The Goats

The Goats were an American alternative hip hop trio from Philadelphia. The founding vocalists were rappers Oatie Kato (James D'Angelo), Madd (a.k.a. "the M-A-the-double-D", Maxx Stoyanoff Williams), and Swayzack (Patrick Shupe). The group recorded on Columbia Records / Ruffhouse Records, and their first album is considered one of the best Philadelphia albums of all time.They released albums, Tricks of the Shade (1992), (produced by OaTie Kato (aka James D'Angelo) and producer Joe "the Butcher" Nicolo) and No Goats, No Glory (1994), on Ruffhouse Records and Columbia Records respectively. In 2019 they released a live album, Live at Khyber Pass - July 4th, 1993"], which was featured on the iTunes UK landing page for a week. Both studio albums have since gone out of print but are now available on streaming services. No Goats, No Glory peaked at No. 58 in the UK Albums Chart in August 1994.The Goats toured with Urge Overkill, Dog Eat Dog, Cypress Hill, Public Enemy, Beastie Boys and Luscious Jackson. In the introduction to the 2019 book about Ruffhouse Records by Chris Schwartz, Roots lead man QuestLove writes that the Goats his band to warm up for them, resulting in their first ever live show.In 1994, Oatie Kato (aka James D’Angelo) left The Goats because as he claimed "to eat more burritos in San Francisco." There he founded the group Jimmy Luxury which signed to Sony Records in 1999. Without him, the Goats continued to perform and produce music until the early 2000s inserting drummer D'Recka Pierce into the role of rapper.