Each hailing from Yonkers, New York, the group formed in 1994 and signed with Puff Daddy's Bad Boy Records two years later to release their debut studio album, Money, Power & Respect (1998).
[1] As high school students, they formed a group called the Bomb Squad and began performing at local shows and producing their own demos.
While the local rap scene was being dominated by artists like Raw Rome, Lord Devon and a young DMX, the group began to gain attention for their lyrical style and ability to present tales of urban life.
[1] After acquiring the demo tape that the group made with Jaz-O, Blige passed it on to Bad Boy CEO Sean "Puffy" Combs who signed them to a deal.
After signing with Bad Boy, the Lox started gaining a bigger buzz off the strength of their first single "Well, Well, Well" featuring Kasino, which appeared on DJ Clue's 1996 mixtape Show Me the Money.
In June 2013, Jadakiss told XXL magazine that several labels, including Bad Boy and Maybach Music Group, made offers to release the next Lox album.
"New York" saw the three Yonkers emcees rap over a beat reminiscent of which samples the Pudgee, Biggie-assisted "Think Big" featuring Lord Tariq, backed by the "Ashley's Roachclip" drum break.
[17] The Lox (Jadakiss, Styles P and Sheek Louch) and DipSet (Cam'ron, Jim Jones, Juelz Santana and Freekey Zekey) went head-to-head in a highly anticipated Verzuz battle at the Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden Tuesday, August 3rd.
It was a no-nonsense New York hip-hop fight, and while no one got killed, unlike previous confrontations, the lyrical assassination committed with malice aforethought by the Lox should be against the law.
A Juelz Santana jab after Cam'ron's "Hey Ma" that the Lox had no records for female fans was then responded to with a medley that included "Ryde or Die, Bitch" featuring Eve followed by remixes featuring them of Mariah Carey's "Honey", Jennifer Lopez's "Jenny from the Block" and Mary J. Blige's "Family Affair", plus Sheek Louch's "Good Love" and Jadakiss' "Knock Yourself Out".
[22][23] In the same month, the group was featured on "Jesus Lord pt 2", the final track on Kanye West's 10th album Donda alongside Jay Electronica, and received the key to the city of Yonkers.
[24] Just over a year after the battle while they were performing at LL Cool J's Rock The Bells festival at Forest Hills Stadium in Queens, Jadakiss presented Styles P and Sheek Louch with Lox championship rings and unveiled his.