Camp Lo Luchini Aka This Is It

Camp Lo’s late-‘90s hip-hop classic “Luchini aka (This Is it)” is, to put it simply, a sure-shot head-nodder. Upon making its way through any public-facing speaker system, then and now, it drives revelers to one of two important places – the dancefloor or the bar. It’s a feel-good rap track of the highest order, and sounds as good today as when it hit two decades ago. Featuring Bronx MCs Sonny Cheeba and Geechi Suede and produced by then up-and-comer Ski Beatz (who, during the same era, helped a young Jay-Z begin his steady and triumphant ascent), the cut oozes warmth and MC bravado. Sonny and Geechi are both technically top-shelf, but not backpacker stiff. Riding over an inventive chop of Dynasty’s electro-soul groover, “Adventures In The World Of Music,” they made it look very easy. The song would go on to create a stir on the Billboard charts in 1997, not only on the expected “Hot Rap Singles” list, but also well up the pop rankings of the “Hot 100” (peaking at #50). As with a few tracks from the era, it stretched beyond the rap world, as the group and their peers helped push hip-hop to the no-turning-back point, making the music into a true global phenomenon. The hit we know and love on the A-Side is complemented here with the 12-inch’s original B-side, “Swing”: a pimp-strutting, stuttering groove (also produced by Ski Beatz), with faster, more aggressive flows from both MCs. If “Luchini” was for popping bottles at the club, “Swing” was meant for the late night afterparty cipher. It even features a cameo by one of the crew’s lyrical idols: Butterfly of Digable Planets.