Chopped Herring Hip Hop 208 Items

Brooklyn, New York City based MC Thirstin Howl III is known for his unique style and sometimes comical and humorous rhymes. He is of Puerto Rican descent and raps in both Spanish and English. In 1997 he won the Source's Unsigned Hype award. He also owns and operates his own label, Skillionaire Enterprises.
Now, one of the illest MC's in the game blesses Chopped Herring with some previously never pressed on vinyl classics from the 1999 debut release "Skillionaire. Peep these joints from "Skillionaire" on wax for the very first time plus the bonus "Prostitute joint" featuring an early Meyhem Lauren. You won’t regret it!

Before Sunz of Man and before Wu, there was Da Last Future. The line-up before they got down with the Wu was KiIllah Priest, Prodigal Sunn, Hell Razah, Shabazz the Disciple, 7th Ambassador and our man producer Su-Preme. They dropped a low run 12" on Nocturnal 7 Records, engineered and mixed by another friend o'Herring, Carlos C-12 Bess at the legendary Firehouse Studios in NYC.

This one blew my goddam socks off when I heard it. I hit up Rich who I'd been trying to connect with for years and he sent me this project by a group called Sore Loserz who never released a thing back in the day. Sore Loserz were So Devine - DJ/Producer and Skee The Y-Know [pronounced “wino”] the MC. The project was produced by the Erbs [later renamed DBC Elements Inc.] which comprised of Rich Blak, Chocolate Tye and So Devine.



One of my favourite Herring unknowns, this 6 tracker has the feel of a Bushwick project, with Finsta Bundy & Poetikal Thugz on background vocals and production kind of on an Arsonists tip [imo]. Just a stunning never leaked, never heard before project from 1994. Heads are gonna love it!!!!

Well it's been a while, but we are finally back in Bushwick for the latest installment in the Chbu5h Series. But what happened to Chbu5h09 I hear you say - and that's a very, very good question....hold tight and you will get the answer 1st week of June......



So after years of trying, I finally hooked up with the man like Rich Blak, one time member of Da Beatminerz extended crew. Rich is that dude, so we hit it off right away and he dug deep into his 90's demos and found this selection of unreleased heaters from the Shu-box Studio days.



Shu-box studios was located in the basement of Rich's crib around Decatur St & Knickerbocker Ace in the Bushwick [Darkside] section of BK. He recorded a bunch of material down there with local artists in the 90's and this selection of demos heard for the first time here, is what we present to you as another part of the much-loved Chbu5h series on Herring.



Many heads will know Shadez of Brookyn, but the rest of the acts are pretty obscure. Poetikal Thugz was Rich and Chocolate Tye, both Beatminerz affiliates at the time of these demos. Nothing was ever released by the PT's, until now, that is. Franc P was a local MC who used to hang out with the fellas. N.O.R was a Shadez spin off outfit and Kok/tna used to work with Rich on demos and nearly signed with Priority.



It's been 9 years since we dropped the last edition of the Chbu5h series [Poops], so I'm buzzin to take heads back on the L train as we dive deeper into the world famous Bushwick flava that underground headz have been feenin for for nearly 30 years.....

Ahhh yeahhh – it’s the 1994-1996 material from Kwest’s debut album sessions that never made the final cut – MASSIVE!!! DAMN it’s ON!!! All the joints from the excellent “These Are My Unreleased Recordings” project now on vinyl for the first time plus a couple of new ones for the heads. Kwest was recording his debut album for Rick Rubin’s American Recordings imprint from 1994-1996 but a load of them never made the final cut. But here they are in all their intended glory. Shout out to James @ No Sleep Recs, Dan Charnas. & X-Ray. Let’s go in again…..White Jacket No Holes 12″ 3mm Spine with FULL COLOUR 20cm x 20cm Large Sticker. v

1994-1996 NY Grail straight off the OG DATS!!!! Chopped Herring is back with another hugely collectable group from the mid 90s. The first of 2 releases by Smoked Out Productions is a bitch to find – so we have 2 killers off that record, plus 2 period remixes of the 2 joints on their 2nd release [Bok, Bok/Styles] and also included are 3 previously unreleased bangers.

This is a limited run of 350 copies!
"Operation Clam Dust", an unheard masterpiece, was created between late 2005 & early 2008 - following-on from the much-loved 2004 "Three Sinister Syllables" mix. It is a next level exploration into digging, sampling and audio animation. All manner of world breaks, private press LP's, obscure soundtracks, Bolivian polka jawns are up in that piece. Eight years after it was made, there has been nothing that even comes close to the complexity of this project - just check it - This Is Nobel Prize Winning Breaks Shit, For Reel!!!

So, True Force aka Tirrell (Killa Kidz old manager and exec producer) hits me up and says “Bob, I found more DATs!!!”. “No shit?” I said. And then the files started to come. Multiple versions and recordings of unheard and unreleased material from the early days of QB’s dopest undercover crew. Included was the 1995 bomb and first ever group recording “In The Mental”, the title of this excellent follow up to 2013’s “1996-1997 Phenomenon EP” on Chopped Herring. In total we have 7 joints from 1995-1997 off the original studio DAT’s. This is one of those ILL releases where maybe [just maybe] Vol 2 is EVEN doper than Vol 1. You can be the judge. But hurry the eff up – there are only 350 copies pressed. The early bird catches the funky worm, yo!!!!

