Wreckx n Effect

History

The group, originally composed of then adolescent Aqil "A-Plus" Davidson, Keith "K.C." Hanns, Brandon Mitchell and Markell Riley, was formed in 1987 as Wrecks-N-Effect. Their first release, an eponymous EP of six tracks for Atlantic Records, included the singles "Go For What You Know", "Let's Do It Again" (which sampled The Staple Singers hit song), and a self-titled track sampling Jimmy Castor's "The Bertha Butt Boogie". They received little promotion from Atlantic; however, with the help of one-time manager Gene Griffin, the group jumped ship for Motown Records. By the time they released their self-titled debut album the following year, K.C. had left and the group became a trio. Wrecks-n-Effect was produced by producer/songwriter Teddy Riley (brother of Markell Riley), and rapper/producer Redhead Kingpin; the album reached #16 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart and #103 on the Billboard 200 chart. The singles "Juicy" and "New Jack Swing" were released, with "New Jack Swing" reaching #1 on the Billboard Rap chart. Tragically, Mitchell was killed in a shooting incident shortly after its release in 1990.

The group, now a duo consisting of Aqil Davison and Markell Riley, changed the spelling of their name from Wrecks-N-Effect to Wreckx-N-Effect (the "X" symbolizing the loss of Mitchell).

In the proceeding years, Aqil Davidson is featured on many of Teddy Riley's productions and remixes, including Michael Jackson's "She Drives Me Wild", Samuelle's "So You Like What You See", Guy's "D-O-G Me Out" and Tammy Lucas' "Is It Good to You" and Bobby Brown's "That's The Way Love is"

The group returned with 1992's Hard or Smooth on MCA Records. Hard or Smooth fared far better than their debut, selling roughly 2 million copies and reaching #9 on the Billboard 200 and #6 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart.

The album's success was spurred by the multi-platinum #2 hit single "Rump Shaker", which was kept from hitting #1 only by Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You". The accompanying video received criticism for its depiction of women in bikinis, with the New York Daily News referring to Wreckx as "Horny Little Rap Kids". "Rump Shaker" is also notable for featuring a verse (performed by Teddy Riley) written by a young Pharrell Williams.

Wreckx-n-Effect had by this point seemingly reached the peak of their career as a group. Their long-delayed third album, 1996's Rap's New Generation, was not well-received or supported by their label MCA, who had grown weary of internal differences between the Riley brothers and Davidson. Not long afterwards the group disbanded.

In 2003, Aqil Davidson launched the indie label Control Records; he continues to perform under the name Empra.

The group with Aqil Davidson & Markell Riley have recently reunited.

"New Jack Swing" appeared in the 2004 video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, playing on the in-game New Jack Swing radio station, CSR 103.9.