RBX Eyes Comeback With First Single In 16 Years, “Nightstalker” Featuring Krayzie Bone

Former Death Row Records artist RBX, who famously contributed to several tracks on Dr. Dre’s The Chronic, is in the middle of a career resurgence. For the past several months, the Long Beach native has been working on his first album since 2007’s Broken Silence.

Titled Hibernation Shivers, the project feature appearances by Spice 1, MC Eiht, Daz Dillinger, Fatlip, Project Pat, Eligh, Cold 187um, Krayzie Bone, Butch Cassidy and Smoov-E, among others. As the album inches closer to its August 25 release date, RBX has come through with the first taste of the project, “Nightstalker” featuring Krayzie Bone. The track finds both MCs reflecting on infamous Los Angeles serial killer Richard Ramierz—dubbed “The Night Stalker”—who wreaked havoc on the San Gabriel Valley in the 1980s. But this time, they’re murdering “sucker MCs and funnystyle DJs in the Long Beach area.” The ominous tone of the single, provided by producers Siccraised, Sccit and Siavash The Grouch, pairs perfectly with the menacing rhymes.

“It’s definitely an honor to be able to say I’m on a track with RBX,” Krayzie Bone tells AllHipHop. “I mean, we talking about somebody who, to us, was the voice of The Chronic album. The Narrator is undeniable.”

RBX adds, “Shout out to Krayzie Bone. He pulled up and sh##ed on the board for the new joint. We just been in the lab working on this album for a cool minute, gettin it right. Can’t rush perfection. Sccit and Siavash been doing their thang, bangin out these classics. That Labcabin stuff.”

Hibernation Shivers, produced entirely by Sccit and Siavash The Grouch, will initially be released as a CD exclusive on Labcabin Records, followed by a later vinyl and digital release. The title of the album is a reference to a condition a bear experiences after coming out of hibernation, which coincides with RBX returning to the rap game.

“Connecting with Sccit and Siavash was divine intervention,” he says. “I was in a funk when they came to me with the idea to do the album. S### woke me up. This is the first time I’m really taking music serious. Too many clowns always trying to sell you out. I always stayed away from that. We on some authentic s###.”

RBX’s history is seeped in brilliant moments. After contributing to six tracks on The Chronic in 1992, including “High Powered” and  “Lyrical Gangb##g,” he left Death Row to embark on a solo career. In 1996, RBX reunited with Dr. Dre as one of the first artists on Aftermath Entertainment and had a cameo on The Marshall Mathers LP by Eminem (2000).

“I didn’t even know what the song was really for,” RBX recalls. “Dre just called me and told me he needs me to help on his new artists’ album and I was there. All of a sudden he’s the biggest thing in Hip-Hop.”

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by RBX (@rbxthenarrator)

RBX dropped multiple solo albums throughout his career, including The RBX Files (1995), No Mercy, No Remorse (1999), Ripp tha Game Bloody: Street Muzic (2004) and The Shining (2005). But following 2007’s Broken Silence, then retreated from the business. Hibernation Shivers marks his first release in 16 years.

“RBX is an innovator in the game and an unsung legend in West Coast Hip-Hop,” Sccit says. “His humility makes it difficult for him to get the shine he deserves in an industry full of snakes and vultures. He was never with the f###ery. So when we started working with X, we quickly realized how bad he was being disrespected by those who were supposed to be closest to him and we made it a personal mission to give him that concentrated effort Hip-Hop was missing.”

Siavash echoes those sentiments, adding, “The Narrator has one of the most unique voices and styles in music. We always wanted to give him his flowers and bring attention back to an OG full of flavor like RBX. On this album, I feel like we captured the essence of what a West Coast record is, in an attempt to bring back the art of putting out legit albums.”

“Nightstalker” featuring Krayzie Bone officially arrives on Friday (July 7), but you can hear it early above.