Only one copy per customer!
Produced by J Dilla aka Jay Dee!!
5-Elementz formed in Detroit in 1992. The group met while attending Osborn High School on 7 Mile. The original members consisted of Thyme, Proof, Mudd, Jay Dee & DJ Head.
These great tracks produced by Jay Dee only released on cassette later in 1998. Chopped Herring had access to the original studio DATs and presents to you this great EP. Ya better don’t sleep!

Prince Paul hit Chopped Herring up to release this dope early 90's project!!

The first incarnation of the group was formed around 1989 in Amityville, Long Island, New York, although the family grew up in Long Island. The family of four brothers (Anthony, Richard, Joel, and Edward) and one sister (Dawne), of which Anthony (Poetic) was the eldest, were born to Trinidadian parents who moved from Trinidad and Tobago in 1971, making their first residence in Queens, New York for a short time, then moving to Long Island. John Berkeley (a pastor and a local businessman) and Ela Berkeley (a homemaker, cook-nutritionist, and teacher) were both singers and artistic in general, and they encouraged artistic expression in their five children. The family was well-rounded musically, singing gospel and R&B up to their early teens all around New York, other states, and Canada as "The Berkeley Singers". Anthony (Poetic), Dawne, and Joel (Brainstorm) sang, accompanied by Richard on the drums and Eddie (E-Sharp) on the piano or keyboard.

Poetic began rhyming in his early teens in Wyandanch, and was known by many names and building a name for himself as a lyrical battle MC. He changed his name to Poetic around 1985, and in 1986 he formed the crew known as Too Poetic, who in 1988-89 released a modestly popular single called: “God Made Me Funky/Poetical Terror”, under the DNA/Tommy Boy Music imprint. The group’s relationship with Tommy Boy Records eventually panned out for various reasons, scrapping the album and making Poetic very displeased, an early casualty of the politics of the music business.

While Poetic was just beginning his formal hip hop career in 1987–89, Brainstorm was attending college at the State University of New York at Farmingdale, Long Island, where he was the roommate of Brooklyn’s own Super DJ Richie Rich (who had been in Third Base, Clark Kent’s Supermen, and the movie Juice). The university was host to many hip hop artists as visitors for parties and to do shows like Rakim, EPMD, Producer-Super DJ Clark Kent, and Biz Markie.

After Brainstorm finished his college run in 1989, he took time to learn many aspects of the music business, but in 1989 he and Poetic mutually decided to pair up with a hardcore lyrical edge, original word play, and acute metaphors, after many collaborations between them since 1985. Thus, Da Bruthas G.R.Y.M. was born shortly after Too Poetic’s deal with DNA/Tommy Boy had soured. The energy and high chemistry between these true by-blood brothers at the time was, simply put, natural.

In the first Bruthas G.R.Y.M. era (c. 1989–1992), the brothers Poetic (Brother One) and Brainstorm (Brother Two) garnered much respect on the underground hip hop scene of New York Their first official demo featured the underground bangers like “Bruthas G.R.Y.M.”, “Circle-Circle-Dot-Dot”, the politically charged “Popcorn” and “Livin’ In Hell (Had To Survive)”. The demo featured production mastering by Nate "NATO" Tinsley, their in-house producer Semi-Automatic (Pedro Sims, Mr. Semi, Gravediggaz), and the brothers themselves. After blazing underground radio and live shows around New York City, they were listed in The Source magazine as the best unsigned rap group of 1989. The crew was then managed by longtime friend Jack Pope (Jack Sprat, Starving Artists Entertainment), who later became the road manager of the Gravediggaz.

These cassette tape “dubs” floated around the New York streets in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and their demo eventually made their way to the seasoned musical ear of fellow Amityvillain Prince Paul (Stetsasonic, De La Soul, Gravediggaz) from his association with the local Long Island artists who had met the brothers and saw their raw talent. In 1990 Prince Paul decided to fund and executive produce further demos, finding various other known and up-and-coming producers for the unnamed project, as well as being the tentative DJ for the group.

Then the unfortunate happened – being disenfranchised by the politics and games of the music business and life in general, Brainstorm just quit altogether for “personal enlightenment”, before any formal deal could solidify. Poetic understood about Brainstorm’s personal path at that stage in his life, but was silently devastated because they were so close to sealing a major record deal that would have propelled them further into Hip Hop history.

Their original demo, even today, is still one of Prince Paul’s favorites. It was not until 1992 that Poetic, after Brainstorm quit in 1991, that it is said that Poetic “fell on hard times”, including a short period of homelessness.

Brainstorm would continue to write for leisure and therapeutic reasoning, but never to seriously pursue a music career, moving to Brooklyn New York and later down south to various states; in fact, Brainstorm was so “finished with Hip Hop” that he gave Poetic all of his original rhyme books to use at his own discretion – some lyrics ending up on Gravediggaz projects.

Black and silver vinyl.

Light purple vinyl.

And we're back for the Autumn 2023 with the stunning sequel to the 2019 drop on Herring produced almost exclusively by Anu El. The drums on this project knock hard like a goddam door to door salesman! Probably the flyest project Rec has dropped to date and for me it's an undeniable Aoty contender. Yeah yeah, more superlatives, but I think heads will agree, this is a special joint and destined to be a modern classic. Mark my words!!!





There are 450 copies on Clear WAX in full colour jacket.

Orange, clear wax!