After nearly a four-year hiatus, Onyx returns with Bacdafucup: Part 2, due out on KOCH/ In The Paint on June 26, 2002. It easily shows that they are still the kings of hard-core grit and grime.

The bald-headed trio infused rap with a manic energy, starting a sonic revolution and opening the doors for a floodgate of less talented knock-offs. They invented hip-hop mosh pits and were among the first hip-hop groups to employ an eerie edge in its music.

Onyx fans have long known of the group's significance. The platinum "Bacdafucup" ushered in a hard-core attitude to hip-hop and made it cool for men to sport bald heads. Onyx's most recent album, 1998's "Shut 'Em Down" helped introduce the world to a then relatively unknown DMX on the title track, while the rest of the album contained gripping narrative adventures and hard-hitting production. In 2001, Sticky Fingaz ("[Black Trash] The Autobiography of Kirk Jones") and Starr ("Firestarr") released critically acclaimed solo albums that set the stage for the group's triumphant return.

"We're bringing it back to the streets," Fingaz explains of the new album. "A lot of things that's on the radio nowadays is candy-coated. I'll be listening to radio and I want to hear the hard shit, but it don't exist no more. We mixed it up to where music is at today and where I feel music is going today. It's both. It's not like we're getting ahead of people. It's like we're right there with them."

The strategy pays off throughout "Bacdafucup: Part 2." Onyx teams with Mobb Deep's Havoc and X-1 on the club banger "Hold Up," while the group give off its classic energy on "Bring 'Em Out Dead." The trio demonstrates their conceptual brilliance on "Gun Clap Music." Here, they pay homage to some of hip-hop's fallen lyrical soldiers, as Starr freaks a Biggie Smalls-esque flow, while Sonee Seeza raps similar to a signature Big Pun style and Fingaz incorporates 2Pac-like delivery.

Onyx then shows another side of its character on "She's Straight Gangster" by shouting out women who stay in their man's corner through thick and thin. Despite being ultra hard-core, Onyx enjoys an enormous female following. "I guess beautiful women love thugs," Fingaz offers. "They love the danger and excitement. I can't call it. Maybe they just love real people and we're real people."

Music, however, isn't the group's only passion. Fingaz and Starr also have a steady stream of TV and film work. Fingaz has a recurring role on the acclaimed TV series "The Shield" and will appear in a bevy of films that are scheduled for release this year, while Starr had a recurring role on Brandy's "Moesha" and had a supporting role in "Save The Last Dance." Starr will be appearing in HBO's "The Wire" and has several other movie deals in development.

Onyx's new album is one of the most well rounded albums in hip-hop history. "We're making records for all angels," Fredro Starr explains. "We coming to just fuck the game up," Starr says. "We're bringing it how we were bringing it 10 years ago. It's a full circle."