How brotherhood made the Boo-Yaa T.R.I.B.E one of hip-hop’s fiercest groups

Respected and in some circles, feared, during the rise of West Coast hip hop, the Boo-Yaa T.R.I.B.E. were nonetheless, pioneers of a sound that remains relevant today.

Growing up as children of a devout Samoan pastor of the AOG Church, the Devoux brothers knew how important traditions were from a young age. 

The Devoux group consisted of seven: Paul “Ganxsta Ridd”, Ted “Godfather”, Danny “Monsta O”, David “E.K.A”, Roscoe “Murder One”, Donald “Kobra” and Vincent “Gawtti”.

While music was always part of their upbringing, the brothers found an early entry point to performance through their street dance crew, the Blue City Strutters; while their love for funk music was explored through early iterations of a band.

Growing up in Carson, California, the boys fell into gang life as young men, finding community in a brotherhood of Polynesian men who marched to a different code. 

Despite their strict religious upbringing, the popularity of gang life drew the brothers in and would remain a central part of their lives until the youngest of the Devoux brothers was lost to gang violence in the late 1980s.

Enter: music. 

Making the decision to leave Los Angeles for Japan, the group began to redirect their lives and dedicate it to creating music and entertaining crowds. 

Rebirthed as the Boo-Yaa T.R.I.B.E., the group gained international popularity and when they returned to California in 1988, their trajectory was set.

They became a pioneering force in West Coast gangsta rap, collaborating with the likes of Eminem, Faith No More, George Clinton, B-Real (Public Enemy); while proudly weaving their culture together with a signature sound that generations after them have continued to follow.

Vincent ‘Gawtti’ Devoux takes us down memory lane, reminding us why brotherhood continues to be the bedrock of the Boo-Yaa T.R.I.B.E.’s legacy.