Chopped Herring HHV Records 211 Items

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.

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.

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!!!!

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!!!

There are not too many artists who can maintain over a quarter of a century but the man like Kwest Tha Madd Lad dropped a superb project a few months back and we decided to combine that full project with 5 of his 1994 [unused first album joints] previously only available on CD via the now-defunct No Sleep Recordings. His first album, on Rick Rubin’s American Recordings took a couple of years to drop but was completed in 1994. After the schedule was messed around with in favour of different artists on the label, the record finally dropped in 1996. At that time Kwest decided to leave out some of his earlier recordings from the session, so they never made it onto wax. But we are proud to say that the time has finally come to give them a vinyl airing. The new EP ‘S.P.I.T.R” was produced by Aneeway Jones and X-Ray Da MIndbenda [M.I.C.] and is one of the freshest and competent releases by a “mature mc” of recent years. The ‘Old To The New’ LP spans 1994 to 2019 in a seamless homage to the timeless art of lyricism. Enjoy!!!! There will be 350 copies pressed only. This first 120 copies will be on Purple & Green mixed Colored Vinyl. The next 230 are on traditional black wax!! Cover is a plain white sleeve with full colour large 20cm x 20cm sticker.

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.....

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!!!!

"In 2015 Herring dropped The Essence, in 2018 we dropped the Prerequisite album and now in 2020 we have for you, the third studio album from Baltimore MC Ill Conscious, ‘Logistix’. This super dope project appeared in a lot of cats’ Top 10 projects of 2019, in a bunch of Top 5’s and loads of heads rated this banger as the album of the year. Included is a BONUS joint entitled “The Wreck Age” featuring Recognize Ali & Tha Soloist. ENJOY!!!" - Chopped Herring

Tracklist differs from the CD editions list.

Damn – this is a dope one!! Page The Hand Grenade aka Stanley Grimes is known mostly for his classy mid-90’s features on D.I.T.C. projects. He featured on Lord Finesse’s “Check Me Out Baby Pah” and O.C. “Weak Ideas” as well as the exceedingly dope Buckwild produced track “Mass Hysteria” from the D.I.T.C. CD “Unreleased Production 1994”. He also was a member of Freestyle Professors and featured on a bunch of their releases and back in the day went by the name of Rampage The only thing the man like Grimes hasn’t done is drop a solo project – that is until now!!

To celebrate we have an EP of 6 unreleased joints from IBM Nation member Mac G outta Philadelphia. Hardcore collectors will know IBM Nation from their 1990 grail the Brainiac EP which dropped on small indie label Inner City Recs back in the deezy. Unfortunately Mac G had a couple of his crazy nice solo demo tapes stolen from his studio by a shady acquaintance. Those tapes appeared on Ebay shortly afterwards and sold for crazy loot [2k+]. We’re hoping that one day the new owner of those 1992 – 1994 demo tapes will hit us up to share them with the fans, on a limited vinyl Herring release. But what we do have here are his extra dope unreleased mid 90’s demos. Peep the snippets and we’ll be back 1st week of January with the final vinyl release of the Dec/Jan Cycle as well as 4 new CD releases. Props for supporting the Herring in 2019 – we have some sureshots already lined up for 2020, the 20th year of the Herring!!!

Oh shiiii – monster rarity here – the 1997-1998, previously CDR-only “release”,by dope Canadian crew Bomb Shelta Association. This release follows on from the excellent Shylow “Please Listen To My Demos” LP from the end of 2017. We were fortunate enough to get access to the original studio DAT files, so this one sounds stoopid nice people. Peep a short interview with Shylow from the crew, to get some background info on this incredible and generally slept-on project…..

The flava never ends!! And we're back with another new Pseudo's project and this one is stupid fresh. All the samples are taken from one vintage source for this, possibly their dopest album to date. The artwork, by the excellent Julian Montague (Jazz is Dead) is a pastiche [yeah, I said pastiche!] of the art on the OG label, with even the logo flipped into Herring.



Cause of the crazy long post-covid lead times we've been sat on this pandora's box of flava for toooo long - but now it's time to share. I've given up on the superlatives with the Pseudos - the stuff just gets better and better. Concept, breaks, drums, art are all top notch, so please enjoy album #4 from the Pseudo/Herring collaboration.

Oh shiiiiii - we're back again with the most recent album by our man in Baltimore, Ill Conscious. Probably his dopest record to date, Acres of Diamonds dropped in 2022 and is entirely produced by Camden, NJ's Mute Won. Beats are ridiculous...



