Chopped Herring US Hip Hop 195 Items

Oh yes - Fly Fishing Vol 7 is here and it could just be the nicest volume to date.



Up in the crow's nest we have Pseudo Intellectuals' trusty DJ, the one and the only, DJ Cutler. I had a ball working with Cut on this project. He is truly a fan of the music so he got fully involved in the project . This mix has it all. There are loads of new releases represented so the content is fresh AF and the skills on display are Second II None. Proud to be droppin Volume 7 of the Fly Fishing mix tape series. Let's keep it goin....

"Transmissions is the new album from SQ, the in-house producer for Penpals. A producer-driven record, it features verses from rappers including old friends (Rapswell, Bobby Noble, junclassic, Lars Viola, Jerré, K-Cromozone) and newer collaborators (PremRock, Defcee, Fatboi Sharif, Cavalier, Baje One, Nappy Nina, Teller Bank$, Moses Rockwell, Plain Old Mike). Marcus Pinn and DJ Steve Bills provide the cuts. Created over the course of 2022, Transmissions is a culmination of the connections made with all of the artists involved, tied together by the sonic palate laid down by SQ. Tune in."

Oh shiiiii - we're back in again with more unreleased joints from NJ producer Mixture. Some killers on this one, including a sick unheard 1995 demo from Massive Staff. Plus we also have an unheard banger from the Outsidaz 5 years before they dropped for the first time! Wow!!



There's also a dirty version of a previously radio-only track by obscure NJ act Sunz of K.O.S.S. (Kleptomaniacs Of Savage Society) as well as 4 unheard demos all produced by the man like Mixture. Amazing material for the heads!!!!

"Oh shiiiiii - we have even more unreleased 94-95 material from the boards of Mixture aka Kasem the Party Pooper. Amazing production here people. Been droppin short snippets over the last few months and heads have been flippin off the flava. Check the sounds yo!!!"

265 copies on black wax in trad Herring sticker jacket.

Pretty crazy this one!! My man Brian Kayser [Chopped Herring Interviews] hit up MC Chadio with a book idea. He happened to mention Herring and the rest is history. These are the demos that attracted Violator Ent impresario ‘Baby’ Chris Lighty [R.I.P.]. Lighty hooked up the deal with Def Jam through a second set of demos, but these beauties are what started the ball rolling on the career of three man outfit Cru previously known as Rhythm Blunt Cru. The name was shorted by Russell Simmons who I can only assume thought the word ‘blunt’ in the name of a group was a negative [when we all know that it’s a huge positive!!!]. There’s not much more to say here – just take a listen to the snippets and dig that lost early 90’s NY flava that we feen for. Massive Fish!!!!

So Joe City aka Third Eye Ent hits me up and says B, hook up with my man Strez, he might have some ish you are looking for. So outta Norfolk, Virginia, this is the Foundation Entertainment EP. Most of these tracks appeared on an extremely rare couple of cds from 97 & 99 as well as one off a demo tape and one unreleased from the House of Reps unreleased stash!!! Peep this short interview with DJ Strez for some background info:



Where did you grow up? “I grew up in the Park Place/Villa Heights section of Norfolk Virginia born & raised.”

What are your earliest memories of the culture? “My earliest moments of the culture are begging my mom to go to the record store to buy The Fatboys first album, LL Cool J “Radio”, Run-D.M.C. “Raising Hell” & Beastie Boys “Licensed To Ill” albums. When I got home that day I played these albums non stop. That’s when I knew I was in love with Hip Hop.”

Who were your fav beatmakers coming up? “My Favorite Beat Makers/Producers coming up was Marley Marl, Pete Rock, The Bomb Squad, DJ Premier, Large Professor, Diamond D & Joe City (VA Native)”

What was the VA scene like? “The VA Scene Between 1991-2001 was a great time to be involved with music.A lot of local artists that were coming out started making tapes and selling them at shows or in the clubs.We had so many outlets back then and the major artists were also coming down checking the scene out as well. We definitely had hidden gems as far as talent.”

When did you start making beats? “I started making beats when I was around 16 years old. I was always fascinated with making music and always wanted to learn. The music that was made between “87-99″ was always mind blowing to me. Once i realized that they were taking loops from old records,sampling and making beats out of them i knew that that is what i wanted to do”

What were your first bits of gear? “My first bits of gear was a Casio Sk-1, a Gemini Sampler Ds-1224, a Korg M1, a Boss Dr-5 & a Pair of technics belt drive turntables.”

