Blak Prophetz

Blak Prophetz

The Blak Prophetz' is an English hip-hop/electric/funk band, formed in the mid 1980s by the DJ Sure Shot (Mark Duffus or Mark Anthony), a DJ, rapper, drummer and percussionist.

The first track known to be released by this band can be found on a rare compilation called "The Wheel Project", which was a community project for local talented musicians by Walsall Youth Arts. The Blak Prophetz had no real interest in this project as they saw it as a step in the wrong direction as they wanted to remain underground, but Sure Shot offered his production skills to help some artists who were to appear on the album. One of the chosen artists decided to back out of the album deal. The Blak Prophetz were then asked to take their place on the album. After long persuasions, the Blak Prophetz agreed and released a track entitled "Feel the Force" was released by the Walsall Youth Arts project team during 1986/89. This track got the Blak Prophetz their first real record deal with a small independent record label called GTI/Kick'in Records based in West London, United Kingdom. It was with this label that the Blak Prophetz released another track entitled "Fax on Wax", which for legal reasons was released by GTI/Kick'in as a 'promo' as no actual contract was signed for or agreed for its release by the band.

The Blak Prophetz were soon signed by Tony Powell, Director of Pinnacle Distribution, London who also had his own label called Kold Sweat Records. It was with this label the Blak Prophetz release the track called "Chapter One". DJ Sure Shot started to get requests from bands and artists all over the world asking him to assist them with their productions. This meant that the Blak Prophetz was somewhat put on hold for a short period so that Sure Shot could complete his productions and projects. During this time, DJ Sure Shot worked with/production tracks for Urban Species, Us3's (G.Thomas a.k.a. Gilly Jaxson), / Preeyah Kalidas, (Actress from the movie Bend It like Beckham), and also worked on remix projects for D-Influence Records who requested Sure Shot's production skills on a duet track by Warren Stacey & Justin Timberlake which can be heard and purchased only within the Japanese territory distributed by Avex Distribution, Japan. It was disguised as 'The WS Project - Hot For You' for legal reasons and was released by D-Influence Records Kwame Kwaten in association with Avex Records Japan, located on an album called 'Soul Essentials Vol 6', released by Avex Records.

Whilst DJ Sure Shot was working in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, USA as an engineer, the demand for Blak Prophetz material grew. When DJ Sure Shot travelled to New York, he became close friends with Ced Gee (Ultramagnetic MC's), Grafiq Sebek, DJ Tony Tone (Cold Crush Brothers) and Afrika Bambaataa. Since then, the Blak Prophetz have been working very closely with these guys and in the late 1990s, a Blak Prophetz release came out from their very own record label which they formed called "Fatt Jointz Records (FJ Entertainment Inc)", Which has since been closed down, taken over and rebranded as the 'Digital Jukebox Records' in 2006. The first track was a 12 inch called "With FX" which came out in 2002, which was released in New York and distributed through the major distributors, TRC Distribution, Los Angeles, USA. The track was an instant hit in the Hip Hop genre in the USA and the news grew to other areas like the UK & Europe. DJ Sure Shot The Blak Prophetz decided that it was time to do the first album. The follow-up was an album which was made in 2003 and released in 2005 was called "The 2nd Coming" released on their own label. The album included DJ Tony Tone, (The Cold crush Brothers); Guest vocals from Ced Gee (Cedric Miller) and close friend Grafiq (Greg Ward), Miss Merciless from the Bronx, New York and many others.