Unsigned Hype: Eight Off the Assassin (Agallah)

Eight Off the Assassin was the featured Unsigned Hype artist in the November 1992 issue of The Source magazine. His eight-letter stage name was a reference to his birth date  (May 8th) and the age he began rhyming (age 8). Writer Matty C details that he first met Eight through Schott Free of the group Legion of D.U.M.E. (who appeared in an Unsigned Hype article a few months prior), and was surprised to hear "this little 18-year-old, skinny Puerto Rican kid", who was able to "kick a rhyme with a flow unlike anything out now". At the time of his Unsigned Hype feature, Eight had been in the studio recording tracks with producers including Bobby Crawford (who produced two songs on Tim Dog's Penicillin on Wax) and Doug King (who was serving as one of Rap-A-Lot Records in-house producers). He had also signed with rapper YZ's management company, 720 Management. A list of songs he was working on at the time include the legendary "Livin' and Sellin' Buddha Out of My Ice Cream Truck", which tragically remains unreleased.

Things took a while to start happening for Eight after his Unsigned Hype appearance. The January 1993 issue of The Source announced that Eight was negotiating with Tommy Boy Records in a deal that did not ultimately work out. Later that year, he performed the chorus on his manager YZ's "Acid Rain" from his album The Ghetto's Been Good to Me. The following year, he produced the remix for Champ MC's song "Do U Know My Style".

It wasn't until 1995 that Eight Off began establishing a name for himself, albeit with a slight name change to 8-Off. On October 24, 1995, he released his debut studio album, Wrap Your Lips Around This, on EastWest Records America. It was put out with the singles "Ghetto Girl" and "Alize for Dolo". Over hard East Coast beats, Eight Off performs very tough and menacing verses, often yelled and almost screamed with demonic-sounding adlibs. 8-Off produced the majority of the album, with the exception of the Diamond D-produced "Science Fiction". On the same day, another 8-Off-affiliated album was released, in the form of Onyx's sophomore album All We Got Iz Us. 8-Off contributed production to three songs (two interludes and "Betta Off Dead"), and his performance on his solo album begins to make sense - it is heavily influenced by Onyx. All We Got Iz Us was a huge commercial success considering its sound and lyrical content, peaking at #2 on the US Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart (beaten only by Mariah Carey's Daydream). However, 8-Off failed to match any amount of commercial success as Onyx. His singles failed to reach any Billboard charts, and Wrap Your Lips Around This failed to see a full release by EastWest.* He was dropped by the label not too long after the album's release. To date, Wrap Your Lips Around This is 8-Off's only album released on a major label.

It was then a slow climb to the top again for 8-Off. In 1996, he produced three songs on PMD's album Bu$ine$$ I$ Bu$ine$$. The following year, he produced the Busta Rhymes song "Things We Be Doin' for Money Part 2" from his album When Disaster Strikes..., and also produced the Group Home single "Run for Your Life". 8-Off's previous PMD affiliation came back to help him, as to close out the 1990s he produced songs from EPMD's two albums Back in Business (1997) and Out of Business (1999), and also three songs for EPMD affiliate Das EFX on their album Generation EFX (1998) while making guest appearances on the latter two albums. In 1999, 8-Off released the single "The Crookie Monster", produced by Alchemist, under the new name Agallah on Game Recordings. That same year, he made multiple appearances on Group Home's sophomore album A Tear for the Ghetto, while also appearing on "Permanent Scars" by Buc Fifty. In 2000, he produced three songs for DJ Tony Touch on his album The Piece Maker. The following year, 8-Off released the mixtapes Show Up! 8 Off and Da Mix Tape Iz the Album, both under the name Agallah and in collaboration with DJ P.F. Cuttin'. He produced and appeared on "The Grits" for Wu-Tang member Cappadonna on his album The Yin and the Yang. He also produced the song "Clubber Lang" for Cash Brown, while additionally making a guest appearance on the track alongside Sean Price, amongst others. From 2000 to 2002, Agallah made appearances on songs by D&D Crew, Krumbsnatcha, Tommy Tee, DJ Honda, Group Home and Sean Price, while producing for Guru

8-Off returned to releasing official solo material in 2002 with the self-produced single "Imagine Your Life" on Street Level Records, featuring a hook performed by Monie Love. He also contributed the song "Rising to the Top" featuring Sean Price and Bazaar Royale to the Game Recordings compilation album Game Tight!. The latter song was featured in the video game Grand Theft Auto III on the in-game radio station Game FM, hosted by Stretch Armstrong and Lord Sear. The two singles would be his final release using his name 8 Off and its alternate spellings, as he would change his name to Agallah completely. From there, it was back to production work for artists including PMD, Sean Price, Saigon, Remy Ma, Jus Allah and Dead Prez over the next four years, while also featuring on songs by Mr. Cheeks, Sadat X and Scaramanga.

Then, finally, ten years after the half-hearted release of Wrap Your Lips Around This by EastWest, Agallah released his actual debut studio album, You Already Know, on Babygrande in 2006.

I'll save the rest of Agallah's career for an Artist Introduction post one day because, despite his arduous beginnings, Agallah has gone on to have an extensive career in solo and collaborative work as both a rapper and producer. His latest studio album, The White Lotus, was released with duo Dirtydiggs in 2018. Agallah may be far removed from the 18-year-old named Eight Off the Assassin that first surprised Source writer Matty C enough to earn the rapper an appearance in Unsigned Hype, but that same passion he had then is still going strong almost thirty years later.

Note
* - Discogs has a page for 8-Off's debut album, even with full artwork and liner notes. However, the album sees to have seen only a very limited release, only having been bought once on the website (for a shockingly low US$10). A promo version was also released by the label and, despite being extremely expensive, seems to have had more of a larger release than the actual album.