Darkroom started with black & white cassette singles, selling them out of the trunk, all over the Bay Area and Northern California. They eventually made enough noise to secure distribution through Oakland's now-defunct Music People (home to many successful Bay Area rap artists including: Cougnut, IMP, Richie Rich, 415, RBL Posse, Chunk, Totally Insane, Master P, TRU, Dre Dog/Andre Nickatina, etc.). Throughout the '90s, Darkroom Familia toured regionally and all over the country, performing alongside E-40, Too $hort, Ice Cube, Rodney O & Joe Cooley, 2nd II None, R. Kelly, Black Sheep, The Coup, The Conscious Daughters, Zapp & Roger, to name a few. They continued releasing albums but their first real hit was "From The Barrio With Love," which led them to sign with Sunset Blvd./Warner Bros. Records for the major label release of the album.  One of the executives at the label, asked Darkroom to join him on his new label, Explicit Entertainment.

      After recording six albums for Explicit, Darkroom was being pursued by Dogday Records, who had just sold an impressive 75,000 albums of 11/5's "Fiendin' For The Funk." Darkoom's only intention were to become the biggest and first Latino super group. Their plan was to release a movie and soundtrack at the same time. A salivating Dogday Records eagerly signed them. Darkroom Familia was now label-mates with Andre Nickatina, 11/5 and The Coup. They signed for a very brief period, only releasing six albums. After their contractual obligations were over, Darkroom decided to stay independent and signed a distribution deal with City Hall Records.