The Psycho Realm is an American hip hop group started in 1989 by brothers Sick Jacken (Joaquín Gonzalez) and Big Duke (Gustavo Gonzalez) from the Downtown, Pico-Union area of Los Angeles. History The first recorded Psycho Realm song, "Scandalous," was released on the soundtrack of the film, Mi Vida Loca, in 1994. That same year B-Real of the rap group Cypress Hill saw Psycho Realm performing at Olvera Street for an End Barrio Warfare concert. Their performance inspired B-Real to the point that he wanted to join the group. In 1997 Sony released the first Psycho Realm album, labelled as an addition to the Cypress Hill Family by the sticker placed on the CD case. Due to conflicts with the record label, the Gonzalez brothers were dropped from Sony. As Jacken explains, "the machine was just trying to censor me / Didn't do it for Sony so they ended up releasing me / Independent, no longer locked down for an infinity / So my vicinity stays true to my identity." The brothers then went on to form Sick Symphonies, their own record label, which lacked the big budget for promotion and distribution in chain stores along with group member B-Real, who was stuck on his contract with Sony for Cypress Hill. Tragedy At 12:35 a.m. on January 29, 1999, one month before the expected release of the second Psycho Realm album, Duke was shot in the neck in a confrontation while trying to split up a fight at Tommy's Burger Stand at Beverly and Rampart Boulevard in Los Angeles. This left him paralyzed from the neck down for life. The shooter, a 24-year-old named Robert Gorcsi, who was on parole at the time of the shooting, was given a bond set at $1.6 million. He was eventually jailed for attempted murder. Later in 2000, Jacken released A War Story Book I with B-Real only appearing on one song. In 2001, the Sick Symphonies label released The Steel Storm, the first album of a new group called Street Platoon. Jacken, with the help of Street Platoon, finished A War Story Book II, which was released in the latter half of 2003 and nearly complete before the shooting of Duke. The group aims to inject pride and knowledge into those who live in gang-infested, poverty-ridden neighborhoods, while at the same time aiming to open the minds of the ones on the outside