Ugly Duckling is an American hip hop group that formed around 1993 in Long Beach, California. Ugly Duckling's members include Dizzy Dustin (Dustin McFarland), Young Einstein (Rodney Pleasant Jr.) and Andy Cooper. The band decided to take the name Ugly Duckling because they felt like outcasts on the Southern California hip hop scene of the mid-1990s. According to the book How to Rap: the Art & Science of the Hip-Hop MC, it is one of the most prominent underground hip hop groups. History Each of the members of the group are from Long Beach, California. Dizzy, Einstein and Andy met each other through mutual friends and eventually began creating and performing music together. In 1995, the group self-released its first album Down The Road on cassette, which was sent as promo copies to radio stations and began to build a local following. The original promos came from a rainbow pack of tapes and differ in color. In 1998, they independently released their debut 12 single "Fresh Mode" on their own Special Records imprint which was licensed and eventually distributed worldwide and led to the band getting its first record deal with 1500/A&M/Universal. Musical style The group's style is primarily a throwback to the kind of hip hop popular in the late 1980s and early ’90s. It uses samples (particularly drum breaks and loops) as the foundation of most tracks, whereas many modern artists have given up sampling in favor of synthesized sounds and drum-machine beats. The two MCs, Andy and Dizzy, frequently alternate lyrics and often punctuate each others lines, reminiscent of early groups like Double Trouble, The Treacherous Three and Beastie Boys. Ugly Duckling is known for humorous and intelligent lyrics, "lampooning the excesses of modern hip hop", such as its obsession with sex and materialism. In live shows, the group's DJ Young Einstein employs complex scratching routines with vinyl instrumental records to provide the musical backdrop for the rappers unlike many modern hip hop groups who work from digital media. Einstein is also the owner of the group's unofficial mascot, the dookie gold rope, which is the subject of the song "Eye on the Gold Chain" and is worn by Einstein during live performances. They have performed in more than 30 countries including Canada, Australia, China, Japan, Korea, Poland, the United Kingdom, and Scandinavia. Ugly Duckling's music demonstrates the contrast of having grown up in an area known