ILLCROOK - Illcrook - 1997

 

12" - 1994 - After Dark Records 

ILLCROOK was born from the association of the emcee Black Caesar from ILLtown, NJ and DJ 3D from CROOKlyn, NYC. In 1994, they released this 12" on After Dark Records, a record label managed by Carlos "After Dark" Berrios. 

DJ 3D : " We decided on the name "Illcrook" around 93-94. So we formed the group around that time. Black Caesar was my brother in law. He married my sister. I found out that he made beats and rapped... You can hear that Jersey flavor !

We were signed by After Dark Records by the legendary Carlos Berrios. He asked me to add some samples to his freestyle music. And I also released some house music on his label as well. So in discussion, Carlos wanted to give it a shot. Carlos is a long time friend."

Only one track titled "Illcrook" is pressed on this 12". The joint is available in its Vocal, Stripped Down and Instrumental versions with all the Scratches done by DJ A.vee. 

DJ 3D : " I remember "Illcrook" was released in a bunch of stores. I don't remember the number of copies, but I know it made it over seas. So there must have been decent amount."

If you're looking for more info about Black Caesar (RIP) and DJ 3D, you need to know that they had already dropped a debut 12" in 1993 on Rap Baby Records entitled "Black Caesar / I Can't Believe How Dope I Am ". It was produced by DJ 3D & Dean Landew (owner of Rap Baby Records) who formed Kings of Beats at the time, and Black Caesar. Another wax to grab without hesitation if you haven't had it in your collection yet...

12" - 1993 - Rap Baby Records 

For the VHS tapes collectors, you need to know that an official video of "Black Caesar" exists... I've never seen it online and even DJ 3D doesn't have a copy... the video seems to be totally lost but the hunt is opened !

There will be no more release from ILLCROOK after that... and their album never came out unfortunately...

DJ 3D : "It was very difficult for studio time back in the day... and Black Caesar's work ethic wasn't great. On top of that, Carlos was releasing tons of music back then. So, as I mentioned earlier, Studio time was hard to get... it was expensive. There are a bunch of unreleased material. The styles have changed, so they are sitting on my hard drive..."

Mad Props to DJ 3D, thanks for your time.  

Puppets Of Chaos - Tru Dat / New & Improved - 1995 .

12" - 1995 - Pro-Amp Entertainment 

If you're looking for a good vinyl from the mid 90s for your record collection, here is the 12" released by the NYC-based group Puppets Of Chaos ! 

For the story if you don't know this group, in July 1992 they appeared in the unsigned hype section of the Source magazine when they dropped their demo tape. At that time Puppets Of Chaos consisted of 3 members, Skribe from Brooklyn, Sckala from Harlem and 7 Zark 7 from Queens.

In 1995 the group who became a duo only formed by Skribe & Sckala, dropped their debut 12". The wax came out on Pro-Amp Entertainment and consisted of the tracks "Tru Dat" on the A-side (Tru side) and "New & Improved" on the B-side (New side), which were both produced by Randy Nkonoki-Ward and DJ 3D, with cuts by Rob Swift on "New & Improved".

Randy Nkonoki-Ward : "I was listening to Stretch & Bobbito while I was sleeping. They played their demo "Make You Wanna Smack Your Mama", and it woke me from my sleep. I worked at Rush management at the time, and Bobbito worked upstairs at Def Jam, so I asked him if I could get their contact info. So he had them contact me. This was before mobile phones... 1992. 3D a.k.a André Bagley was a friend of mine who was a dope producer. He made the music for both songs on the single, I just polished things up."

Pro-Amp Entertainment was a record label managed by Randy Nkonoki-Ward and Mark Kotlinski. I don't know if these names talk to you but it should reminds you something... 

Randy Nkonoki-Ward & Mark Kotlinski

"Call them the Matt Damon and Ben Affleck of Net Radio. Childhood chums Mark Kotlinski, 27 and Randy Nkonoki-Ward, 28 are fast becoming the crown kings of hip-hop culture on the web, as co-creators and executive producers of 88HIPHOP.com, a national online web show devoted to hip-hop culture.

Originally next door neighbors from New Britain, Connecticut, Kotlinski and Nkonoki-Ward have been best friends since elementary school. After High School, Nkonoki-Ward moved to New York to work for a recording studio and break into the music business, while Kotlinski went on to college. But It didn’t take long before the two reunited. 

Shortly after graduating college, Kotlinski moved to New York to team up with Nkonoki-Ward and start Pro-Amp, a record label focused on up-and-coming hip-hop artists. Then in late 1995, they got the idea to start a service that would promote the hip-hop community, 88hiphop started as a 900 phone line from Randy Nkonoki-Ward’s Brooklyn bedroom in January 1996."

Randy Nkonoki-Ward : "The challenges to promote that record led us to creating what would become 88HIPHOP.com. A streaming Hip-Hop show that started in my Brooklyn bedroom that we partnered with Pseudo one of the first online streaming networks in 1996. 88HIPHOP started to take off in a big way, and we never looked to do another record. At some point I brought Skribe on to be the host of our MC battle segment, MIC Wars."

Mad Props to Randy Nkonoki-Ward, thanks for your time.