Mercenaries Feat RMR ‎- Rhymorator - 1994

12" - 1994 - Mercenary Records  

Here is the 12" released on Mercenary Records in 1994 by the duo named Mercenaries from Bronx, NY consisted of Rashiid Hewitt a.k.a RMR (one half of the legendary underground group Strickly Roots) and Craig Burrus a.k.a Chaz Rich.

RMR : "Chaz and I met in the Bronx through a gentleman who is now deceased. Chaz heard me rap and wanted me to join his group Nu Sounds, we were signed to MCA records and made an album. The subsidiary Uni-Records that we were signed under was dropped in a merger and we subsequently were released from MCA. Between 1991 and 1994, I banded together with another friend and created the group called Strickly Roots. There was some turmoil with the management so I left and help to found Mercenary Records with Chaz and an other gentleman, and I led the group as the artist."

Promo Photo courtesy of Chaz Rich 

This wax is composed of 3 tracks. The first one and the lead single is "Rhymorator" featuring RMR and produced by Cedric "Big Ced" Thornton. I can't blog the youtube video of "Rhymorator" certainly due to copyrights but you can check it here. The video was Produced, Directed and Edited by Wayne J. Keeley, and was shot in their neighborhood, Lafayette Housing Projects, Bronx NY. 
The other tracks of the record are "Bounce" featuring RMR and produced by Lamont "LP" Porter and co-produced by Big Ced, and "Stick Up, Stick Up" featuring RMR & Chaz Rich and produced by Yogi a.k.a Yogi Bear. 

RMR : "Ced was and is still a friend of mine from the early 80’s.  I asked Ced to create the music for me to rap on, because he was a dope producer and a friend. That’s the way our neighborhood worked back then. LP and Yogi were from my neighborhood too, a lot of talent existed there. Yogi was in the rap group CRU and he was one of Puffy’s Bad Boy producers.

There is no album after that 12" because we were financing everything out of our own pockets and the major labels were trying to offer us deals that for lack of better words (Pimp contracts) and instead of becoming a victim of that predatory environment I decided to leave the industry and open up a few businesses, raise my kid up in a quiet environment and ride off into the sunset with the money and mind my business. lol. But I’ve never stop writing and have ghost written for people that I can’t mentioned, but the money was beautiful."

To be honest ... there is no chance to dig this good wax in a record store nowadays, but you can still break your piggy bank and buy it online for less than a hundred dollars... 

Mad Props to RMR (thanks for your time and for the interview), Cedric "Big Ced" Thornton and Chaz Rich. 

Hardwe're ‎- Comin' From Da Hood / Intimidation - 1995

Photo courtesy of James BigSeven Stokes

Everyone knows that Brick City was full of good Hip-Hop artists in the early 90s, and Hardwe're is the good example ! Hardwe're was a group composed of Kmack, Little 7 and Hahz the Rippa from Newark, NJ (Forest Hill). 

The crew was formed in 1992, Kmack and Little 7 were childhood friends and they met Hahz at a contest at Club 88. Hahz came in 1st place and Little 7 came in 2nd ! 

They were active during that period but no trace of a physical release until 1995, except maybe Little 7's Demo Tape from 1993 which has been recently uploaded on youtube. 

Nick Wiz also hit us recently with some unreleased Hardwe’re joints on his Cellar Sounds compilations. Tracks like "The Bricks" or "Fill In The Blanks" were recorded in 1994 but never came out.

"I met Nick thru Marc Ecko the big clothing designer. He wanted me on his free mixtape he used to give out with his Ecko shirt. So he hooked up with Nick" - Little 7

Photo courtesy of James Stewart

12" - 1995 - Tough Tool Ent.

In 1995, came out their first 12-Inches "Comin' From Da Hood / Intimidation" which is considered as a classic and the most interesting record from their full discography.

The wax came out on Tough Tool Entertainment. and was produced by Hahz the Rippa, Phlex Dog and the well-known Clark Kent. 

We're lucky because the video of the Single "Comin' From Da Hood" was uploaded earlier this year by Wayne J. Keeley,  the guy who produced and directed the video.

After that, the group dropped few other 12" on the label Non-stop Entertainment and one track on Mark Ecko's tape "Reborn - Underground Airplay Vol. 5" but unfortunately an album never came out. 

"We kept breaking up. Our last deal was went Jay-Z gave us a deal with Rocafella Records. He actually make us get back together in order to do the deal. Unfortunately we still broke up 3 months into the deal. This is why a Hardwe're album never came out." - Little 7

Props to James BigSeven Stokes