. Born in Brooklyn, he
initially garnered attention with his guest feature on "Life's a
Bitch," one of the standout tracks on Nas' landmark debut album,
Illmatic (1994). In the wake of Doe or Die's critical success, AZ
collaborated with Nas in the ill-fated super-group the Firm and
released Pieces of a Man (1998), another critical favorite. But for the
most part, that was it from AZ for several years as he fell by the
wayside, not surfacing in a big way again until a pair of Motown
releases, 9 Lives (2001) and Aziatic (2002), that didn't sell any
better than his previous efforts. He subsequently took his music
underground, periodically releasing albums such as A.W.O.L. (2005). In
2004 the double-disc retrospective Decade 1994-2004 looked back over
his career to date, gathering up various highlights.Az was born Anthony
Cruz. Was once part of the rap group The Firm. It was made up of Foxy
Brown, Nas, Nature, and himself. Then Nature left the group and it was
Foxy Brown, Nas, and himself.