Black Sheep

Black Sheep is an American hip-hop duo from New York City, formed by MC Dres and producer Mista Lawnge in the late 1980s. They became one of the recognized acts affiliated with the Native Tongues collective, a loose group of artists including De La Soul, A Tribe Called Quest, and the Jungle Brothers, known for a playful, positive, and lyrically inventive approach to rap that stood apart from the harder gangsta rap dominating the era.

The duo's debut album, A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing (1991), became their defining work, propelled by the hit single «The Choice Is Yours», whose remixed version featuring the memorable «engine, engine number nine» hook became a genuine crossover success and remains a staple of golden-age hip-hop nostalgia. Other tracks from the album, including «Flavor of the Month» and «Strobelite Honey», showcased Dres's witty, conversational flow over Mista Lawnge's sample-driven production.

Despite the acclaim the debut received, Black Sheep struggled to replicate that success. Their 1994 follow-up, Non-Fiction, failed to make a similar commercial impact, and the group gradually faded from the spotlight through the mid-1990s. Even so, their contribution to Native Tongues records and to the sound of early-90s hip-hop has kept «The Choice Is Yours» in steady rotation and cemented Black Sheep's place in the genre's history.