When did you set up Foundation Ent? “Foundation Ent was formed around 93-95 through my partner Carlton Barnard and he was also my manager. We met at a mall out here in VA called Military Circle in 1996 and we chopped it up and immediately clicked. It all started and developed when he said he had equipment that wasn’t really being used and i asked him if i could use it and eventually it led to us getting a building for a studio and signing artists.”

How did you hook up with all the mcs? “Before Foundation Ent, I was in a group with a friend of mine named Stratagee Real which later became an artist on Foundation Ent so we were already connected. Carlton did beats and had the group Coalition & a female artist named Bad News already so we started teaming up and recording music together in the studio. The other artists that were on the roster were mostly people that we came across that rap and sing.”

Now on CD!

Hardcore Reps were a three man crew from Far Rockaway, Queens made up of two brothers Damian and Majestic along with beat maker and producer Angelo “A.N.G.” Foukas. They never released a project on their own and just featured on Angelo’s 1996 instrumental album on the only two tracks with vocals. Angelo was introduced to the brothers way back in the early 90’s through a mutual friend.. He played them a few of his instrumentals and the boys were suitably impressed and they made a few demo tapes in 1994 that they passed around local heads. They never pursued a deal and just used the tapes to get some recognition among their peers. The demo tapes have been in a much demand and only a few have survived. We have five joints from those tapes, remastered from the original studio DATs and three tracks that have never surfaced before. The two joints from that 1996 inst album are on here but slightly different versions. Big up to my man Dougpark for the hook up – Dougpark provided the connect for the excellent Speakeasy demos we dropped a couple years back. And before anyone says it’s Full Proof not Fool Proof, no it isn’t. Enjoy!!



Tracks:

1 Big Timers 2 Fool Proof 3 Dead Em 4 Rip Code 5 Rip Code [Remix] 6 The Music 7 We Raw 8 Keep It Hot

All tracks produced by Angelo “A.N.G.” Foukas

Wicked 8 track EP of super rare Shazam X productions from the 90s, now on CD too!!!

The incredible new album by Souls Of Mischief/Hiero member A-Plus, with ridiculous production from The Architect (Homeliss Derilex].

Rap duo Real II Reel aka Phatheadz was formed in 1990 by Ed Gledhill aka Ease and Nick D’Amato aka Nick Nice. The boys grew up in Pennsauken NJ just outside of Philly and met while in high school. They started rapping in their late teens and pressed their first 12 “ in 1990 [2 Def – Soul On A Roll] which featured none other than DJ Royal Rocker from Krown Rulers out of Camden supplying the cuts. Ed was lucky enough [his words] to gain an internship at a studio to learn engineering and that afforded him the time to concentrate on his own production work. Most of the songs back then were recorded onto Adat. Ed used a Yamaha S-760 for sampling and Roland equipment for beats, sounds and interface for a program called Master Tracks.

They changed the name to Phatheadz shortly after the 12″ dropped because, as they felt, times were changing and the play on numbers in groups titles was getting old [and also maybe because there was a house act called Real II Real?]. They were close with a deal at Ruff House records outta Philly around 1993-1994 but unfortunately it fell through. As with many artists of a certain age, they felt they were getting older and had lives and families and responsibilities and they lost the drive to do it anymore but we are pleased to say they remained friends to this day.

Props to the fellas for letting us do this project and supplying four previously unheard and unreleased heaters. Peep the snippets yo – this is Classic, slept on 93 ish

Featuring: Vinnie Paz, Tragedy Khadafi, Milano Constantine, Skyzoo, Chief Kamachi, and more… Track 1 produced by Jbl The Titan. Track 2 prod. by Twelvebit. Track 3 prod. by Onaje Jordan. Tracks 4, 8 & 10 prod. by Digitale. Track 6 prod. by Frank Grimes. Tracks 7 & 9 prod. by Vago. Track 11 prod. by Junelyfe. Track 13 prod. by Fan Ran. Tracks 5 & 15 prod By K. Sluggah. Track 16 prod. by Big Ghost Ltd. Track 17 prod. by Sultan Mir.
Cuts on Track 6 by DJ Grouch, on Track 15 by DJ Tray and on Track 17 by DJ TMB.

