Thursday, January 25, 2018

Camouflage Large



Photo courtesy of Alex Robles


"C**k back da nine/Push your wig back/All my peoples in the PJs pack gats
Do you remember that ? no doubt It should talk to you if you were listening to real Hip-Hop in 1996.


Camouflage Large was a Brooklyn based crew from Breukelen Projects and originally consisted of E-Knight, White-AL, Four-Fif, Black Assassin, Razen Kane and 9 Lives. 
The group was founded and started creating demos circa '96. 
The Assassin : "We all grew up in the same neighborhood and some of us went to the same schools."
White-AL : "We were all friends and had different styles in terms of rapping. We all had separate solos and collabos together that I may still have on cassette and I have a few digital copies somewhere..." 

Photo courtesy of Alex Robles


They dropped their first 12" maxi-single 'Hitmen Holdin' Steel / Cocbacda 9' in 1996 on Close Range Records, a label owned by Kenyatta Bell.


12" - 1996 - Close Range Records 






The tracks were produced by E-knight who was also a member of the excellent indy group N.Y Confidential. Both tracks had good critics from the underground Hip-Hop scene when it came out and were played many times by Stretch & Bobbito on WKCR that year, certainly the only Radio Show which was able to spin this kind of wax. 
Quality guarantee, the tracks were recorded at D&D Studio and all cuts done by Dj Goldfinger. As you can see on the pic above, the first pressing was with artist misspelled as "Camoflauge" on labels but it will be correctly spelled on the second version. 



White-AL : "We never had a budget to record a full album. I started my own label "Camouflage Large Records LLC" with my partner Richard L Williams a.k.a Weev with all of the members minus E-knight and put out the second single entitled 'Regulate' "



12" - 1997 - Camouflage Large Records 


The wax came out in 1997 and was composed of 3 tracks : "Regulate" produced by Jovonn, "Hear Me Out" and "Heavy Heaters" both produced by Latief who is also known for his productions for dope artists like Grand Puba, Mystidious Misfitss, Masta Ace, Onyx, All City and more ... 






Photo courtesy of Richard Williams


The CL Clique used to perform with Killa Army a lot and did a commercial for a local clothing store in Brooklyn way back called S&D Downtown Brooklyn. 
After that the group ended ... but most of the members are still in the game nowadays. White-Al and E-knight are still here under the same monikers. The Assassin is now known as Jus Stacks and Four-Fif is the CEO and founder of MoveOver Magazine. 

White-AL: "All of us are still doing well... A few of us are still underground artist and are still rapping including myself... we’re still all cook with each other til this day. "



Mad Props to Alex Robles a.k.a White-AL 

3 comments:

  1. we had a great run.... To hear some new (but same 90's real hip hop) 4-FiF check out one of my new mixtapes
    Listen to MoveOver the Mixtape volume 1 Time is Money by 4-FiF #np on #SoundCloud
    https://soundcloud.com/user-856642624/sets/moveover-the-mixtape-volume-1-time-is-money

    ReplyDelete
  2. DOPE PAGE--I'm still rocking on that mic--Section 2 - https://soundcloud.com/white-al-1

    ReplyDelete