Reginald “Reggie” Noble (born April 17, 1970), better known by his stage name Redman, is an American MC, rapper, DJ, record producer and actor. He came to fame in the early 1990s as an artist on the Def Jam label. In 1990, the Funk Doctor made his world debut on the EPMD album Business as Usual, appearing on tracks “Hardcore” and “Brothers On My Jock”. He is also well known for his collaborations with Method Man, including their starring roles in films and sitcoms. He was also a member of the Def Squad in the late 1990s.
In 1992 Redman released his debut album, Whut? Thee Album, which Allmusic noted for blending “reggae and funk influences” with a “terse, though fluid rap style”. The album peaked at number forty-nine on the Billboard 200 and was certified gold. He was named “Rap Artist of the Year” by The Source.
Redman followed this up with his 1994 album, Dare Iz a Darkside. The first single, “Rockafella”, samples Leon Haywood’s “I Want’a Do Something Freaky to You” and George Clinton’s “Flash Light”, two of the most sampled songs in Hip Hop. Redman’s second album was notable for having most of the tracks produced by the artist himself (later on Redman would let other producers make most of his beats). During this time he used former mentor Erick Sermon to produce his records, including “Pick it up” and “Whateva Man” from Muddy Waters.
On December 10, 1996 Redman released his third album Muddy Waters, which was highly praised by critics. The album featured two Billboard Hot 100 singles, “Whateva Man” and “It’s Like That (My Big Brother)”. The song “Do What You Feel” also appeared on the soundtrack to the popular video game Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories. The album was certified gold by the RIAA on February 12, 1997. During this time, with new found friendships with Method Man and Tupac, they both appeared on Tupac’s double album “All Eyez on Me” on the song “Got my Mind Made Up”.
In 1998 Redman released his first collaboration album El Niño with group Def Squad. His fourth studio album Doc’s Da Name 2000 was a top seller, shipping platinum in sales and exceeding his previous record of gold. It peaked at #11 on The Billboard 200 and had three songs (“I’ll Bee Dat”, “Da Goodness”, “Let Da Monkey Out”) that charted. With his new formed close partnership with labelmate Method Man who, with him, made a featured appearance with him on the Doc’s Da Name 2000 record on the song “Well All Rite Cha”. In 1999 Method Man and Redman released a collaborative album called Blackout!. Originally, the record was supposed to be advertised as “Amerika’s Most Blunted”, but it was changed to the more commercially friendly title Blackout!.
In 2001 Redman released his fifth studio album Malpractice. It reached #4 on The Billboard 200 and was certified Gold by the RIAA on July 21, 2001. It boasted two singles “Let’s Get Dirty (I Can’t Get In Da Club)” and “Smash Sumthin'”.
Since the release of Malpractice, he has kept his fans happy by independently releasing the Ill At Will mixtapes, which feature various members of his new record label Gilla House members under Redman’s Gilla House imprint include Saukrates, Icarus, Ready Roc, E3, Young Heat, and Melanie.
Redman had his best-known international hit with Christina Aguilera, when he was featured on her 2002 single “Dirrty”. Around this time he was also featured on a popular remix of Pink’s track Get This Party Started. He is cited in the song ‘Till I Collapse as rapper Eminem’s favorite rapper, beating out Jay Z, 2Pac, and Notorious B.I.G., among others.
Under his birthname, Reggie Noble, Redman has done production for himself, many of his crew members, and even Shaquille O’Neal on his ‘Shaq-Fu: Da Return’ album.
In March 2007, Redman released Red Gone Wild. He says that the reason for the long wait to drop the album is because of the fast-changing pace of Hip Hop on his MySpace interview. On March 27, 2007 Redman confirmed on BET’s Rap City: Tha Bassment that the sequel to How High, How High 2, is currently being written. In an April 10, 2007 Onion AV Club interview, Redman hinted that there would be a second collaborative album with Method Man, with work beginning in midsummer or early September.
Blackout! 2 was announced in 2007 by Redman and was originally scheduled for release in 2008, but its release was pushed back a number of times due to numerous reasons. In early 2008, a remake of the Smoothe da Hustler and Trigger tha Gambler classic Broken Language was released to the internet by the duo entitled Broken Language 2008, fueling rumors of a Blackout! sequel coming soon. This rumor was further fueled by the duo while performing in Gainesville, FL at the University of Florida. A Blackout! LP was scheduled for a December 9, 2008 release but was recently pushed back to the first quarter of ’09. It was finally released on May 19, 2009. It debuted at number #7 on the Billboard 200, at number 2 on the Top R&B/Hip Hop Albums, at number 2 on the Top Rap Albums and digital in charted number 7 on the Digital Albums charts selling 63,000 copies its first week. The album also charted number 10 on Canadian Albums. The album has sold 160,375 copies in the United States by December 12, 2009, according to SoundScan. In May 2009, Redman confirmed his next solo album would come out December, 2009. The title for the project is Reggie Noble “0” 9½. The title of the album was then changed to just Redman Presents… Reggie, and three singles (“Coc Back”, “Oh My”, & “Money on My Mind”) were released. The first single “Coc Back” (which features Ready Roc) had music video filmed and released for it. But as it turns out, none of the tracks made the final cut of the album, only being promo singles. During an interview, Redman stated that Reggie Noble (Redman’s own birth name), does the album, not Redman. Redman also said that there is going to be more, “poppish”, type songs, rather his normal “rugged” and “hardcore” songs. After a few push backs, Redman Presents… Reggie was finally released on December 7, 2010. The first official single is “Def Jammable” & a video was released for the single. It has been confirmed that Redman will appear on a remix along with French rapper Soprano of “Tranne Te” by Italian rapper Fabri Fibra.
In June 2013, Redman announced that his next studio album Muddy Waters 2 would be released in late 2013 via Entertainment One and he would release a mixtape to go along with it, which evolved into an EP titled Muddy Waters 2: The Preload. Redman has also confirmed work on Blackout! 3 with Method Man with recording starting summer 2012, however, recording was pushed back to late 2014. Muddy Waters 2 has been confirmed to come out first, with Blackout! 3 coming out after, and Method Man’s long-awaited mixtape and fifth solo album directly following these projects. Method Man and Redman are also hard at work to get a new movie project off the ground, slated to be How High 2, the long-rumored sequel to their original stoner comedy, How High.
Official site: Redman