Neso - The Move - 1997 / Gumbo - Forty-Eight Hours - 1998

12" - 1997 - Superegular Recordings 

Neso was a philly-based group originally consisted of Kaosm, Caresh and Qualified. Their first release "Subject To Change EP" came out on tape in 1996 followed by the 12-inch "The Move" released on Superegular Recordings in 1997. 

Scan courtesy of Kevin Beacham 

 This rare 12" is composed of three songs : "The Move" featuring Kaosm, Caresh and Gifted who will be known later under the name of Jus Allah member of the Jedi Mind Tricks crew. The song is available in its original, instrumental, remix and remix instrumental versions. 

"Mad Coolout" available in its original and instrumental versions, featuring Kaosm, Teniweti, Arch Leon (of Doublespeek), Jay Block, Oddball and Qan, and "The Balance" featuring Caresh. 

All the tracks were produced by the legendary Stoupe (of Jedi Mind Tricks) for Onesoul Productions, who also managed Superegular Recordings with Vinnie Paz and a third guy who was down with them. 

How did the connection happen between all the members of the group ? 

Kaosm : "I was friends with Vinnie Paz in High School, he introduced me to his producer friend Stoupe and we began to work on music and different projects. I knew Caresh outside of knowing Vinnie and Stoupe. I introduced Caresh and Qualified (3rd member of Neso who wasn't on the record) to Stoupe and we began to record songs at Stoupe's house."

Which part of Philly were you all from exactly ?

Kaosm : "We were from Philly and Delaware County, I'm from Philly Chester and Delco areas, Qualified and Caresh are from Media, PA"

What were you hip-hop Influences at that time ? 

Kaosm : "Nas, Tribe, Gangstarr, Rakim, Kane, Hieroglyphics, NWA, EPMD... to name a few... I could be here all day with that type of list ! Soul music and R&B are big influences till this day, as well as some personal emcee friends."

Where does the name of Neso come from ?

Kaosm : "It comes from ONESOUL,  it's the middle of it !  It was Stoupe's idea."

Could you give me more info about the other artists featuring on the 12" ? 

Kaosm : "The record also had a guy named Gifted on it who wasn't in the group at the time but he was fam and it was love because we all wanted the same thing as young kids who wanted to rap. We put money up to to put the record out with discmakers.

Qan and Teniweti are my people, but Oddball and Jay Block I didn't know them. It was evident that people were being used so a lot of people didn't connect or get cool all the guys, I know we cool but we all had no idea how successful it was gonna be, we were just hip-hop head in love with the art.

Nobody knew the business either so there may be some bad feelings and tensions but I got the story no worries. People were on those songs that weren't a part of Neso, Stoupe wanted it to be a collective of emcees later on as me and Stoupe parted ways I took the Neso group beyond that to GUMBO and Black Caucus... No diss to anyone by the way its all love because we thought the music was dope !!"

G.U.M.B.O is an acronym for Gifted Universal Music Being Organized, consisted of Kaosm a.k.a Kaos Mobius, Caresh, Qualified, Bacon Bitz, G-Money, El-Drex, Slop, Cov Copacabana, LeGrand, Nitty Gritty, Big Ready, Baldeblak 88 and Extravaganza. In 1998 they released the "Forty-Eight Hours" project, a 7-Track EP dropped first on vinyl followed by a CD version which was the full album composed of 14 tracks mostly produced by DJ Nitty Gritty.

From Left to Right : DJ Nitty Gritty, LeGrand, Kaosm and G-money - Photo courtesy of Kaosm

12" - 1998 - Gumbo Productions 

   

 

Mad Props to Kaosm, thanks for your time. 

Big Up to Stoupe.