Rahem Ross Brown (March 20, 1970 – November 6, 2022), better known by his stage name Tame One, was an American hip hop recording artist and graffiti artist from New Jersey. He was a member of Artifacts, Leak Bros, and the hip-hop supergroup The Weathermen.
Musical career
As half of rap duo Artifacts (with brother El Da Sensei), they released their "graffiti-honoring debut" album Between a Rock and a Hard Place in 1994, and a follow-up album That's Them in 1997. Tame One has released two albums with the Artifacts, eight solo albums, six mixtapes, and five collaborations one with former labelmate Cage as Leak Bros (Waterworld), one with Del the Funky Homosapien (Parallel Uni-verses) and The Revolution album with Dro Pesci and Nick Jackelson. He has worked with artists such as Aesop Rock, El-P, DJ Mr. Len, Breeze Brewin, Travis McCoy, Vast Aire, Yak Ballz, Hussein Fatal, Mos Def, Dro Pesci, and etc. [1] He joined the underground supergroup the Weathermen which was formed in 2002 by Cage and El-P, and the same year he released his first solo album and EC debut named When Rappers Attack. Tame One's second solo album O.G. Bobby Johnson appeared in 2005. Next year he issued his next album called Slow Suicide Stimulus, a cooperative project with the Dusted Dons.[2]
In July 2009 Tame One released a music video for his single "Anxiety Attacks" directed by Derek Pike. Credited with making hip-hop's first song about "Molly" (MDMA, the active ingredient in Ecstasy) at this time, Tame met Staten Island rapper Dro Pesci.[3] Together they recorded the yet-to-be-released album "The Revolution".
Tame One then released an EP at slangcorp.com called Hell or High Water produced by DJ Junkwaffel. He also worked on an Artifacts reunion album No Expiration Date (2022) and promoted a Boom Skwad Recordings EP (CRAZEE, Doin Me and Boom Skwad on Attack).
In 2024, production duo Parallel Thought posthumously produced Acid Tab Vocab, "'Old Jersey Bastard'", and with Xing and Fox Spazmatic. Also in 2024, Young Zee released "Burn Out" and Division East Records re-released The Grudge LP.
Personal life and death
Tame One was the first cousin of rapper Redman. He belonged to graffiti crews FC CREW (Fame City / First Class Crew), originated Boom Skwad Crew (including DJ RhinoCMZ and AKool) as well as LTD (Local Transit Destroyers). He painted pieces, murals and subway trains alongside brother Maliq Griffin (DJ Porno). Tame One died from kidney and heart failure on November 6, 2022, at the age of 52.[4][5] The medical examiner cited prescribed pharmaceuticals as the likely cause of the heart failure.[6][7] Rahem's mother Darlene Harris utilizes Instagram and Facebook accounts to continue Tame One's artistic legacy.
