Biography

Introduction

Ugly Duckling is a hip hop group that formed in 1993 in Long Beach, California. Ugly Duckling's members include Dizzy Dustin (Dustin McFarland), Young Einstein (Rodney Pleasant Jr) and Andy Cooper. The group's style is alternative hip hop, influenced especially by old school performers such as the Native Tongues. Most of their songs follow the creed that hip hop is about having fun and often mock the clichéd gangsta emcees who dominate the mainstream. An example of this can be heard in the song "A Little Samba" and in "Smack," in which they rhyme about the enormous wealth about which mainstream emcees brag, and the ridiculous nature of their possessions, such as gold name plates on their cars, pet sharks, and jetting off to Bermuda on private planes. Andy Cooper professes himself to be a follower of Christ and a Christian, as does Young Einstein on his Facebook page. The band's songs often incorporating Christian themes such as love, forgiveness and rejection of worldly values. Some songs include lyrics pertaining to the biblical End Times. Both Young Einstein and Dizzy Dustin have Facebook pages where fans are encouraged to keep up-to-date with the band's antics, tours and music releases. Young Einstein daily posts inspirational phrases he collects from the internet onto his Facebook page for people to read and comment on.

Being heavily influenced by old school hip hop, it conforms to the original basics of hip hop music: turntablism and MCing. The group's DJ, Young Einstein, forms the backbone of the group: he is renowned for performing very complex scratches both on the record and live, unlike in most modern hip hop where the DJ has been pushed to the back in order to emphasize the emcee. He is also the owner of a famous dookie gold chain that is the subject of the group's song "Eye on the Gold Chain," and is donned by Einstein during most live performances of the track. The group is renowned for its live shows in which they perform various antics on stage and interact with the crowd, getting it very hyped and affording them the reputation as brilliant live performers.

Their song "Smack" was featured on Tony Hawk's Project 8 game and also on skater Paul Rodriguez Jr.'s Footage soundtrack.

Their song "Get On This" was featured in the movie "Boiler Room".

Discography

Albums

Journey to Anywhere (1500 Records, 2001)
Taste the Secret (Emperor Norton/Rykodisc Records, 2003)
Combo Meal: Taste The Secret/The Leftovers EP (Emperor Norton/Rykodisc, 2004)
Bang for the Buck (Fat Beats, 11 April 2006)
The Best Of (Handcuts, 2006)
Audacity (Fat Beats Records, 2009)

EPs

Fresh Mode (originally released on Bad Magic Records, 20 April 1999, Cat. No: MAGICCD1. Re-released on 1500/A&M/Interscope/Universal Records)
The Leftovers EP (Earshot, 2003)