With their smash hit “Slam” and the multi-platinum Bacdafucup, Onyx were certifiable rock stars a full decade before mixing rap and rock became the norm. After four albums, Fredro Starr, Sonee Seeza and Sticky Fingaz found their Hollywood calling and put music to the side.

However, with the August release of their Cold Case Files via Koch Records, an album's worth of unreleased material from the Queens group is making its way to fans. The album features all of the group's members as well as verses from Sticky's deceased brother X1 and Big DS, as well as an appearance from Method Man on the “Evil Streets remix.” HipHopDX recently spoke with Fredro and Sonee about the timing of the release and more.

HipHopDX: Let's talk about this reunion of sorts that you guys are having, it's unexpected. Was this planned all along or happened suddenly?
Fredro Starr: I mean, it comes when it comes. When it comes to the studio album, it's really the Black Rock album we working on, but the Cold Case Files album that's coming out first, these are songs that we had since the '90s, since '93, '94, '95, '96, all the way up to now. These are songs that Onyx fans or new fans haven't heard before, so we decided to unleash them, to go back to the '90s with this album. So we kinda warm up our sounds for the kids. The new generation may have not heard of Onyx, they can get familiar with how it used be in the '90s, when niggas spit that straight fire. But we're coming with a studio album called Black Rock, the reunion album.

DX: I heard some of the tracks from Cold Case Files, and it's definitely reminiscent of your old work back in the day. How do you feel it's going to be accepted by the fans now, given that it's a different era for New York rap.
Fredro Starr: First of all New York rap is taking a hit. To come back with this album, it's cool to open up, to maybe start some change. Maybe you'll [get] a Naughty by Nature or Das EFX albums of unreleased tracks, so hopefully New York can come back and I think old school artists can contribute to that. We just doing what we do.
Sonee Seeza: He already summed it all up. That's basically what it need to be. But as far as I'm concerned, the state of Hip Hop in New York City is hell and we need Onyx to tear that shit down again. The Hip Hop listeners need something real. Onyx is back.

DX: Fredro, how do you personally balance your acting career and the music? Music hasn't been as much of a cash cow as doing movies or TV.
Fredro Starr: You have to find a balance. Even before me, [rappers] were doing movies. I mean Hip Hop and the movie business go together, just like back in the days when Frank Sinatra and Elvis [Presley] were doing movies. Even before Bacdafucup, I was doing movies. That was before the album came out, I was on a movie set. This is what we do.

DX: I was going back through some interviews with you and you and 50 Cent had exchanged some words. I wanted to revisit the issue. Are you guys still at it or have you resolved your problems?
Fredro Starr: I mean it depends on what you call a problem. I'll always have a problem with the dude, that's how I feel, I can't speak for every man on the planet. As far as me, I want to have some fun. Sticky [click to read] and Sonsee, we ready to have some fun with this music shit. I think with 50's album sales, at the time when we had a real problem and the beef really started, I think fuckin' with him at that time as far as musically or anything else would have been bad time to do it. Because of the hype around him and so much money was behind him, it would have been like throwing rocks at a building. But now, that his sales aren't there, G-Unit [click to read] didn't sell a lot of records last week and I think we kept the heat ... G-Unit, Onyx, we can do it any day. Fuck that. This is entertainment, we can entertain any day.

DX: Off of Cold Case Files, what songs represent what Onyx is the best?
Fredro Starr: My favorite track is with Method Man ["Evil Streets remix"]. I like the beat, he spitting crazy, we get our point across. It's that street, Southside Jamaica Queens get-stuck-up music right there. That's why I like the "Evil Streets remix."
Sonee Seeza: We also address the political landscape, the way Onyx do. For me [the track I like], it'd be "Mad World." Because it's definitely a timeless song. It's still relevant with the things that are going on in the world that we spoke on in the song that we made in 1995. It's 2008. Just that timeless music is one of the great attributes of Onyx, and I feel like the world needs to know that. We definitely ain't just a group that be screaming, jumping around and slamming, we got a lot of substance to what we talking about. Continued on page 2 »