Following their discovery of Biggie, The Source's Unsigned Hype column followed with a series of artists that never got record deals. The first of these was The B.R.A.T. Crew, a group from Lakeview, Long Island. B.R.A.T. stood for Black, Rough and Tough, and the group "was originally a local street gang of 25 plus members notorious in their area for criminal activity". In their April 1992 Source appearance, The B.R.A.T. Crew consisted of four members: Mike Mellow, Ken-Do, The Rebel and Divine Smooth, all of whom were under the age of 19 at the time. As for the other gang members... they were "dead or in correctional facilities". The remaining members decided to "take their energy in a more positive direction", and thus began making music. Working with the production team Photosynthesis, the group display a "funky flow on the hardcore tip" and "drop a little science too". Their motto is claimed to be "United we stand, divided we fall / we're tighter than panties two sizes small."
The group never released any music commercially.
The Brat Crew were NEVER EVER a gang!!! I grew up with those dude rapping in the school hallways since middle school! The gang thing was a list that was made up to try to justify the murder of one our friends by a drunk off duty correction officer in our town!!! Lakeview was a 98% Black suburb in Long Island back in the 80s and 90s. We had some crime, but no gangs back then!!!
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