Revolutionary Suicide - Revelation / Rotation - 1995

12" - 1995 - Exile Records 

Here is another wax which is very hard to find, released in 1995 by a group named Revolutionary Suicide. It came out on Exile Records, a Rock/Funk & Blues Label based in NYC (31 East 31st Street, 11th Floor) and founded by Mark Unthank.

The 12" is composed of 2 tracks entitled "Revelation" & "Rotation", both produced by K.Rodgers for Dready Monster Productions.

You can try to find some info about this group on the internet but honestly you'll find nothing about it.. The year 2024 is beginning so I think, almost 30 years later, it's definitely the time to give some shine to this group !

Revolutionary Suicide was a group comprised of Kareem Rodgers a.k.a A.D.A.D Supreme, his brother Charles Rodgers a.k.a Capital Punishment and Robert Watts a.k.a IZ the poet. 

From Left to Right : A.D.A.D Supreme - Capital P & IZ the Poet - circa 1995

A.D.A.D Supreme is born and raised in Fort Greene Brooklyn, New York. He is now known under the name of Amazin Grace. His first love is music due to his Mother Brenda Lavender Jackson Rodgers in her early years known, as "Momma Brenda" was a back up singer for Aretha Franklin. In a recent interview, here is what he told me : 

Amazin Grace : " Well I was a solo artist originally, then I met the brother name Izreal around 1990, Izreal is a poet, I was very active in the studio so I shared my knowledge with IZ and we formed the group Revolutionary Suicide, the name we got from Huey P Newton autobiography."

Amazin Grace : " IZ and myself used to work at the airport (JFK International Airport) that’s where we first met, he was fond of some recordings I had played for him when I was solo, then he told me he did poetry, so I asked him to join me and let’s form a hiphop poetry group (the first in hip-hop) at that time.

A.D.A.D is an acronym for Almighty Dread After Dead. After Dead meaning resurrecting from a mental death of ignorance. I’m originally from Brooklyn, New York (Fort Greene Projects)...then my family relocated to South Jamaica Queens. IZ Watt the poet is originally from United Kingdom, then his family relocated to Hollis Queens, NY. So we both met in Queens.

We did work with Exile Records from when the label was first started, we knew Mark Unthank because he was a manager for my cuzzin who’s an eclectic soul artist name REESE who was engaged to the House singer Christal Waters.

After that, the group went through a transformation... we changed our name to MBRC (Mama Brenda’s Righteous Cartel), we have a lot of unreleased material. Capital P left the group to embark on other business adventures and myself and IZ kept going until the present. We are actually still recording, we call ourselves the Righteous Cartel now. "

Christal Waters had took over management for me and that also brought about a lot of changes. She was grooming me I would say for the next level of professionalism. I guess the commercial market.

She was a huge star in those years, she strengthened my production skills, I had to stay with her for weekends at a time, she created a studio in her house for me to learn how to use the MPC 60. That was the famous beat machine at the time."

Only a few hundred copies were pressed in 1995. Hip-Hop records collectors are definitely looking for a copy of this rare 12" nowadays... so if you're enough lucky to find one for sale, you should grab it immediately !

Massive Props to Kareem Born Revelation Rodgers, thanks for your time.

Straight Outta Queens : Lil' Joon & Don Complete

South Jamaica Queens ... 134th Avenue & Guy Brewer Boulevard is a well known place for many because of the life of Curtis Jackson a.k.a 50 Cent, but it's also the place where 2 rappers named Lil' Joon and Don Complete came from.

Photo courtesy of Poncho Nueve

In 1994, Lil' Joon dropped his debut single entitled "Life" on A.T.B. Recordings, a small indie record label managed by Carlo & Kev who also handled the productions.

12" - 1994 - A.T.B. Recordings 

 

2 years later, A.T.B. Recordings was back with a second 12", with Lil' Joon featuring Shorty Black on the A-side and Don Complete on the B-Side. Both of them deliver 3 tracks each, with Carlo and Kev still behind all the productions. 

12" - 1996 - A.T.B. Recordings  

As usual, no info about those kats on the internet.. so I had to talk to one of the persons involved... the producer and label owner Carlo. Here is what he told me :

Carlo : "We were all from South Jamaica Queens... 50 Cent, all of us... You all know the hood as 134 Guy R Brewer ! We all lived in the back blocks, and mine was the Jamaican block. Me, Joon and Kev share a common Jamaican heritage. Lil' Joon was the lil homie back then and Don Complete lived on my street but on another Ave.

We dropped Lil' Joon debut 12" in 1994 so I'd say that I started producing a year or two before. My production partner Kev is my best friend, he is my brother from another ! Everything was recorded in his basement where was based our studio. We were both DJs first... I decided to go into production because my mother kicked my dj equipment out because of the noise. We produced the Lil' Joon single and that kinda of blew us up in the hood. Freaky Tah (RIP), Fif (50 Cent), Tony Yayo, all came through our doors in the short time.

Don Complete bugged out after the single which was released in 1996... Lol... He thought he was Jay-Z before Sean was Jay-Z. He was from the generation before me actually, he came up in the Supreme Team era... Gangsta fo real ! I don't know what happened to him. Me, Joon and Kev moved to Atlanta after that.

We lost a lot of history from another friend's basement. We trusted my friend to keep the records safe because of the person he is but we lost everything when the block got flooded...We had some Joon's unreleased material on some cassettes. We had 50 Cent's first 3 demos... smh. I wish I had those today... lol 

When we first did Fif demos, we thought about dropping Fif first but we were already moving forward with our lil homie from our block. Fif was always fire. If you listen to Joon and listen to Fif you'll hear the similarities... the smooth flow. Pleasant to the ears... that's what I like !

A.T.B. was Around The Back studios because everything came to the back of house to the basement. We pressed 500 copies of each 12". We had no idea of the business, and Joon didn't like the limelight. Fif, as we can see, bathed in it. You gotta want to do it to get it done."

Both 12" are still rare and for sure won't be reissued from the original masters. So if you see a copy for sale, specially Joon's debut single from '94, you should jump on it !

 

Mad Props to Carlo, thanks for your time.