Sorry it took so long for you cats to get a vinyl release - crazy post-Covid lead times made it extremely hard to coincide with the digital release but the good news is that turnaround times have shrunk in the last few months and we are finally getting past the craziness of the last 2 years.



If you haven't heard this project yet, peep the snippets - the ish is Stunning!!!



450 copies in full colour jacket



Clear Vinyl Only

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!!

It's been way too long since the last Pen Pals x Herring collabo.

In 2016 we dropped the stoopid nyce Made for the Underground LP produced by the Slipmat Brothers [Jazz Spastiks] and now we're back again with an oustanding project produced entirely by Chicago's finest Spectacular Diagnostics. On a far out jazz tip, Dimensions in Dialogue is a "match made in Mars....a sonic boom bap explosion that'll shoot redhot rocket fuel directly into your veins." Sounds like something....

What a killer season that last one was and we are starting the new one with a beast. The underground Hip Hop world was left reeling from the passing of People Under The Stairs' Double K in January 2021.



Back in 2008 he was working on a sick project with our man in New Haven, CT, Dooley O. A couple tracks from the sessions had been leaked on the net but the majority haven't been heard before.



What we have hear are 5 joints from the collabo as well as 2 insts and an acapella for the DJs to play with. Production is fantastic and we have been blessed with a modern day anthem, entitled simply "Hip Hop" - a joint which laments the current state of the artform, something which most heads can relate too. Not to say that hip hop isn't alive and well, as we know it is - well, at least alive - but Dooley & Double K are heard laughing at and pointing to the joke that the culture has become, asking us "what happened" to the form. "It must be the music that's turning me off, be sounding so Tinkerbell, extra soft" - yup we hear you fellas!!!

Izniz, the producer for The Madness, Ghettolandz & Burn U.N.I. [as well as being the owner of Boom Bap Nation], hit up Sham from PD and said "Yo, speak to Bob about a release", so he did. He played me some joints from an unreleased 1999 project. There were some really dope ones on there but I was like "Where are the 1996 demos, ya know, the ones submitted to The Source's Unsigned Hype section". I was told that no one had them anymore. So unsurprisingly I was a little disappointed. I mean there was some niceness in the late 90's stash but it was those elusive demos that the heads were really feenin for.

Some time went by and one day I noticed someone was displaying a copy of the actual demo tape that the group had lost online. I hit dude up immediately and he was mad cool and knew Herring and very kindly offered to do a high quality rip of the material. And WOW. The material is absolute fiya. What we have here are all the tracks off the 1996 demo tape that the artists no longer have, plus one Absolute monster track from the late 90's. You tell me people, but I think this one is pretty, pretty, pretty special.

Perverted Dialect are Sick Ass Sham, Waynmega (Slang) and DJ Skills. They hail from the Long Branch neighborhood of New Jersey and knew each other from around the way. The group nearly copped a deal off Violator but it never came off. Violator's loss is our gain.

The Chopped Herring Records Full Colour Logo Tee is equipped with the following features:
• rib crew neck with interior tape
• Full Colour Logo artwork printed on front
• relaxed fit
• 100% cotton single jersey

This is a real low key one, but a helladope one. Cats will know Born-God from NY mid 90’s crew Now Born Click. His cousin, producer and mentor you will know from the previous release on Herring, Russ Prez – and he is responsible for the dope production on this flavasome EP. This project only had a limited cassette release back in 1994 and is extremely hard to find. So we had to bring it on wax for the headz. All joints transferred from the original studio DATs and included is a previously unreleased banger!! R.I.P. Born-God. Shout out to Thomas Stephansen!

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

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.

Wow - years before the first Pseudo's release, we have this spectacular album [or is it an EP?] by the boys from Buffalo, NY. Recorded 2001-2003 this is 100%, pure Pseudo-sound from the early days. Sunday vibes, piano loops, smart-ass/tuned-in lyrics - this one has everything for the headz . Never been released or leaked before, this was set to be on Buffalo label Deepthinka Recs, but it never happened. So Herring is here, over 20 years later, to sponge up that Pseudo-juice and wring the sweet nectar into a black piece of limited vinyl, adorned in the typical Herring 'unreleased-style' sticker cover. If you are a Pseudohead this one will seamlessly join the dots from 2001 until now. Perfection on wax. Enjoy!!!