Here is the debut 12" released by the San Diego-based group 12 Jewels in 1997. The crew was comprised of D-Black a.k.a Divine Black, Shatim a.k.a Shadula, Hesu Allah, NMZ a.k.a Big NMZ, Ray (Pac) and DJ Rson.
This wax came out on P-Jays, a record label managed by DJ Greyboy a.k.a Greymadduh and Rob Dyrdek. Between 1000 and 1500 copies were pressed. DJ Greyboy produced both tracks of the record entitled "Foolish Mentality" and "Outside World" which are available in their street, radio and instrumental versions.
If you're looking for some info about this crew, first of all you need to know that the group's name comes from the 5% Book of Life! …part of the lessons/degrees…12 Jewels or 12 pillars of Islam. ( (1) Knowledge (2) Wisdom (3) Understanding (4) Freedom (5) Justice (6) Equality (7) Food (8) Clothes (9) Shelter (10) Love (11) Peace (12) Happiness).
The connection between all the members first happened around 1993-1996 at city college where they all had a music class together, and learned that they all had the same passion / love for the music…as well as a love and belief in Islam one thing led to another.. then boom!! 12 Jewels was formed.
At the same time, they were also part of a crew called The Insomniacs which consisted of 3 producers, 2 Djs and a slew of emcees. The original members were TOS the teacher, Evan the Director, Big Nmz, DJ Rson, Shadula, Hesu Allah, Erect the Builder, Killah K, Philly Blunt, RIP Asia, and Chauncey the Phenom. The name of the crew is due to the fact that they all were nocturnal at the time, just staying up to see who could outlast each other as far as coming up with concepts, beats and rhymes. They were a large group and eventually they formed other groups from the main one.
The Insomniacs Crew - 1996 - Photo courtesy of Big NMZ
The connection with Producer/DJ Greyboy happened while doing a lot of shows and venues at that time. One night they did a show at a spot DJ Greyboy was spinning at. He liked their sound and what they were bringing as a group and invited them over to his studio... the rest is history... he introduced them to Rob Dyrdek and they became investors/executive producers for label PJays Record.
About the compilation album "P-Jays Unda-Pendent Hip Hop volume 1" which features Wu-Tang affiliated artists such as Hell Razah, Dreddy Kruger, Timbo King, Armel, Prodigal Sunn, but also the legendary Bronx-based emcee A.G. (of Showbiz & A.G) a.k.a The Giant, you need to know that the connection between DJ Greyboy and those artists took place through Sha Dula who was in touch with those MCs, being knowing them since the 5% Parliament Day... According to Sha Dula, at the time they had a movement that was evolving so it was a natural progression to get them to do music with them.
If you don't own those records in your collection, you can find them easily for sale and usually for a very good price, excepted for the 12" (Foolish Mentality / Outside World) which is more expensive.
Let's talk about the San Diego Hip-Hop scene with this dope "1514" EP released in 1995 by the group named One Nation Massive, consisted of Nickodemus Rex, Jimbo Wicked, Cruz Control & Mysta Jinx, all from the South Town.
1995 - Photo courtesy of Cruz Control
This is an 8-track EP (6 songs + 2 instrumentals) dropped on O.N. Musik Recordings (One Nation Musik Recordings) a record label managed by Jimbo Wicked. The title of the EP "1514" corresponds to the rank of the letters "O" and "N" in the alphabet. A that time, It came out on vinyl and on cassette only. All the tracks were produced by Shysti (of Straight to the Point) with cuts by DJ Steven Flex (of L.P.S.D a.k.a Lyrical Prophets Strictly Dope).
About the history of the group, you need to know that the group was founded in the late 80s. The original members were Cruz Control Original, Nicodemus Rex, Jimbo Wicked, Steel Vicious and the legendary Kutfather who unfortunately passed away in 2020 ... Rest In Peace.
One Nation Massive - 1990 - Photo courtesy of Cruz Control
Cruz, when did you form the crew ?
Cruz Control : "During 89 summer. Nicodemus Rex, Jimbo Wicked and I were already One Nation. I met Kutfather at Southwestern College (Southwestern College Recording Techniques with Professor Papageorge) and he brought Steve Vicious to join us and record my solo song "Logician of Philosophy". They recorded me on the strength that my song would be dope. After that Steel Vicious produced all our solo and groups songs. One Nation Massive members are first Generation HipHop Pioneers."
