90s unreleased material recorded by Natural Mystics from Queens, NY is something I'd like to see coming out one day. In 1996, this group comprised of Sha lah Hollis a.k.a Sha the Sol Inspector, Clyne Cunningham jr. a.k.a Composer Clyne and his blood brother Curt Cunningham a.k.a Charms the Fly Brat, dropped two dope 12-inches on Domestic Violence Entertainment.
Their debut 12" was "Ain't So / How It Go" followed by "How It Go! (Da Remix) / 1 Life 2 Live", everything produced by Pretzel's Logic, a duo of beatmaker consisting of Paul Lepe and Rodolpho Duran a.k.a Cousin Biff a.k.a Blitz who also managed Domestic Violence Entertainment.
Honestly, both 12" are considered as classics and need to be in your record collection. A few copies are available online for a very good price. Grab them asap if it isn't done yet !
I've been in contact with Sha, Charms and Clyne. They answered a few questions and gave me more info about how everything first started for the Natural Mystics.
Sha-La Hollis : " I started rhyming in 89 after my pops heard me reciting a public enemy song one day he stopped me and told me to write my own rhymes, He was the road manager for u.t.f.o. and was into rap and I guess wanted to see if I could do it so I took his words seriously and began to write during my spare time. In 1990 I started noticing this kid around my way that always looked mad chill every time I saw him, one day he was on my block and we both looked at each other and smiled. It was as if this dude was a long lost brother or something, like we were meant to meet or something, can’t explain it but it was that kind of vibe and we just started kicking it from there almost everyday n became the best of friends from the start. We found out we both liked to rhyme shortly after, but before me and Clyne were friends a dude Clyne was cool with, which happened to be a guy I had a rocky relation ship invited Clyne to Kuzin Biff’s crib then known as Dj Blitz to record cause he had equipment. Clyne took me over there and It was the first time seeing a home studio set up. To see Kuzin Biff (17 at the time) pull a drum sample and loop them from a stax record on my very first visit sealed the deal for me, I was there to stay !Plus juju from the beat nuts was a frequent visitor, Kuzin biff learned how to produce from him and I learned from Kuzin biff, one day I walked into biffs crib and juju had the phatest James brown loop playing while cutting up a fly sax over it. Clyne is my witness, when he turned to me n said how that sound? I dam near jumped thru the ceiling screaming that’s hype! LOL! I was 15, I couldn’t help myself. Me Clyne n Biff formed a group called Nice 3 aka Nice to the 3rd power aka N3 in 1990. Me and Clyne was 15 at this time. "
Clyne : "It all started in Corona Queens, the home of Kool G Rap, Isis (from X-Clan), Juju from the BEATNUTS… the list goes on. I met Sha the Sol Inspecta (at the time he was Smooth Sha) in the neighborhood, I'm from 103st and he's from 104th. We quickly found out that we both had a love for music and started showcasing our rhymes to each other. We had a group called Nice to the 3rd Power. DJ Kueb G, who is Rudolfo/Biff 's cousin, introduced us to Biff and we started recording.
Sha-La Hollis : " As time went on Clyne little brother Charms started rhyming, he was 13 years old so we would let him do intros and little speaking parts on some of our first songs. And then he began to record his own songs and started getting his flow together soon after. From 90 till about 94 or 95 we moved around did different projects with different people here and there but the idea came up one day to make all 3 of us 1 group. We came up with the name Natural Mystics and the rest was history. I can’t believe that it still generates interest the way it does."
Charms the Fly Brat : "I had a group called "Threes Kompany". Sha and Clyne had a group with Rodolpho Duran "Cousin Biff" who was the DJ and producer. Juju of the Beatnuts was Biff's musical mentor... long story short we all got together and formed the Natural Mystics in 1995."
Clyne : "My brother and I grew up listening to Bob Marley... I mean like a lot !! We were trying to decide a name for our new group, we were recording one day and Sha said "Mellow Moods", "Natural Mystics" and we went with the Natural Mystics.
Sha-La Hollis : " We were looking for a month or so but had no idea of what to call us, we loved Bob Marley and Peter Tosh records and would rock them when we traveled out of state in the car. It broke up the monotony of listening to straight rap music 4hrs going n coming back from DC. Then late 95 me and Clyne were freestyling in my crib, most likely drinking and getting bent, and all I remember was something about mellow mood and natural mystics and then it just registered, a natural mysticism, like a organic spirituality, or a duality of opposites that remain in a constant state... just like my spirit in this flesh... what the hell could be iller than that? Plus it just sounded right for us. When Clyne heard it he looked at me, turned and thought about it for a few and agreed that that was to be the name, first thing we did was get on the phone to tell charms! Put it like this, we was happy to have found that name, and I realized that sometimes you just have to give the universe time and it will give you what you are looking for."
Clyne : "We had a lot of music but only recorded "How It Go", "Ain't So", "How It Go (the remix)" and "1 Life 2 Live". We didn't release an album after that because... to be honest, it's like that show Unsung... things started to fall apart. We were really young, and didn't know the business... but we did continue to make music. We started a group called Gortechs Division with all unreleased material that we may release. Sha stopped rapping and took over production duties once we parted ways with Kuzin biff. He produced the Gortechs Division project and most of the unreleased Natural Mystics songs as well as "Country Cousins" for Talib Kweli featuring Raheem Devaughn and was rocking with 9th Wonder's True School Camp for awhile. "
Mad Props to Sha-La Hollis, Clyne & Charms , thanks for your time.
Lots of good info there, thanks for the hookup and all the hard work you do. Like so many of these artists that only put out a few records back in the day, Natural Mystics leave you wanting to hear more. Hopefully at some point they release the stuff that never dropped.
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