MC Class See Level 1991-1993 EP

MC Class has pedigree. The godson of "Penetentiary" [1979] director Jamaa Fanaka and blacksploitation actress Carol Speed, Class was born and grew up in the Baychester area of the North Bronx. From his bedroom window in the 1970's he would experience the initial wave of Hip Hop culture first hand in the form of local DJ's setting up their turntables in the park over the way and blasting pre-Hip Hop flava to the local community, free of charge!! Back then Hip Hop was a free culture and Class would lament it's progression into a commercial product and it's bastardisation on route. His early exposure to the music came through Jerry Bloodrock's radio show on college radio, which he would tape and play in the schoolyard on his boombox. At that time everyone round the way rhymed and Class was no different. In fact all his communication to others was supplied in the form of rhyme - he was truly a product of his environment. But experiencing first hand the growing violence in the streets of the Bronx in the 70's and early 80's and abhorring it, he vowed to get out of NY. It was the Navy which came to his immediate rescue...

He got out of the Navy in 1989 and not wanting to move back to New York he set himself up in Seattle, about as far away as he could get. There he formed the group Brothers Of The Same Mind. Off the back of many successful live shows they were written up in the Unsigned Hype section of The Source in 1990 which lead to more touring, then finding representation. Following another feature in The Source as well as many other Hip Hop mags of the day, they were signed to Conspiracy Records. They dropped one single on Conspiracy, but before an album could be picked up for a major deal the band split up.

Following the demise of the group, Class was hit with a bout of depression. Realising his knowledge, commitment and passion for his art he went back to college to study sound engineering and film. A direct motivator for his newly chosen path was the result of a show he performed at as a solo artist after the group split up. The sound quality was mad nasty at the venue and the main act came on stage, kicked the sound engineer off the boards and brought in its own dude. Class realised then the importance of sound control and focused for the next few years on obtaining a bachelors degree. Oh, the main act was Dj Quick! Class self financed his first solo 12", the now in-demand "Hope You're Listening" and gave all copies away as promos. Red Alert got one and used it on a mix tape and a few artists sampled the opening line of "Fishin'". He contued to work with artists in a production and video producing capacity through the 90s and to this day can be found writing and producing in the North West.

When the Brothers split and Class was feelin like his life wasn't making sense, one of his boys, in reference to him using his skills to make something happen with his career, offered him some advice and it's this analogy that 20 years later lead to Class and Herring's collab for the 100th release on the label. He said "Yo Class, you need to go fishin'"...the rest is history....