One Nation Massive - 1990 - Photo courtesy of Jimbo Wicked
Jimbo Wicked, how and when did you decide to create O.N Musik Recordings ?
Jimbo Wicked : "So, back then we would look at the credits on album covers and on videos by others in the art form. Cats would come up with something fly for their recording group or label name. We just thought of who we were One Nation Massive, ONM. One Nation Music. We wrote it in graffiti ...O.N. Musik! ...On and poppin'! We came up with it around '93 - '94.
It didn't become real though until Jynx came through with an investor around early '95 who believed in us, and kicked in a few grand to get us into the Papageorge recording studio with Shysti and DJ Steven Flex. From there, Cruz put in the work to get us a bar code and find a company we could afford to press vinyl and make cassettes for us to sell. I used my typewriter and creativity to go to Kinko's and print out flyers and labels to cover those blanks on the records with."
Photo courtesy of Jimbo Wicked
How did the connection happen between you and the other members of the group ?
Jimbo Wicked : "I was a solo emcee, but down with the Legion of Doom--TLOD Posse, 1-5-1 Klan. I think DJ Mikeski put me in contact with Cruz and we started hanging together in late 1990.
I remember I used to roll over to his crib in the South Town. He had some turntables and a microphone... everything we needed to get down. We would get irie, hang out rock rhymes, DJ a bit and talk about putting a crew together. Cruz was a hustler in many ways and he had already been out talking with other cats; sizing up their microphone skills, and pitching the idea of a group with some of them. Turned out two of those cats were Kutfather and Steve Vicious. A couple other dudes Cruz knew were Jack (Mr. Jinx) and Niqo (Q), who were well-known dancers up and down the coast. Niqo also had skills on a microphone, in addition to being able to rock crazy hip hop styles on the dance floor.
I remember one day I came over to Cruz's crib and Kutather, Steve vicious, Jack and Niqo were there. We all made introductions, Cruz broke out of fat spliff and we blazed it up. Then I think Cruz dropped an instrumental track and we all started bustin. When I first heard Kutfather on the mic I was amazed ! ...Man I mean blown away! You want to talk about a dude who was dope on the microphone ...Kutfather! Then the homie got on the turntable and started mixin, cuttin and scratchin to the beat! ...God bless his soul ...My brother was so nice! ...Rest in Paradise, Kutfather.
Niqo got on the mic (at the time he was known as "Q,"). Niqo had a super fly style and delivery all his own on the microphone. I hadn't heard anybody else rhyme the way he did. Steve Vicious got on the mic and brought mad flavor! The kid was vicious with his rhymes. I got on the mic and started doing my thang, mad lyrical wit the descriptive destruction and homies was like, Ohhhhh!! And of course Cruz Control, got on the mic and vandalized it, just like he be doing to this day. Jack and Nico started bustin their dance routines and homies was trippin. We all just clicked together like a multicultural West Coast Leaders of the New School, Dago Flavor Unit, SD Native Tongues... Man, we used to have some dope freestyle sessions!
At some point we got to talk about a name, reflecting on the multicultural aspect each one of us brought to the crew. Cruz is Guamanian and Mexican; Nico is Hawaiian and Puerto Rican; Kutfather was Samoan; Steve Vicious is black, Mr Jinx is Italian, and me black and white. We definitely had a one world vibe going on, and I think somebody said (might have been Niqo) we're like one nation. So, One Nation came first as a name for the group.
Later, during our first recording session together at Cruz's garage, we were working our first track called "Boom!" Kutfather dropped a cut in the break from Cool J's Booming System, "...listen to the bass go boom!" Both Kutfather and my artistic styles were influenced by Reggae, specifically Dancehall. Kutfather was cuttin up this dancehall joint. I forgot who it was, but the cut was "...nuff respect to di uptown massive (scratchin) ...nuff respect to di downtown massive" and that got mixed into break too.
Man I wish I had a copy of that track today !...Such good memories ! It was very raw. Recorded on cassette with a little 8 track, complete with hiss, pops and clicks, and reverb. I can remember listening to the difference between our early stuff and how much better we got together with time. If we had had the resources back then, we could have really done some big things in the game!
