Tag Archives: Ras Kass

Underrated – CRU

Posted on by
Reply

Cru

This is my first installment of a new segment entitled – Underrated. Each month, I’ll be showcasing a group/song/album from the past that I feel is often overlooked when the word “classic” comes up. The hope is new and old hip-hop fans alike will seek out these cuts and they will get the recognition they deserve. So here it goes…

The first featured group is a personal fav of mine, CRU aka The Rhythm Blunt Crew hailing from the Bronx, NY. The group removed the “Rhythm Blunt” from their name due to concerns with censorship and conservative retailers. The group consisted of Puerto Rican rapper Chadio, hype-man/rapper The Mighty Ha and mc/producer Yogi.

So what makes them so underrated? Their 1997 debut album Da Dirty 30. Yogi handled all production on the album and to put it bluntly, the beats are hot. While Yogi wasn’t the best on the mic, Chadio def held it down with his own style. Mighty Ha added the comedy/bugged out element to the group, playing a similar role as Ol’ Dirty to Wu-Tang. What you don’t know is the album featured several unknown artists that would later have hits of their own including The LOX, Black Rob, Tracey Lee, Ras Kass and R&B singer Anthony Hamilton.

The first and biggest single off the album was “Just Another Case” featuring Slick Rick. However, the real banger (at least in NYC) was the b-side “Pronto“. The infectious West coast-influenced track was played on Hot97 constantly and MC’s were known to freestyle over the instrumental. Their second single “Bubblin” had a very ATCQ-vibe, but I actually never heard it on the radio.

Unfortunately, the album wasn’t a commercial success. CRU was signed to the Hip-Hop power house Violator Management, so they had a few features post-debut. One of the better ones was Diamond D‘s “Hiatus Remix“. Their last appearance was on the Violator Album in 1999 and the group disbanded.

Yogi went on to have an extremely successful career as a producer. His production credits include Puff Daddy, KRS-One, Terror Squad, Black Rob, G. Dep, Busta Rhymes, N.O.R.E, Method Man, Shyne, and Wale.

If you haven’t already, check out CRU’s debut album Da Dirty 30. Below are some choice cuts to get you familiar with them.

JadaKiss – We Gon’ Make It (Alchemist)

Posted on by

There isn’t much known about Samuel Jonathan Johnson. He only released one album and one single on Columbia Records in 1978. He was a keyboardist (piano, Moog, Organ, etc…) and wrote/sang his own music. His overall sound is similiar to Stevie Wonder (which is probably why he got signed). There are no notable production credits in his liner notes, so that’s about all I can offer. However, his song “My Music” was used for one of the best Hip-Hop beats (IMO) ever made. The soaring string break at about 3:16 was looped for the infamous “We Gon’ Make It” / “Home Sweet Home” instrumental produced by Alchemist.

The story of the instrumental is known as a classic Hip-Hop beef. Alchemist first gave the beat to fellow West Coast artist Ras Kass. The agreement was that Alchemist would be paid after the song was recorded. Apparently, the record label never paid for the beat so Alchemist considered it to be “available” again. While a promo single for Ras Kass “Home Sweet Home” was making its rounds, the instrumental was given to Jada Kiss of The LOX for his single “We Gon Make It“. It ended up being one of his famous tracks (mostly because of the beat), even spawning a remix with the Ruff Ryders, who at the time, were at top of the game.

Ras Kass went public with his discontent and even dropped a few lines towards Alchemist. Jada never got involved with the fued. Eventually, Al and Ras settled their differences and worked together again. Take a listen to the sample that started it all.

GZA – Lyrical Swords

Posted on by



In an attempt to become relevant again, Wu-Tang partnered up with Think Differently Music to release the compilation Wu-Tang meets Indie Culture. The album was a combination of various Wu-Tang members collabo-ing with underground artists. The result was a fairly decent album with a few good cuts. One of those tracks, is by GZA, “Lyrical Swords” featuring Ras Kass.

The song samples a pretty hillarious cut “Your Little Sister” by The Mighty Marvelows. Most guys can relate to this song – wanting to bang your friend’s younger sister lol. The album is very mid-60′s-ish soul with heavy Doo Wop influence, similiar to The Platters or early work by The Impressions. I copped my copy for $50.00 in VG+ (yikes!). However, I believe the album is a compilation of their 45′s, so you might be able to find the sample cut on it’s own if you don’t want to shell out the cash for the LP. For the bonus trivia question, the album is arranged and produced by Johnny Pate of Shaft in Africa fame.

Books & Basketball

Posted on by



I’ve never seen the movie Fast Break but the soundtrack did have a huge hit by Billy Preston & Syreeta. Most of the album is very disco-ish with a few duet ballads mixed in. The coolest part of this album (besides the sample) is the album cover. The cover is actually textured so it feels like a real basketball. Can’t do that with an MP3…

On to the important part… the cut “Books & Basketball (Montage)” composed by David Shire and James Di Pasquale was used by several artists. The songs include…

  • Ras Kass – Wild Pitch
  • O.C. – The Professional
  • Tony Touch / Agallah – Interlude

Lesser known, but equally as dope, this album also has a vocal sample that was used on the Wu-Tang Clan demo song “Problemz“. It’s the part that goes “Comfort me, through all this madness“. Enjoy.