In 1998, the album was selected as one of The Source's 100 Best Albums. The album proved to be successful, receiving a platinum certification from the RIAA and peaked at #10 on the Billboard 200, the group's highest debut at that point. In 1993, Onyx released their debut album, entitled Bacdafucup. Later that year, Onyx hired Chyskillz as its new music producer. In 1991 the band lost all of its records when its music producer, B-Wiz, was killed while selling cocaine in Baltimore. Jones subsequently joined the band with the stage name Sticky Fingaz. The demo were accepted by Jam Master Jay, who signed the band to his record label, Jam Master Jay Records. Fredro and Jones recorded two records for the demo, "Stik 'N' Muve" and "Exercise". When the deadline came, Seeza and Big DS couldn't make it to the studio to record the demo, so Jeffrey Harris, the manager of Onyx, asked Fredro to come to the studio with his cousin, Kirk Jones, who at the time was doing a solo career under the name Trop. On July 13, 1991, while in a traffic jam at The Jones Beach GreekFest Festival, the band members met music producer Jam Master Jay, who agreed to give them two months to submit a demo to his record company. On April 25, 1990, the group released their first single, Ah, And We Do It Like This, to low sales.
In 1989, Onyx signed Jeffrey Harris as their manager, who helped them secure a contract with the label Profile Records. The band began recording their first demos in the basement of B-Wiz with drum machine beats from an SP-12. They decided to name the band after the onyx stone. Onyx was formed in 1988 by schoolmates Fredro Starr, Sonny Seeza, and Big DS. They are also notable for their style: loud screaming, aggression, fighting with each other, stage diving, throwing water, rapping with grimy voices, and bald head fashion. Their debut album, Bacdafucup, has been certified platinum, won Best Rap Album at the Soul Train Music Awards and was selected as one of The Source magazine's 100 Best Rap Albums. The group has released eight studio albums, three of which have charted in the Billboard 200 albums chart Top 25. They are best known for their 1993 platinum hit single " Slam", which The Source magazine described as a song that introduce the art of slam dancing into hip-hop. Onyx is an American hardcore hip hop group from South Jamaica, Queens, New York City, formed in 1988 by Fredro Starr, Suavé (also known as Sonny Seeza) and the late Big DS.