The Dayton Family
The Dayton Family is a hardcore rap group that hails from the town of Flint, Michigan, USA. The group was originally composed of Bootleg, Shoestring, and Backstabber. The group is now composed of Shoestring, Bootleg, Jake The Flake, and Ghetto E. Matthew Hinkle, a.k.a. “Backstabber” was incarcerated sometime after the group released their debut album What’s On My Mind?. He has not been released since, so on their follow up album, there was only Shoestring and Bootleg contributing to the album. The title of the album, F.B.I. is significant with Matthew Hinkle’s prison sentence. The Letters stand for Fuck Being Indicted. There were guest appearances by Bootleg’s brother, Erick Dorsey a.k.a Ghetto E and Esham, a local Michigan rapper from Detroit that pioneered acid rap and made way for others in the Michigan rap scene. Ghetto E later became part of the Dayton Family on the release of Welcome to the Dopehouse. The group named themselves after one of the most crime-ridden streets in Flint, Dayton Avenue, which is technically a street, not an avenue. Google Map
The Dayton Family is known for their gritty, no nonsense crime tales of ghetto survival, struggle, and poverty instead of riches and fame. Although The Dayton Family at one point only consisted of Shoestring and Bootleg. But throughout the years, Ghetto E and Jake the Flake had many contributions to their early recordings. The group debuted with the album What’s On My Mind? in June 1995, it was eventually followed by the albums F.B.I. (1996), Shoestring came out and released his own album, “Representin’ Till the World Ends” in 1999. Shoestring also released, “Cross Addicted” in 2001.Welcome to the Dopehouse (2002), Family Feud (2005), Return to Dayton Ave. in (2006), and the limited edition version of the last album Back on Dayton Ave. (2006). Unfortunately the group never really reached a broader audience outside Flint, and their regional surroundings. The group was also plagued by legal problems over the years. However, despite the adversity the group managed to obtain a significant following.