Automatik - These Mean Streets - 1997

12" - 1997 - Delux Entertainment Inc. 

Automatik is an emcee from Harlem who released his debut 12" on Delux Entertainment Inc. in 1997, but we don't know much about him. His first and only known appearance on a radio show at that time was in a short interview & freestyle in the Hank Love & Half Pint Radio Show on WNWK 105.9 in July 1997, when he was invited for the release of his 12".

I had the chance to talk to Automatik a few months ago. During the conversation, he explained to me how he fell into hip-hop back in the early 80s :

Automatik : " It actually started in 1984. I was 7 years old. I was mesmerized by graffiti as a kid.  What happened next, Beat Street came out.

I swear my whole body burned to a pile of ashes and I was reborn. I started fake popping and locking (I was not that good at all) and started dabbling in graffiti.  My tag was "O.K."  

More importantly than that, I made my Mom buy the Beat Street soundtrack on wax. I memorized every lyrics of every track on that album and would repeat them, imitate them, like the cadence of the emcees the accents the energy. Every inhale and voice inflection. I did that for a few years. Then in 1988 (the notorious 1988) The Symphony came out. Kool G Rap lit fire in my belly that quickly turned into an inferno and I wrote my 1st verse. I can't remember it, but I remember how it felt. You always remember how things make you feel. From there it was on. I would tape record songs off of the Mr Magic and Marley Marl show. I just kept on rhyming since then. I never stopped.  I write daily, everyday to this day.

And I would like to say this. The way I got started was not anything special or earth shattering. I just grew up in the projects in Harlem at a time when this music was all that we had. Whole bloodlines was disappearing to crack, violence and robberies. We needed to vent. All of that energy needed to be let out. That's why to this day I'm very much about the culture, like I consider hip-hop my culture and my religion. The diaspora of Harlem and all of her loyal sons is deeply embedded in the fibers of my everything. That same energy reflects the experience of every hood in NYC. And I take it everywhere with me.  Humbly and respectfully. " 

His debut 12" contains two tracks titled "These Mean Streets / No Man's Land", that are both available in their Radio Edit, Street Mix and Instrumental versions. All the productions were managed by Paul Metto for Dusted Delux Productions, who was also affiliated with the group SESH (Strength Enforcing Serious Harm) from the Bronx, NY. The track "No Mans Land" on the B-side features the group Down 'N Dirty Tribe from Hoboken, NJ. 

Automatik : " Paul Metto... He was a cool dude. He had real slick ideas for music and you saw his passion translate if you watched him making music. He was a real no non sense type dude. Richard Pryor said in one of his shows, some white boys don't play that shit. He was definitely talking about Paul Metto. As solid as they come. "

In the mid 90s, Automatik was a member of a group called Prophetik Reliks with A-Butta (of Natural Elements) and Bear Fakts. His first appearance on a record was on the track "the Joint" released on MeccaLife Recordings in 1996 by Aboriginals, the Brooklyn-based duo comprised of Logic & Obsession.

12" - 1996 - MeccaLife Recordings 

According to Automatik, he's just a regular dude right now... That's crazy because he still writes everyday even though he's not trying to get a deal or put music out. At least, you can grab his 12" if you don't own it in your record collection yet... it's a very good one ! Peace 

Down N' Dirty Tribe - Inn´A Cipher / Mindtrix - 1995

12" - 1995 - Jungle Sounds Records  

This wax was the debut 12" released by the New Jersey-based group called Down N' Dirty Tribe. It came out in 1995 on Jungle Sounds Records, a small indie record label based in Manhattan and managed by a hippie white man named Paul from what I know. 

The A-side (Brickside) contains the lead single "Inn'A Cipher" which is available in its Clean Mix, Brickville Mix and Dirty Landcruiser Mix versions. The B-side (Villeside) contains the track "Mindtrix" which is available in its Clean Mix & Original Mix versions, and the instrumental version of "Inn'A Cipher" (not the Mindtrix Cipher Mental Mix version as written). All the productions are handled by Dontay for Diggin 4 Daze Inc.

 

Down N' Dirty Tribe was consisted of 5 members and was made up of 2 duos and a solo artist. First duo called The Elementz, was comprised of Eddie Dos & Big Chief. The second duo was consisted of Meny Myndz & B Wyze, and the solo artist was the young Puerto Rican emcee Tito Grahmz a.k.a Tito Sunshine. They were all from Hoboken, New Jersey except Tito Sunshine who was born in Hoboken, NJ and raised in Brooklyn (Park Slope).

For the story, the crew was originally a 4 man group. The group was already formed when Tito Sunshine was added around 1994. At 12 years old (around 1991-1992), Tito Sunshine met the Beatnuts (Juju & Psycho Les) in front of a club called the Roxy in NYC. The Beatnuts found him outside of the club rapping with a bunch of real street guys all older than him. They would take him to clubs or block parties to battle after that. They also invited him to a studio session where he recorded a verse on the song "Sandwiches" which was released in 1993 on the "Street Level" album, but they didn't keep the verse from the original version. It was actually erased along with Kurious George's verse and they just kept Psycho on it and Tito's intro. 

Down N' Dirty Tribe was founded by Dontay in the back of a record store he worked at. The members of the group used to go there and spin records til one day Dontay said they can be a group and he can get them a record deal, so they went for it. That's how everything started for Down N' Dirty Tribe !  After the release of a second 12" (Trail Of Tears / Atrocities Of A T.H.U.G) on Get Bucks Entertainment in 1997, they changed the name of the group and went by Dirt Mob.

Mahagony - Cum Wit It - 1996

12" - 1996 - Independent Hip Hop