CD-R (Digipack) - 2017 - Beat Freq Recordings
"Lurking in the shadows of the bright lights, glitz and glamour of Hollywood is an organically grown crew of authentic artists that counter the hyper sensationalist portrayal of the people in our beloved City of Angels: welcome to the Blak Forest.
Through the early ‘90s, major label representation of hip-hop from Los Angeles was predominantly “gangsta rap,” and understandably so; the impact of N.W.A.’s “Straight Outta Compton” had record companies in a gold rush type frenzy; and while the industry and media were focusing on one vertical of L.A. rappers, a movement of talented artists born and raised on hip-hop as b-boys from the early ‘80s, honed their writing and performing skills through to the early ‘90s, were beginning to create and release some of the most vibrant, unadulterated hip-hop music by the mid 1990s. An entire movement had begun, and as independently produced vinyl records started circulating through mix shows, mixtapes, and grungy clubs in cities throughout the globe, the golden era of Los Angeles underground hip-hop was gaining worldwide recognition. While the many of the groups to emerge from the L.A. underground have become highly recognizable names in music, the 1997 Blak Forest album “You Are Now Entering” captures the true essence of hungry, talented artists, that present an honest streetwise sensibility, battle rap ferocity, interlaced with consciousness and intellectualism, over masterful production that sound like instant classics on the first needle drop, making this record, “the album that every true hip-hop head needs to discover.”
The Blak Forest resides within the streets of Los Angeles County, but the actual home of the Blak Forest was the Treehouse, located somewhere around where the 710 freeway ends in East LA. As you entered the old cable company property converted into a studio, the aromas of burning chronic blunts permeated the air, and tiny billows of smoke seemingly puffed out of the eggshell studio soundboards to the rhythm of the hard-hitting drums knocking out of the studio speakers.
Behind the board is the ultra calm, glassy-eyed Wiz1, one of the gifted producers of the Blak Forest, who earned the name Wiz while working at an Atlanta studio as a teenage prodigy that introduced techniques to producers such as Organized Noize (Outkast). In the room, and scattered throughout, are various members of the Blak Forest having loud, animated conversations, laughing and talking shit, thoroughly enjoying a drink and a smoke while hanging with friends and making music. From thick, vibey, jazz-laden tracks; hard-hitting, rhyme inducing beats; to shiny, soulful, ear-pleasing production; the soundtrack that Circle of Power (Mone, Wiz1,and Jess Luv), and DJ ICD (Urbanites) provide for their crew captures a feel-good affinity for music approach that exemplifies the honest passion of the B.F. lyricists throughout the record; a genuine quality that is a rarity amongst the plethora of music that simply sounds manufactured.
The original release of “You Are Now Entering” was on L.A. hip-hop pioneer Steve Yano’s Skanless Records, (Rest in Power). Over a decade before, Steve owned a record store at the Roadium Swap Meet in Torrance, CA. He was “the man” that DJ’s from all over Southern California would call to get the newest hip hop releases, and was instrumental in “breaking records” on the West Coast. Yano sold the famous Dr. Dre Roadium mixtapes, and subsequently ended up introducing Dre to Eazy E, which resulted in the forming of N.W.A. The group’s independent releases turned into platinum success, dramatically influencing the course of commercial rap. The Blak Forest was one of the few groups that Steve signed to his own independent label. Steve always knew a good record right when he heard it, and he knew that the Blak Forest was something special.
Steve Yano, N.W.A., and the L.A. underground, were driven by passion and the need to express, and are connected as contributors to the same movement: Los Angeles Hip-Hop. Twenty years ago, the Blak Forest planted their seed in the movement, and for those who did not know, “You Are Now Entering…”"
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