Rapper Sadat X, born Derek Murphy on December 29, 1968 in New Rochelle, New
York, first came to fame as the MC with the jazz-influenced hip-hop outfit Brand
Nubian. He issued his first solo work, Wild Cowboys, in 1996. The album was more
playful than Brand Nubian's more studied, literate approach, and included "Hang
'Em High", a single built in part on a work by famed film composer Ennio
Morricone. He quickly followed it with 1996's No Bette Way, but he kept working
with Brand Nubian as well and did not return to a solo career until the 2000 EP
The State of New York vs. Derek Mur...