A Bay Area rap duo formed at the beginning of the 1990s, RBL Posse (short for Ruthless By Law) was originally founded by Black C and Mr. Cee. The pair began producing tracks at Black C's studio and emerged in 1991 with the underground hit "Don't Give Me No Bammer." Thanks solely to their own independent distribution through In-A-Minute Records, RBL sold almost half a million copies of their first two albums, Lesson to Be Learned and Ruthless By Law. Following the 1995 side project Solo Creep, the duo was ready to hit the big time with a major-label contract through Atlantic; tragedy struck, however, when Mr. Cee was murdered in a street killing. Black C soldiered on, recruiting producers Mike Mosely, Rick Rock, and Barr 9 plus MC Eiht for the 1997 LP An Eye for an Eye. H2O, Vol. 1 followed in 1999, and Hostile Takeover appeared two years later. ~ John Bush