during a time when East Coast hip-hop was delivering mainstream and underground classics left and right.
, but they did receive that same critical acclaim. Source magazine nominated them for Best New Group of 1996.
's gritty and baritone voice despite the fact that they were both masterful lyricists.
By the time of their second release in 1998,
Magnum Force, none of this mattered. The album did poorly as was
the Boot Camp's record label, Duck Down Records. Priority Records dropped Duck Down from its distribution deal in 2000.
Rock left Duck Down to pursue a solo career with
DJ Lethal (of
House of Pain and
Limp Bizkit fame) and his new label, Lethal Dose Records; however, that project folded.
Price found himself either in jail or back on the streets of Brooklyn, NY, hustling and selling crack in order to survive. After a few years of hard times, a serious girlfriend, and children, he began appearing on various mixtapes and other albums as a solo artist using his birth name,
Sean Price. A notable guest appearance during this period was on "Rising to the Top," a duo with
Dipset affiliate
Agallah that was featured in the popular video game Grand Theft Auto III.
A reinvigorated Duck Down Records obtained a new distribution deal with Navarre in May 2005 and announced their "Triple Threat" campaign, a three-album collaborative effort with rap collective
the Justus League and their in-house producers,
9th Wonder and
Khrysis.
Monkey Barz,
Price's solo debut and first installment of the campaign, was also released in May 2005, attaining very favorable reviews. Upon winning Independent Album of 2005 in both the Source and influential website AllHipHop.com, many began to consider
Price to be
the Boot Camp's star rapper -- a title usually given to
Boot Camp leader
Buckshot. His second solo album,
Jesus Price Supastar (2007), was received just as favorably as the first, and even prompted some major-label interest in the veteran MC.
–
Cyril Cordor, Rovi