"This album was born in Southeast Washington, D.C., in the winter of 1992 — a place where music was survival, loyalty was everything, and talent had to fight for air. That’s where a young rapper named Eric Jones, soon to be known as Vice Versa, began carving out a legacy that never got the shine it deserved. Vice Versa came up with his childhood friend Stan, a local DJ with crates full of vinyl and a hunger that matched his own. They spent nights in basements looping beats and freestyling until sunrise - sharpening a sound that mixed D.C. grit with New York lyricism. Word spread. Battles were won. Open mics were crushed. A voice was rising out of Southeast.
Everything changed when a street-connected visionary named Baron “B” Flemings stepped in with money, ambition, and a belief in Vice’s raw talent. Alongside him came E-Boogie (Eric Kennedy), a young industry insider with D.C. roots and New York access. Together they formed Rage One Recordings - a label funded by hustle, heart, and the kind of grind nobody teaches in music school. The sonic backbone of Rage One was Scotty Beats, a gifted engineer/producer who lived inside Horizon Studio and transformed raw ideas into polished records. With Scotty behind the boards and Vice Versa behind the mic, the crew began shaping the project that would become Basick Mentality.
Tracks like “Paradise,” “All Around The World,” “Guts & Glory,” and “Let Your Nuts Hang” were born during this era - created with passion, pressure, and the belief that D.C. had something to say. The team opened for legends like Busta Rhymes and EPMD, rehearsing day and night, chasing the breakthrough they knew was coming. The self-titled album has been released in limited quantities on CD only in 1997. But real life hit harder than any beat. As the team expanded its operations to Los Angeles and met with major labels, street life and circumstance took their toll. Jail time, mismanaged funds, broken trust, and life’s responsibilities pulled the crew apart just as the music was reaching its peak.
Then tragedy struck. In the same year, both pillars of this project - Scotty Beats and Vice Versa - were murdered. Two brilliant lives gone. Two futures erased. Two brothers lost forever. Scotty was killed protecting his property. Vice Versa was killed in a robbery in the same neighborhoods he once electrified with his voice. For years, the music was lost - buried in memories, scattered across cities, carried only by those who refused to let the story die.
This re-release is more than a project. It is a resurrection. A tribute. A testament to a crew that gave everything. To Vice Versa. To Scotty Beats. To Rage One. To the dream that lived, died, and now lives again.
This is Basick Mentality. The world finally gets to hear it."
- Eric "E-Boogie" Kennedy
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