5E - Paradox RMX - 1998

Northwest hip-hop had a very good indie scene during the 90s so I think it could be a good idea to give some shine to this group called 5E who was definitely part of it. This group was comprised of K-DUE a.k.a K-Dueski, GDe (pronounced Jeed), Juice, and Bitzo One a.k.a DJ Bitz N' Pieces.

If you don't know them, you need to know that they dropped their debut single "Paradox RMX" on wax in 1998. The single is taken from the excellent compilation album entitled "Classic Elements" released on CD format the same year on K Records, which is an underground record label located in Olympia, Washington. It also features groups or emcees like Ghetto Children, Jaleel, Black Anger, Jace or the female MC Soulstice... just to name a few. 

As there is no info on the internet about 5E, K-Due agreed to answer some of my questions to give us some. Here is the interview !

K-Due, where did you all come from ?

K-Due : " We all met in Des Moines, Washington which is a smaller city just south of Seattle Washington. "

When did you form the crew ?

K-Due : " We actually formed sometime in 1990/1991 and originally were a dance crew. At that time there was no crew name and the members were a little different. It was still myself, GDe, Juice. But we had two other dancers. Maurice and Brian. The real formulation of 5E happened in 1992 I would say. "

How did the connection happen between all the members ?

K-Due : " So really it started as dancing. Early 90s. Dancing was a huge part of hip hop. My brother and I used to make dance routines. Somehow in our apartment complex word got around that we could dance so we got a visit from another kid named Maurice. He came over and said "hey, I head y'all can dance". So we said yeah and he asked us to show him our moves. We did and he was impressed enough to invite us to join him and two others, (Brian and Steve) to start a dance crew and try to make it on to Showtime at the Apollo and Star Search. That was the plan. So we worked on a routine all summer long, until one day my brother says he doesn't want to dance anymore and we should just be a rap group. At that point we made the change and we all started rappin and stopped dancing. The Group would first be called "The Foundation". Shortly after, Juice decided we should change the name to "5 x Raw". (5 times raw since there were 5 members). "

How were you signed by K Records ?

K-Due : " We were doing lots of shows in the Seattle area and we're making some connections. We also had appearances on two popular hip hop radio shows. KGRG "ear to the street" with DJ Crush  was one of them. So we would eventually be on the show to perform live and do an interview. But DJ Crush would play our unreleased songs as well. "

K-Due : " From that exposure we met Jay (can't remember his last name) but he had a company called Impact Entertainment. He was promoting shows in the Seattle and Tacoma areas and wanted to do a compilation that bridges the gap between Washingtons two big cities, Seattle and Tacoma. So Jay saw us perform and approached us to see if we were interested in having a song in the compilation "Classic Elements". "

There is no other official release after the single "Paradox RMX", what happened to the group ?

K-Due : " We unfortunately started to grow up shortly after that and life kind of took over. My older brother GDe had two kids already at that point and stopped making music. Juice would move on to make solo music as the name J.U.I. 

I ended up getting together with two other friends and friends a different group called Organik Produce. We did put out more music but mostly just hard copies sold locally. Since then multiple releases online from myself and other members. But yeah I would say by 1999 5E was officially disbanded. "

Mad props to K-Due, thanks for your time Bro.