Ground Floor - "Dig on That" b/w "One, Two" (Bandoola Records, 1994)
Ground
Floor is a complete mystery. T.O., ManHunt, and a third rapper whose name seems
to have been forgotten surfaced just long enough to put out one limited single
before disappearing forever. All that remains of the group are a few rare
copies of that 12”, an entertaining but generic music video for “One, Two,” and
a Bandoola Records flyer advertising their forthcoming EP. Everything beyond
that is open to conjecture and there doesn’t seem to be any photos of the group
online. How did they hook up with Lord Finesse (and what was Lord Finesse doing
on a tiny indie label with only one other artist when he was at his peak)? Why weren’t
they able to capitalize on the momentum from the “One, Two” video getting
played on BET’s Rap City? What’s Puff Daddy doing in that video?[1] And
most importantly, who were they, why didn’t they take off, and where did they
go?
Being
from Newport, Rhode Island probably didn’t do any favors for the group. It’s
only three hours away from New York City, but in an era before the internet,
being from a city without a well-known hip-hop scene could be the kiss of death
for a group that wasn’t able to break through immediately.[2] Newport
very well could have had a vibrant scene at the time, but if they did, it wasn’t
exactly getting much coverage in The
Source.
