Lord Finesse

東部名團D.I.T.C.（Diggin In The Crates）中的各個成員都是好樣的，Lord Finesse也不例外。對于詞句的盡善盡美、甚至是“斤斤計較”另每一個Battle中的對手都有所畏懼。DJ Mike Smooth則因賞識他的才華，便成為Finesse忠實的后臺，并不斷的給予了他不斷的動力和幫助。而Mike Smooth的DJ技巧就像他的拳擊技術一樣出色，可以輕易的擊敗任何對手。因此，他們這樣的黃金組合適時地吸引了已推出Gangstarr的唱片公司W(wǎng)ild Pitch的注意，順利簽約。
Lord Finesse的首張專輯《Funky Technician》中，由Diamond D, DJ Premier, Showbiz 和DJ Mike Smooth等人參與。尤其是其中的DJ Premier，作為最主要的制作人和后期的監(jiān)制，傾注心血的《Funky Technician》成了他本人的一張藍本唱片。使Premier被公認為當時最優(yōu)秀的制作人。而日后D.I.T.C的搭檔A.G.（Andre the Giant）則被Finesse曲折的請來加入歌曲的創(chuàng)作和部分Rapping。遺憾的是，《Funky Technician》只是叫好不叫座，銷量平平，而使Wild Pitch大為苦惱。Finesse也未獲得什么物質(zhì)上的回報。隨后的結果可以預料，雙方一拍兩散，F(xiàn)inesse轉(zhuǎn)投Ice T的Rhyme Syndicate管理公司。而多年后，《Funky Technician》卻并沒有被歷史所埋沒，最終被認為是一張含今量極高的經(jīng)典唱片，并由老東家Wild Pitch于2001年進行重新灌錄，試圖改寫那段無光的歷史。
Lord Finesse (born Robert Hall, Jr.; February 19, 1970) is a hip-hop artist and producer, from The Bronx, New York, best known as the leader of the D.I.T.C. crew. About.com ranked him number 29 on its list of the Top-50 Hip-Hop Producers.
In 1989, Finesse and his former partner DJ Mike Smooth signed with Wild Pitch Records, home of other popular hip hop artists such as Gang Starr, Main Source, Chill Rob G, Percee P and O.C.. In 1990, the duo released their debut album Funky Technician. The album featured production from future star beat-makers DJ Premier, Diamond D and Showbiz. Soon after, Finesse formed the popular New York underground crew D.I.T.C., an acronym for "Diggin In The Crates", together with Showbiz & AG and Diamond D. Future members included Fat Joe, O.C., Buckwild, and Big L.
Finesse returned as a solo artist in early 1992 with his second effort, Return of the Funky Man. The album featured guest appearances from Percee P and AG. The album's title track peaked at number 13 on the Hot Rap Singles chart. Return of the Funky Man also included a couple of songs that were produced by Finesse himself, and this would be the start of a career as a much respected hip-hop producer. In 1994 Finesse made a production appearance on The Notorious B.I.G.'s classic debut Ready to Die, on the track "Suicidal Thoughts". In 1995, he produced a big portion of Big L's debut album Lifestylez Ov Da Poor & Dangerous, including the single "M.V.P." and made an appearance on one of the album's highlight songs "Da Graveyard". He returned as an artist in 1996 with the now rare 12" single "Check The Method" and then the acclaimed album The Awakening. Finesse produced the entire album himself, and enlisted a large number of guests, including O.C., KRS-One, MC Lyte, Akinyele, Showbiz and A.G., Diamond D and Kid Capri. The underground single "Actual Facts" featuring Sadat X, Grand Puba and Large Professor, was included as a hidden track on the album.
Finesse hasn't released a studio album since this effort, but has continued his production work. In 1997, he produced the title track to O.C.'s acclaimed effort Jewelz and the track "Channel 10" off of Capone-n-Noreaga's debut The War Report. Finesse released a mixtape called Diggin' On Blue in 1999. Later in the year, he produced the track "The Message" on Dr. Dre's seminal 2001 album. Finesse is currently working on a Funky Technician remix project, as well as a new D.I.T.C. album. Along with these projects, he and DJ Premier are working on a posthumous Big L album.
In 1998, Finesse provided the vocal sample on the hook to "The Rockafeller Skank", a hit single by British musician Fatboy Slim from his album You've Come a Long Way, Baby. The song features Finesse's repeated line "Right about now, the funk soul brother. Check it out now, the funk soul brother".
Lord Finesse returned to the mic on Handsome Boy Modeling School's album White People in 2004. He was featured on the song entitled "Rock 'N' Roll (Could Never Hip-Hop Like This) pt. 2", collaborating with famous old-school DJ's Grand Wizard Theodore and Jazzy Jay. Chester Bennington and Mike Shinoda from Linkin Park make appearances, as well as Rahzel, then of The Roots.
In June 2012, Finesse filed a $10 million lawsuit against Mac Miller, Rostrum Records and DatPiff for the use of a sample of Finesse's song "Hip 2 Da Game" used in Miller's 2010 mixtape song "Kool-Aid and Frozen Pizza", even though the song was not commercially released and Finesse was given credit for the sample from the beginning. A case can be made that the song "made money through YouTube ads and Lord Finesse could be entitled to some of those, but instead Finesse believes that his beat has been instrumental to all of Mac's success." This was done even though the song is itself based on an Oscar Peterson sample, which he himself never paid for. In January 2013 the lawsuit was settled outside of court with actual legal results not revealed.
In 2014, Lord Finesse produced a remix for Swedish rap group Looptroop Rockers single "Another Love Song".