Chopped Herring Vinyl, CD & Tape 202 Items

And here we have it people – the previously CD-only-released 1992-1993 demos on vinyl for the very first time. Classic unreleased Tuff Crew business from back in the archives of legendary DJ Too Tuff. All these joints were recorded on a Tascam 488 8-track cassette with the beats created on an Akai MPC 60. Some killers on here for fans of the group as well as the golden era heads out there. Here are 6 crazy nice joints from the project, all transferred from original tapes, reels and DATs. If you don’t know, now you know. BAM!!!!

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.”

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.”

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 shhhhi – the third Veks release of the cycle is “Anthology” a 14 track compilation of early Veks joints previously only available on small run cdrs. This is the first time that Herring has dedicated a whole month to a single artist – following on from theLast Jazz ClubLP and theDa Neighborhood Kidz7″. Enjoy!!!

Limited CD edition!

Chopped Herring presents this bomb out of Boston, that was set to drop on Def Jam/Surrender in 1996. These, previously unreleased tracks, featured on the promotional tape version of the 1996 "In The Company Of Killaz" album.
Wiseguys were a group made up of members of legendary Boston Gangsta Rap crew The Almighty RSO, Made Men and TDS Mob . The group's formation is perfectly in line with the purest form of Hip Hop - that is, music that brought gang members together, off the street, to squash beefs and create something positive to inspire others to do the same.
One of their first breakthroughs was winning the ICA B-Town Rap Battle in 1986. Following that, in 1989 they went to NY to work with Paul C and recorded a whole album that was never released [!]. They were signed to Tommy Boy in 1992 but were dropped due to the controversial single "One in the Chamba" which prompted The Boston Police Patrolman's Association (BPPA) pressing charges against the group under a state law that prohibits inciting assaults against public figures.
They were again picked up by another label, Flavor Unit and following Flava Unit's demise they were picked up by RCA. RSO & Made Men morphed into Wiseguys and released their debut album "In The Company Of Killaz" in 1996 on The Source's co-founder David Mays' label Surrender Recs in conjunction with Def Jam. The tracks we have for you here are perhaps the nicest from that set of material, and never featured on the original, released version of the album. All tracks were transfered from the original studio master DATS by producer Twice Thou. Chopped Herring would like to thank E-Vicious aka Twice Thou for making this project happen along with Boston Hip Hop afficiando Gage-One who made the connect and Simon Pehlgrim for all his help.
Wiseguys cast included Ray Dog (aka Benzino of RSO/Made Men), E-Devious (aka Twice Thou of RSO/Made Men), Cool Gzus (aka Mr. Gzus of TDS Mob/Made Men), Tangg the Juice, Masta Criminal Mann Terror, Mike McNeil (aka M3/Mass Murderin' Mike), Tony Rhome (of RSO), Big Roscoe and (Masta Criminal) Main T. Blazertown, Im, J-Hops, Moty, J-Stone, Hardcore, Belnel Mike, Stets, One Man Gang, Mag Steel, DB-11, Hostile & G-Pack.

A sick 10 track EP of material from Zimbabwe Legit's 2007 album House of Stone including a few instrumentals and extras, handpicked by myself for the heads. Cats will know ZL from their 1996 DJ Shadow mixed Mo Wax release 'Doin' Damage In My Native Language'. The original release dropped in 1991 on Hollywood Basic [Organized Konfusion!] and ZL are often touted as the first African hip hop act to get a US release.



This slept on project from 2007 only had a CD release and was fairly low key at the time. It is mostly produced by Raw Produce's Cadence [R.I.P.]. Little story for you. I was in Beat Street [Fulton Mall, BK] at the time of one of their massive sales. I found one of the Raw Produce EPs there for 10c a pop. I copped about 30 or 40 [!!!]. Flipped em on the bay and a few years later I was digitally accosted by Seth [Cadence] on the DWG Forum. He was like "Did you bootleg my record!!" etc etc. I explained where I got them and after a little back n forth we squashed the beef and agreed to work on something in the future. Shortly after he passed and shortly after that I hooked up with producer DJ Quazar from New England Hip Hop Massive and released the grail which included Seth's first ever recording from 1992. And here we are now...



The features on this one are massive: Mike G from the Jungle Brothers, Mad Skillz, stic.man from Dead Prez, YZ, Prince Po, Breeze Evahflowin, Apani, Emskee and Cadence himself. Beautiful, conscious, jazz infused vibes from the motherland. Stupendous stuff!!!



Big shout out to my man in Canada Gee Roc for putting Dumi [from ZL] onto Herring to make this one happen. Props to all involved!!