Roughneck Soldiers ‎- Kill Or Be Killed / Freestyle Thing - 1995

12" - 1995 - Phat Wax Records

I think I bought this 12" randomly in 1995 at Street Sound record store in Paris when it came out... and to be honest I knew nothing about Roughneck Soldiers at that time.

R.N.S a.k.a Roughneck Soldiers (a.k.a Reality Negativity & Stress) was a crew from Sunset Park, Brooklyn or Gunset Park like they used to say. The crew was consisted of Destruction a.k.a Destruct (Charles Hernandez, better known under the name of Charlie Hustle nowadays), Disaster (Tony Lopez) and Big Dee (Diego Santiago). Rapping together since High School, the group began rhyming on New York's underground circuit in the early 90s. 

Roughneck Soldiers - 1995 - Photo courtesy of Disaster

Their debut 12-Inch "Kill Or Be Killed / Freestyle Thing" was realeased on Phat Wax Records, with both tracks fully produced by Kenny Gonzales a.k.a Kenny Dope. "Kill Or Be Killed" available in its Main, Instrumental and Radio versions on the A-side, and "Freestyle Thing" available in its Dirty, Instrumental and Radio versions on the B-Side. Nothing is mentioned about it online, but the single also came out on cassette tape. 

 

In terms of productions, Kenny Dope used for "Kill Or Be Killed" a sample of "Light My Fire" released in 1970 and performed by Shirley Bassey. For "Freestyle Thing" he used a sample of "I Am a Walrus" released in 1968 and performed by Freddie McCoy.

In November 1995, the group was invited by Stretch & Bobbito on WKCR for the release of their single. Here is the short interview and Freestyle dropped that night by the trio, it was a few years before Destruct got locked...

Roughneck Soldiers - 1993 - Photo courtesy of Disaster

Video : Rasheed Chappell - First Brick

Produced by Kenny Dope. 
The EP "First Brick" is still available on CD & Vinyl via his Bandcamp. 

Shazam X ‎- Down For My Crown - 1994

"Shazam X started his musical career pursuits back in 1984 as a DJ who did house parties in his neighborhood. He soon after got offers from club promoters and began DJing in clubs. Later he became interested in mixtapes and began doing a mixtape series labeled "The X-Files" and he also did a "Best Of" series. Soon after that he took an intrest in making beats and studio engineering. He began to hang around Calliope studios with the rap group "Ultramagnetic" where he began to find his love for music production. Later down the line he began to hang out with his friend Raheim, who later introduced him to Salaam Remi. He learned alot from Raheim and Salaam and he took what he learned and used the knowledge wisely. With the help of his long time friend Kenny Dope, Kenny helped Shazam get his chance to make his first record back in 1994 which was titled "Down For My Crown"."

EP - 1994 - TNT Records

The EP came out on TNT Records (sub-label to Freeze records). All tracks are written and produced by Shazam X except "Down for my Crown" which is also co-produced by Kenny "Dope" Gonzalez. This wax is not really hard to find and you can easily cop it for a good price. The most interesting tracks of the EP are certainly "Scary Thoughts" featuring S.L.D a.k.a Sick Lyrical Damager from the Bronx, and "Stick Up" featuring Kaotic Style.

Kenny Dope Weekend Mix March 2013

Tracklist : 

1.The Mastermind's In Effect-Hype Sound Productions

2.Here I Come/Remix-Lord Finesse Slice Of Spice

3.Flawless Crown-Raekwon

4.Take n Stride-Roddy Rod /Japan

5.Gone Diggin'-Oxygen Bbp

6.By The Book-Roc Marciano Ill Adrenaline

7.Substitution-The Ub's First Cut

8.The Unforgivin/Theme From Movietown Sound-Scorpio & His People International

9.Ballad Of Bombay Saphires-Paikan

10.Night Hawks/Inst-K-Def Bonus Beats Slice Of Spice

11.Back & 4th Scrambler-Large Professor Vinyl Reminscences/Japan

12.Boy Scout/Remix-Union Fat Beats

13.The Beat Grinder-Damu The Fudgemunk

14.I Got The Number-Fresh Mark & Black Hawk

15.Light's Out-Manahan Street Band Daptone

16.3 Dollars-Oh No Five Day Weekend

17.Like Yesterday-Monophonics Colemine

18.No Time For Dreaming-Charles Bradley Daptone

19.Funky President/Kenny Dope Mix-Break Beats

20.Chicken Scratch-Spox-Phd

21.Remember Hip Hop-Kazahaya Breaking Bread

22.Set It Off/Remix-Freqnik & Wore Boro

23.Breakloose-Kenny Dope Presents Rasheed Chappell Kay-Dee