Anyway, we were vibin to the track (Boom!) and I remember listening to what Kutfather did and I said, "nuff respect to di one nation massive". "...'Nuff respect to this and every nation's massive, respect!" Homies was like that's it! ...One Nation Massive! There were already enough posses, crews, clicks and boys, etc. We went with massive ...One Nation Massive!
One Nation Massive and crew was: Q (who later became Nicodemus Rex), Cruz Control, Kutfather, Stevicious, and myself Jimbo Wyked. We had some of the dopest dancers in SD: Mr Jinx, Gumby, Pokey, Charlie Rock and Flash Boogie. Later, Kutfather and Steve Vicious left the group, but we still remained cool with each other."
Cruz Control : "Our group split in 2 directions after Kutfather's sister started management. Shysti stepped in and began producing us."
Could you give me more info about the producer Shysti ?
Jimbo Wicked : "We were in need of a new producer after DJ Johnny Juice left SD. Cruz was the one who introduced us to Shysti, and got us to collaborate artistically. Shysti was a super dope producer and really brought some great ideas to our sound. His beats were a great fit for us. I wish we had met and started working with him earlier. I think we would have completed a lot more work together. I didn't get to know him all that well... I wish I had. "
A lot of unreleased material was recorded by both generations of emcees between 1990 and 1995. Why did nothing come out before the 1514 EP in 1995 ?
Cruz Control : " yes nothing came out officially... It was only cassettes Tracking recorder ... and nobody has any copies unfortunately... "
Jimbo Wicked : "The answer is cashflow. It wasn't as easy back then to do things as it is now. I was the only one with a steady job. The rest of the homies were all hustling one thing or another to eat, but nobody could get enough saved up on their own, let alone together to get studio time and press records and cassettes. There were good quality recordings we had made with Steve Vicious on DAT, that we used to make our demos to shop around for a deal. There were also something like mixtapes that we had done over the years ...gave them away at shows and stuff. I learned several years back that Steve suffered a fire at his studio and all of the masters burned... Broke my heart. There's got to be someone out there with some of those other early tracks though..."
Mad Props to Cruz Control and Jimbo Wicked, thank you both for your time. This slice of San Diego hip-hop history is dedicated to the memory of Marcus Kutfather Tufono. R.I.P
New Mercenary Productions video for "'Rilla Music" produced by SyerSO and featuring the San Diego-based MC Bubu The Prince and Nems from Coney Island, NYC.
"Constructive R.U.K.U.S is the brain child of Good aka Sugar Bear and Willie Wasted aka Jamarkas, friends since elementary school. After high school we got the idea together, to form a crew true to all the forms of hip hop. Dancing, Raping, Graphing, DJing and Getting Faded (Partying). Which is why you are probley barely finding out about us. Constructive originated in El Paso Texas. Where we started the crew up with a crazy ass music major, Haj aka Hans who went to UTEP. Needles to say we blew up the spot at all the local venues. One of are high points was opening up for Das Efx and Onyx. After relocating to San Diego , California things took off. We added two new members Blue aka Lou and AL New aka Madd Nappy Vandel. With Al New joining on we got different beats and it just made are sound more divers. We honed are skills and made are stage show hype and party friendley. Are show is high energy and yet so grimmy. We have performed at most of the major venues in San Diego , like 4th and B , Dream Street , Canes , The Belley up Tavern , The Blue Agave just to name a few. We are veterans of SXSW in Austin TX and of NXNW in Portland OR. We are also seasoned vets of a major US tour. The Aftermath tour by Osiris shoes. We have been underground favorites for a long time I guess we could be called the under dogs. We have had a lot of music on different skate board videos (Osiris ,The Storm ,Shorty's, Fulfill the Dream, Globe, World Cup of skating and many others) and a few different mixed cd's."by Sugar Bear courtesy ofrldbsp.blogspot
This is the official 2nd Instrumental LP release from the San Diego based artist Veks (Last Jazz Club). 16 tracks of raw instrumentals release on Missing Children Records. Available on Ltd 12" Vinyl (300 available, 500 pressed), 4 Panel J Card Cassette (only 50) & 4 Panel DigiPak CD (only 100). Pre-orders : Vinyl / Cassette /CD
