Mad Vibes - Check Your Team Members / Riches To Rags - 1997

12" - 1997 - B-Side Records 

Here is the debut 12" released in 1997 by the group Mad Vibes a.k.a the Mv's a.k.a MV Gorilla Renegades from the city of Waterbury, CT better known under the name of H2O the Dirty Waters. The Wax came out on B-Side Records, a record label owned and managed by Kevin Johnson, and consists of the tracks "Check Your Team Members" & "Riches To Rags" available in their vocal and instrumental versions and both produced by the Waterbury-based DJ/Producer Mike Force.

  

In a recent interview, Mike Force gave me more info about Mad Vibes... it's time to give a shine to their story and some knowledge for the Hip-Hop record collectors worldwide. 

Mike, who were the members of the group exactly ? 

Mike Force : "The Members were just me and my Brother Tay Woss... but the Mad Vibes was a movement that consist of a few brothas from different Hoods (Corey King, 12, Kevlar, Tommy King, Deshante, Kris Eason, LG, Dj Stacks, L outta Philly, Paul Gatling, Née Nee, Domingo, GF, just to name a few...) so it wasn’t just about the music, we were the Hip-Hop side of the Mad Vibes, as well as the street side too."

KJ, Corey King, Mike Force, Tay Woss & 12 - Photo courtesy of Mike Force 

Mike Force : "The mad vibes was a Hip-Hop crew started in 89. I was producing, the first time people ever heard me rhyme was on those 2 singles. My brotha was known around the tri state New York, New Jersey and Connecticut for being one of the best MCs and was rhyming when Hip-Hop was only on Tapes.

I was a DJ that's how I started. I started out with my own crew the Fresh 3 MC's. We were part of a big crew called the J.N.C (Jam Nation Crew) which was a collective of different crews that did Graffiti, Breakdance, DJ and MC." 

J.N.C (DJ True, Baron Brown a.k.a B.SKI, Tay Woss, Jazzy J, Mike Force, GQ & LG) - 1991 - Photo courtesy of Mike Force 

Mike Force : "Me & Tay Woss lived all over the Tri State but we were originally from Waterbury, Connecticut. At the time we did "Riches To Rags" and "Check Your Team Members", Tay was living between Brooklyn and the Bronx and I was in Connecticut." 

How did the connection happen with the CEO and Executive Producer Kevin Johnson ?

Mike Force : "We're all are from Waterbury and we were friends with Kev's twin sisters Tammy and Tawanna ... Kev and Tay had a good friendship and knew each other a little better than me and Kev ... but in the early 80's Kev had Dj equipment and wanted to start doing parties ... Me my cousin Dj Wiz Moe and Dj Kool Keith were part of the JNC so we were already doin parties and block parties around the tri state so it was inevitable once Tay told us about Kev having equipment that we would all end working together... after that faze of Hip-Hop ended and the Hip-Hop scene started to get commercial, everything changed so around the tri state area the creation of music kind of slowed down cause that's when the west coast made there mark so it changed the landscape of music, I wanna say around 90/91 music started to change again that's when the Native Tongue, Pete Rock & CL Smooth, Brand Nubian, Showbiz & A.G, Das EFX, Redman started to emerge and it was back on so Kev decided to start an independent Label. That was B.Side Records... he came to us with the idea and we was like fuck it let's do it!"

Could you tell us why there is no album released after that 12" ?

Mike Force : "Well we had a big disagreement about the business between Mad Vibes and B-Side Records. We have a lot of music and yes we did and do have an album recorded as the Mad Vibes.

When music started to change again and get even more commercial as far as business cause the first commercialization of Hip-Hop was sonically but when it became about endorsements and brands linking up it got really commercial and then the south came and that wave made its mark ... but now in America you have artist like Roc Marciano and crews like the Griselda Movement with Westside Gunn, Conway the Machine & Benny the Butcher bringing the 90's feel back so it's lookin good again."

Well... it's not really easy to find a copy of this rare Mad Vibes 12" from 1997 nowadays, so grab it quickly if you're lucky to find one for sale and I hope the unreleased album will see the light of day soon ...

Mad Props to Mike Force, thanks for your time Bro.