Limited edition CD!
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!

Limited CD version!

Originally recorded in 1991, but finally released in 1994, the "Suckas Brevity/Hostile Lifestyle" 12-inch by New Jersey MC & producer Beneficence is what you would probably refer to as an "obscure record". Only 100 copies were ever pressed on indie label Big House Records, so Herring & Beneficence's label Ill Adrenaline thought it might be a good idea to bring back the 12-inch material and to add some previously unreleased Beneficence jawn from the 90's. Chopped Herring Records is proud to present "Contents Under Pressure". Peep it folks!

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!

Finally Chopped Herring releases some of the dopest Don Producci instrumental productions. If you’re not familiar with the name yet, you might be familiar with his great beats, which he already supplied for the likes as Meyhem Lauren & Action Bronson on “Welcome To The Great Outdoors EP” and Meyhem Lauren for “The Total Meyhem EP”. So these beats are nothing but sure shot instrumentals.

Sick 10 track solo EP from Thunder Jam Alliance artist "Cal-S.K.I." from 1996-1998.

Killer indie flavas for the heads!!!!

And we're back in Tacoma, WA for more unreleased and unheard 1994-1995 bangers from the Thunder Jam Alliance crew. All tracks produced by Shaggy C. Such a shame a lot of this material didnt drop at the time of recording, but Herring, like Mighty Mouse, has come to save the day!!



Make sure you peep those snippets - some killer material right here for the heads!!!







Big shout out to my man Hakan Dougpark for the original connect and Unikone for his posts on the excellent Hip Hop The Golden Era Blog - 1L

I love a drop where the artist hits me up. There's something special about a talented cat reaching out to get his project released through Herring. Musa aka Howard Lloyd hit me up with a DAT transfer of joints that had previously been lost in time. They eventually showed up 30 years later after much digging and boy, was it worth the wait.



Cats will probably know Musa from his solo stuff as Howard Lloyd, his work in Sputnik Brown as well as his 90's crew House of Reps featuring Wyld Bunch. Dude has been a fixture on the Long Island and NY scene since the early 90s. He recorded his first demos in 1994 at the legendary Firehouse Studios and here for your listening pleasure, we have 4 tracks and 3 dub versions from those sessions including one mixed by our man C-12. The remaining 3 tracks on this stunning 10 tracker are by his crew House of Reps and were recorded down in GA in 96.



Props to Musa for reaching out and for the incredible music.



300 copies only -

And we're back. Sorry about Monday night - site issue - now fixed!!



It's been 7 years since the last 12" drop by Hahyeem on Herring and here we have a stunning new album produced exclusively by NYC beatmaker, and some say, protégé of Extra P, Karbine. Cats might know Karbine from his day job, working at A1 Records in NY.



This record will most definitely take heads back to Hahyeem's first release Silence. Drums are something horrible, horrible! Ooo weee. To me,it sounds a lot like Finesse's production, so what's not to like?



Hahyeem has been developing his rhyming style and overall artistry since we dropped Silence back then and this record is one of the nicest projects I've heard in a minute. Packaged in a full colour cover reminiscent of a Blue Note jacket and all on purple wax as requested by H, this one is crazy tasty. Don't sleep...you will regret it!





There are 300 copies on Purple Wax in Full Colour Jacket.

We received some terrible news just under 2 weeks ago - Kas aka Mixture passed. He never got to see the final part of his Potion Series drop. I spoke to him a week before asking him to send over his "descriptions" of each track, same as he has done on all the other volumes, but I never received them. This kinda brings into focus the reason behind all the archiving work I'm doing with Herring - that is, if you don't get these joints preserved, they could disappear without trace. Heads are reaching that age now. Seems like every week there's another one of our musical heroes that passes.





I want to send my deepest condolences to all who knew him - his family, friends, business contacts over his 30+ years in the game and all those who supported this series of releases on the label. I know for a fact that he was buzzing about this old material finally seeing the light of day. I was pleased to have been able to help him with that vision. Thanks for all K - at least the music will now last forever....

Dope 1996 previously tape-only release outta Birmingham, Alabama, produced by previous-Herring release artist, Supreme The Rude Boy. Joint Effort consisted of Mike Akbar (The Lyrical Dee Lite), Big Steve The Griot and producer Supreme The Rude Boy. All three met while attending University of Montevallo, AL, in the 90s.