Enta da Stage: История альбома Black Moon и возрождение нью-йоркского хип-хопа.

Enta da Stage is the debut album by American East Coast hip hop group Black Moon, released on October 19, 1993, through Nervous Records. The album was produced by Black Moon member DJ Evil Dee along with Mr. Walt of Da Beatminerz. Enta da Stage features the debut of underground hip hop duo Smif N Wessun, as well as appearances from Havoc of Mobb Deep and Dru Ha, the co founder of Duck Down Records. Despite being critically acclaimed and having two singles that charted on the Billboard Hot 100 ("Who Got da Props" and "I Got Cha Opin"), the album sold poorly. Enta da Stage served as a precursor to the resurgence of the New York hip hop scene in the mid 1990s. The album was executive produced by Dru Ha and Mike Weiss.

Black Moon originated in Brooklyn in the late 1980s as a group called Unique Image, which consisted of high school students Ewart "Evil Dee" Dewgrade, Karim "5ft" Reid, Walter "Finsta" Giddens, and Kenyatte "Buckshot" Blake. After briefly changing their name from Unique Image to High Tech, the group settled on Black Moon, which was the name Evil Dee's older brother–Walter "Mr. Walt" Dewgrade–used for his record production company. Initially all four members rapped, but by 1991 Evil Dee and Finsta stopped rapping and instead focused on production. According to Evil Dee: "Once we did that and got focused, that's when we started getting really serious about it 5ft and Buckshot just stepped up their game and got nice on the rhymes." Black Moon began shopping a five track demo to various record labels, although they were consistently rejected for a perceived lack of commercial viability. During this period, Finsta left the group. In the spring of 1992, Black Moon performed at a party, and audience member DJ Chuck Chillout arranged for the group to meet with Nervous Records owner Mike Weiss. At the insistence of A&R representative Gladys Pizarro, Weiss signed Black Moon, and gave them enough money to record their first single, "Who Got da Props". "Who Got da Props" was released in October 1992, and reached number 86 on the Billboard Hot 100. The group members were surprised by the success of the single, and in February 1993, Weiss convinced them to record an album. Buckshot soon formed a close relationship with Nervous employee Drew Friedman, later known as Dru Ha. The two formed a management company named "Duck Down Management", and oversaw the release of Enta da Stage as co executive producers. The group finished recording Enta da Stage at New York City's D&D Studios between late 1992 and early 1993, and prepared it for a late 1993 release date.

Much of the acclaim the album received was due to the performance of lead MC Buckshot, who originally went by the name Buckshot Shorty. Ten of the fourteen tracks on the album are Buckshot solo tracks, and he appears on every song but "Son Get Wrec". Buck, who was eighteen at the time of the recording, was a young man trying to establish himself and his crew in the hip hop world. In a 2005 interview with MVRemix, Buckshot described a day in his life while recording his debut:
quote|Enta da Stage was really rough for me. It was a really rough era. A lot of people don't know what I went through personally. I think I had just turned eighteen and I had the pressure of running a management company as an eighteen year old shorter than 5'6. I had that problem of people taking my company and my representation seriously. So a day in the life around the Enta da Stage era was based on constant struggle and lettin' people know you respect Duck Down management as a real management company and not just as some little cute thing that Buckshot is doing. Nah, for real, we're management type deal. I was battling keeping Smif n Wessun in a good deal, I was battling trying to get Heltah Skeltah a good deal. I was battling trying to bring my record company into existence, so it was a really hard time. In a 2005 interview with AllHipHop, hip hop producer 9th Wonder stated that Buckshot's style strongly influenced his current sound, and that the singles "Who Got da Props?" and "How Many MC's " changed his life. The album's choruses involve multiple voices yelling the lyrics. These vocals were provided by Smif n Wessun, Mr. Walt, Mobb Deep's Havoc and the trio themselves. "Niguz Talk Shit", "Who Got da Props? ", "Ack Like U Want It", "Buck Em Down", "Black Smif n Wessun", "Son Get Wrec", "Make Munne" and "U da Man" all feature "Black Moon hooks".

DJ Evil Dee and Mr. Walt of Da Beatminerz, who produced the album, put their samplers to use here, lacing the album with their signature basement sound, filled with hard drums, grimy horn arrangements and deep basslines. In the album's liner notes, DJ Evil Dee stated: "This album was done on blunted terms. Anyone who is offended by the contents of the album, FUCK YOU. Nuff said." AllMusic describes the dark production: "The Beatminerz production crew craft subterranean beats to match Buckshot's mayhem. The tracks are dark, layered with muted jazz samples, and seemingly bottomless." it became popular in the underground rap circuit, but was not able to find success with mainstream audiences, barely breaking into the Top 50 on the Hot Rap Singles chart. The third single from the album was a remix of "I Got Cha Opin", which utilized a smooth jazz sample, courtesy of Barry White's "Playing Your Game Baby". The single became the group's second Billboard Hot 100 hit in 1994, peaking at number 93.