Here is the debut 12" released by Da F.E.N.C.E Men on Dark Records in 1998. Da F.E.N.C.E Men was a Boston-based group consisting of 3 members named A-Sharp, Mr. Mattox and Big F.E.N.C.E.
Mr Mattox : " The Members of the group were A-Sharp, Mr. Mattox … behind the production of Big F.E.N.C.E, who believed in us. Also shouts to T-BugOut who inspired us in the writing process.
F.E.N.C.E. stands for Far East Niggaz Collecting Endz, this title was because Boston, Ma is more Far East than New York and that's where Hip-Hop was stationed at that point. "
The wax is composed of the tracks "Action" (Clean/Dirty & Instrumental), "Head To Head" (Clean & Instrumental) and "Massacre" (Clean & Instrumental) featuring Krumb Snatcha and DJ Madsol-Desar on the cuts. All the tracks were produced by Dialek (Knightz.Of.Muzik) who also managed Dark Records with Madsol-Desar.
Mr Mattox : "We grew up with Dialek… who became our main producer at the time. Krumbsnatcha was the homey… and Dialek did production for him so we linked up on a few diff records recorded at the infamous D&D studios in New York !!"
Madsol-Desar - Krumbsnatcha & Dialek at D&D Studios - 1996 - Photo courtesy of Krumbsnatcha
As for me, the best tracks of the record are "Massacre" and "Head To Head". "Head To Head" contains a sample of the song "Star Children" released in 1978 and performed by the Mighty Ryeders. If you like to dig into samples, you should grab this album !
It is definitely the 12" from Da F.E.N.C.E Men to own in his hip-hop records collection. If you're looking for more material from this crew, they also released a few other records after that including a full album in 2004 and an interesting single titled "Mental Scriptures" dropped under the name The Union, a group consisting of D.Auguste, Laster & Da F.E.N.C.E. Men.
