While rhyming at a party in L.A., they attracted the attention of B-Real of Cypress Hill. In 1991, a 14-year-old Maman and Scott Caan decided to become a duo named The Whooliganz.

These included Shifty Shellshock of Crazy Town, Evidence and Scott Caan, son of James Caan. He joined up with other like-minded artists who wrote lyrics and rebelled against their suburban surroundings.

As a teenager, he began to identify strongly with the rebellious lyrics and urban sounds of hip-hop, and he began writing his own lyrics. Maman hails from Beverly Hills, California. Together with his longtime collaborator Oh No (with whom he forms the group Gangrene), Woody Jackson and Tangerine Dream, he composed the official score to the 2013 video game Grand Theft Auto V. He focuses on producing entire albums for rappers and instrumental projects of his own. While he produces for many artists, most of his recent production has been for a close group of frequent collaborative rappers. After rising to prominence in the late 1990s, as a close associate of Dilated Peoples and Mobb Deep, he went on to produce for many of hip hop's leading artists in the 2000s, and has been hailed as one of the genre's leading producers. He began his music career in 1991 in the hip hop duo The Whooliganz under the moniker Mudfoot, along with now-actor Scott Caan (whose moniker was 'Mad Skillz').

Daniel Alan Maman (born October 25, 1977), professionally known as the Alchemist (or simply Alchemist), is an American record producer, DJ, rapper and songwriter.

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