Frank Nitt

Associated with the late J Dilla and a member of the revered Detroit underground, Frank Nitt (born Frank Bush) launched his career in the late '90s, joining fellow rapper Dankery Harv in the group Frank-n-Dank. After scoring an underground hit with the 2000 track "Everybody Get Up!," the duo would land on Dilla's Welcome 2 Detroit album (2001) before signing a deal with major label MCA. In 2003, their Dilla-produced official debut album, 48 Hours, was rejected by the label and quickly became a bootleg favorite with the hip-hop faithful. It's non-release would also slow the band, although not its members, with both Nitt -- sometimes using the classic gangster spelling Frank Nitty -- and Harv both releasing solo efforts. Frank would drop The Concert Hall EP in 2008 on the Digipop label, while his 2010 EP Jewels in My Backpack would land on Delicious Vinyl. A year later he would join producer Madlib for Medicine Show No. 9: Channel 85 Presents Nittyville, a conceptual album that was also part of Madlib's ambitious 13-album Medicine Show series. In 2012 he penned a short (48 pages) memoir titled The View from the Underground. It was included with the packaging of that year's Digipop album Stadium Music. After Frank-n-Dank's lost effort 48 Hours got an official release in 2013 via Delicious Vinyl, Nitt returned to his own career with the album Frankie Rothstein. The solo LP featured production from Dilla, DJ Rhettmatic, and J-Rocc. ~ David Jeffries, Rovi