Redlife feat Ghetto Concept - 4Scope - 1995

Here is an other gem from Kevin Beacham's tape collection...

Thanks to him for sharing this dope track released in 1995 by Redlife from Rexdale (Toronto, Canada) featuring Ghetto Concept and produced by Mr Attic (of Da Grassroots).

"I first became aware of Canadian Hip Hop, by way of Toronto, after hearing Michie Mee's incredible song, "On This Mic" on the Basement Flavor Compilation in '88. I was an instant fan. A year later, watching The Box, I saw the video for "Let Your Backbone Slide" by Maestro Fresh Wes, which grabbed my ear and led to me staying in tune with his whole career, and even resulted in me being a featured voice on his "Built To Last" album when he used my voice on the album's intro from a excerpt of Time Travel Radio. 

When the '90s came in, the next notable Toronto release I recall is the Cold Front Compilation from '91, and my favorites on there were Sonyalive and Fresh B, both who I never knew to make any other music. And, in that same year, the Dream Warriors had a music video that was getting notable play, and its interesting approach led to me buying their album, and finding plenty of gems on there. All of that in mind, I was well aware that there was some great music coming out of Canada, Toronto specifically up to that point. And, it's possible I'm forgetting some things, and certainly some things I missed out on because they were more regionally focused, but for the next few couple years ('92-'93), I didn't hear much new out of Toronto.

But, in '95 I was at the Rock Steady Crew Anniversary, and at this time I owned my own promotions company and one of my accounts was Wildpitch Records, and my main points of contact there were Marc Genova, MC Serch and DJ Eclipse. I met up with Eclipse at the RSC jam, and he gave me two copies of a 12" by an artist named Frankenstein, and when I read the label, I learned he was from Toronto. Around that same time, a handful of great 12" singles came my direction from Toronto; Saukrates, Ghetto Concept, Choclair, Grassroots Music, and Thrust. This was perfectly timed with the start of Time Travel Radio (debuting on 4-20-95). I was so impressed with this string of releases, I became very curious. Why all of the sudden did this talent pool start to bubble over in Toronto. I knew it wasn't just magically happening then, there had to be a story. There had to be some history I was missing from what I heard from '88-'91, to what all the sudden was happening in '95. 

So, I started trying to do some research. Although '95 is the first year I went on the internet, there still wasn't a lot of Hip Hop information there, at least not much useful for an inquiry like this. But, after I realized the drive to Toronto from Waukegan, IL, was only about 10 hours, I planned a trip. I wound up going there 3-4 times over the next fw years. And, on these trips, I connected with everyone I could on the local scene. I did interviews with artists. I went to several Rap shows. I visited nearly all of the Rap radio shows that were on the air. And, I documented a lot of it with a camcorder and a mini-cassette recorder. The Toronto scene was very welcoming to me, and they were mostly surprised that someone from the US would come to explore their scene in such detail. I don't know if this is 100% true, but many people told me I was the first person from the US to come there and explore their scene in that way, and because of that, they gave me a lot of access, and each person I talked to, connected me with several other people. On those trips, I met with Frankenstein, Saukrates, Kardinall Offishall, MIchie Mee, Thurst, Turnstylez DJ Crew (Grouch, Son Of Soul, Lil Jazz), Motion, Maestro Fresh Wes, Syndrome, Jellystone, DJ Day, Madlocks and many others, including Redlife. 

I actually went out to meet Redlife in their neighborhood, and interviewed them at the kitchen table of one of their houses. And, they gave me a few tapes of upcoming music. And, I used to play this single HEAVY on the radio, both the A-side, "Who's Talkin' Weight?" but especially the B-side "4Scope" featuring Ghetto Concept. This song is great and I'm blown away that it, or their planned album, never dropped, at least not to my knowledge. 

I really loved Toronto. I remember being impressed at how clean the city was and how great the people were. I was actually strongly considering trying to move there, but then I was offered the job at Rhymesayers in Minneapolis. If that didn't happen, there is a really good chance, I'd be almost 20 years deep living in Toronto right now. I recall the only issue I had with Toronto was I had a hard time finding breakfast food. Everyone kept telling me "Tim Horton's", and was like I want some pancakes, french toast??!! That's not to shabby for an only complaint. 

Much love to that whole Toronto scene, and thanks for upcoming up your scene and homes to me! I'll be sharing some more Toronto rarities here eventually, including that video footage that I've shown to anyone really..." - courtesy of Kevin Beacham