Sunday, June 4, 2023
Uptown Assassins - On The Rise - 1995
Here is the first and only 12" released in 1995 by the group Uptown Assassins (U.A.) from NYC. The crew was formed around 1992-1993, and the original members were BRK, Poe a.k.a Bo Gamble, L a.k.a LCE and the DJ/Producer Face a.k.a 2Feezy.
Their 12" came out on Fort Knox Records and consists of 2 tracks entitled "On The Rise" on the A-side which is the lead single, and "Live From Da Swamps" on the B-side. Nothing written about the productions on the labels but it seems that both tracks produced by Face were recorded at D&D Studios and engineered by Joe Quinde. Around 12-15 tracks produced by Face were recorded there at that time.
Neither Gimmicks nor metaphors here... BRK declared in a video that they rhymed for people in the streets about regular life shit...Streets, Money and Blocks... all the hood elements.
Uptown Assassins manager was the hip-hop producer Christopher "Cat" Tucker a.k.a Cat Lion. An Uptown Assassins promo tape came out before the official release of the wax, that's how Cat based in Virginia discovered the group. Cat was originally from Crown Heights, Brooklyn, then moved to Lynchburg,VA in the early 90s. He became the executive producer for groups or artists from Virginia like Profits Of Rage or Starr Nyce, whose the album "Forever" was dropped on Hip-Hop Enterprise in 2021.
I don't know exactly the story of Uptown Assassins after this 12", but years later some group members formed NMOB (Notorious Mobsterz) with other cats from NYC.
Friday, June 2, 2023
Mix : Delaware Hip Hop History Mix Vol. 1
Five years ago, DJ Slade The Grenade (a.k.a Marchitect of the Outfit) delivered a Mix dedicated to the Delaware Hip-Hop History. Enjoy !
01. Fred Gee and DJ F3 - Keep on Dancin
02. Cage 1 - Straight Outta Cage
03. 3rd Dynasty - Gotsa Get Funky
04. Unlimited Soul - Silence Of The Scams
05. Mc Isaiah - Riverside Bucket 26
06. Sons of Sam - Charisma
07. Doc D and DJ Cut Wiz - This Is How It Should Be Done
08. Disco Beave - Im Servin em
09. Cipha - Scared to Die
10. Marchitect- Dead In Your Trax
11. The Outfit - 3 Mics 2 Marks and One Jas
12 Cipha - Rock Rock on
13. Hez- Featuring Keziah - Rock The Mic Right
14. The Outfit - Rise and Shine
15. *Bonus Track - Unlimited Soul - Verbs of The Suburbs
Thursday, June 1, 2023
M.I. & Steve Colossal - CHRYME/Silva Foxx - 2023
Californian producer JVISION teams up with M.I. of Constant Deviants and Steve Colossal (Global Platoon) to drop on 7" two singles "CHRYME / Silva Foxx" which were originally recorded in 2014.
Wednesday, May 31, 2023
Hades - The Face Of A New Revolution - 1997
"The Face Of A New Revolution" is a very rare record released in 1997 by the Florida-based MC named HADES (pronounced "HAYDS"). I don't have much info about him except that his real name is Vic Moreno. He was a dude from South Dade, Miami and wasn't affiliated with any groups as far as I know. He had a partner named Black Mexico, an aspiring producer who was tight with him and who also features on the 12".
The EP consists of 4 tracks entitled "Unstable Positions", "Krazy World", "Superstar" and "Dice Of Life". The productions were handled by DJ Slice, except "Superstar" which was produced by Black Mexico and which is, I have to say, the weakest track of the record...
About DJ Slice, he was part of a group formed in the late 90s called The Mic-Row-Phonists, comprised of DJ Slice, J-Pure & Draz. He is also known for his productions for artists like Society and Mother Superia. The connection between Hades and him happened when he was a staff engineer at Ocean Drive Recording Studios on South Beach. Hades and his peeps came in to book studio time. After he found that DJ Slice was the producer for "Yes 'N Deed", he wanted beats from him and also to record there...
By the way... about Millenium 2000, it was a small indie record label managed by Hades's brother Mario. That's all I know ! Peace
Mix : S4BZ - Rough Mix