Boogie Down's Got The Flavor !

Young cats are unlikely to know who were these 2 emcees from the Bronx, NY, Fordham Road section to be exact. If you do remember for the others, Foundation and Rezidue released the classic 12-Inches "Boogie Down's Got The Flavor b/w Don't Get It Twisted" in 1996. The wax came out on DataBase Productions, a record label originally managed by Rezidue, ELD and DJ Tariq Nelson.

Rezidue : "I had a recording studio with a partner named ELD,  but I didn't know how to work the equipment.. so I asked another one of my partners to bring some rappers for me to work with so I could learn my equipment.  He brought Foundation with maybe ten other rappers. But Foundation really stood out. That's how we first met.

Tariq was partners with Eric a.k.a ELD ... the guy I started Database with.. they were partners before I came along but Tariq went to the army, came home in 1990 and join in.  But I met him two years earlier. We were 50/50 partners in the business, Tariq was like our unnoffcial manager, he took on certain responsibilities that a manager would do."

Tariq : " I grew up in Edenwald Projects in the North East Bronx. In 1983 my mother passed away and I moved in with my cousins on the west side of the Bronx, University and Tremont Ave. There I connected with Tasheik of the Fortunate Four. They had a Keyboard player / producer down with them named The Improvisional Eld. After a year with the Fortunate Four, The frustrations of not finding a job and group problems, I decided to join the Army. I kept in touch with ELD and we always planned to build a studio and make records etc. While I was away he met Rezidue who was named Cool Ron at the time and they made music for Roof Top Records. When I finally came home Me, Rezidue and ELD started Database Studio. We became a hot underground studio in the Bronx. as a part of our marketing and attempting to build our clients, Rezidue had the idea to bring up a lot of artists for us to work with in order to 1) get practice working with people and 2) spread the word about the studio. One of those artists was Foundation. 

Database started officially when I came home from the Army in 1990. I believe Rezidue and ELD were working on the idea already. ELD had equipment in his house and while he was producing for artists I don't think he could have run a recording studio from there. Once we moved to Rezidue's apartment I purchased some equipment to add to what ELD had and we opened for business.

Studio client were artists like DJ Rob Dinero and NBA North Bronx Alliance. I Attempted to put them out but we didn't receive good pre-orders on the record so we only had Test Pressings of NBA LIVE."

12" - 1996 - Database Productions 

So in '96, Foundation & Rezidue dropped their first and only 12". 

The A-side of the vinyl contains "Boogie Down's Got The Flavor" in its Radio Version, Jeep Mix version and Instrumental. On the Flip side, you can listen to the great "Don't Get It Twisted". Both tracks were produced by Rezidue.

Rezidue : "Boogie Downs Got the Flava... That was a crazy day and a crazy session . The whole situation was really bugged out at that point...

I got a call early in the morning from an old label mate.. we used to be signed to Rooftop Records in the 80s. This artist wanted to do a song with me but he was a drifter. He would show up one day and you may not see him again for months.. He was trying to get music from me and after so much back and forth I told him I'd give him a track if he wrote an R&B song for his sister who was a very good singer... he agreed to do it.. when I layed the track I had R&B in mind but he started sing that chorus... It fit the flow of the best and I was digging it... and then found called out of nowhere... I just told him.. Get over here and hung the phone up. He came and we laid our part but the other guy had to leave so we left part of the chorus open for him and left a space for his verse at the end... But he never came back.. like I suspected earlier. Tariq was taking my music to his job.. He worked for a record distributor.. They heard the song and went crazy eventually putting it out.. initially my boy was mad because he made the chorus and wasn't on the song.. but that was his own fault.. he eventually realized and were good to this day..."

Tariq :"I got a job working for BUDS International Distribution and was afforded the opportunity to put out some records. I of course wanted to put out my crew."

Foundation & Rezidue - Photo courtesy of Ronnie Cochran 

Foundation & Rezidue wasn't really considered as a group but the association of 2 MCs. At that time, Foundation was also known under the name of Tomahawk and was a member of the duo called Footprints. Their 12" released on Zestland Records is well-known by the NY indy Hip-Hop scene and was reviewed in the Sure Shot Singles section of the Source Magazine of March 1995

From The Source Magazine, March 1995 - Original Scan by Frederic Thecle

Rezidue : "Foundation and Rezidue technically wasn't a group or duo. Foundation was a part of Footprints and Rezidue which was my stage name came from a group that I was in called the Skunkheads."

The Skunkheads (Jahlil, Chalis & Rezidue) - Photo courtesy of Dj Tariq Nelson

Rezidue :"I was filming with Jahlil and the idea came to me to start this group. I named myself Rezidue shortly after because of the amount of weed I used to smoke... that was maybe 1992. 

My partner Chalis, used to do little things that may have undermined what we were doing.. We were on the Radio and doing live performances all the time..  One day Foundation was expressing his concerns about his partners lack of input on projects and I was in a similar situation with my partner.. so at that moment we headed to the studio and got our first song which made people sit up and take notice. That's how Foundation and Rezidue started !

We first recorded together as Foundation and Rezidue on an unreleased song called "Hut Hut" which was a street banger of a song. We got rave reviews for the way we sounded together and just continued recording.

What you hear on records from me was a super watered down version of what I really used to do.. I switched my style in the Skunkheads to a much more friendlier type of rapping and I got bored with rapping so I wanted to produce only.. but most of the artist I produced for admired my Mic skills and would talk me into getting on records.. sometimes I gave in.. other times I didnt..  And there was some tension with tariq after the first single took off..  He started making certain demands that created tension within our work flow..  Eventually he opted out of the label and started his own thing... at that time spent a lot of time with Track Masters and their team.. this was in the late 90s."

12" - 1997 - DataBase Recordings

In 1997, Rezidue dropped a solo 12" single "Inner City Blues" produced by Rezidue himself. The sales were a little lower but the song luckily featured on the dope compilation named "New York Reality Check 101" mixed by DJ Premier and released on Payday. 

On the B-side, the song "Dropin Rezidue" was produced by Tic of Da Henchmen. 

Rezidue : "The second single was one of the things that caused tensions.. I think Tariq was uncomfortable with the level of reception I got as a producer.. He got a producer named Tic to produce 'Dropping Rezidue'.. but that wasn't our format... I did my own music... But I think Tariq was uncomfortable with the notoriety I got from producing and he insisted Tic produce the next single.. it was so off from everything we had done.. I didn't understand why he was trying to force this guys music on me... I did it just to stop arguing.. and the magazine's ate me up over that single.. it was the worst thing ever did as an artist. And I'll never do that again.

Foundation and me worked on songs but we had a studio fire... We suffered a loss in clients Tariq was disenchanted with running the studio at the time and I couldn't talk him out of it... We closed the doors on Database in July of 97"

Tariq :"By this time the music business was changing and we also had some tension between us as business partners. I just had a kid and was stressed out so we eventually parted ways. We remained friends. I started Street Music Entertainment."

Mad Props to Rezidue, Foundation and Tariq Nelson for the interviews !