How many of y'all remember when Das-Efx was like the hottest schitt in Hip Hop? Oh, it was only for like a minute, but Skoob and Drayz most def had the rap world firmly by the gonads for those sixty seconds in 1992. Hell, when even Ice Cube (who had previously been the hottest Hip Hop schitt himself) starts blantantly biggedy-biting your style you know you must be runnin' things. Unfortunately, all that "iggedy" schitt played out pretty quickly- after blowin' up with their debut album "Dead Serious", the sophomore release "Straight Up Sewaside" the following year failed to captivate the public's imagination as effectively as their first lp did. I liked the second album, but other than abandoning their trademark stiggedy-style they also seemed to run out of the non-stop pop culture references that made "Dead Serious" so unique, trading them in for darker, more gangsta-inspired material (what was it with the happy rappers back in those days? seems like EVERYBODY went dark for their follow-up albums).
You could see it coming with this 12"-only b-side that came out between the first and second Das albums... straight catchin' bodies, no more "that's pretty sneaky sis" type schitt. I liked this joint, don't get me wrong, but I still miggedy missed the way they did their thing initially. I had an unreleased Das joint from this era that I also wanted to post, but, unfortunately, it was yet another casualty of that fatal external hard drive disaster. Well, if I ever catch that siggedy song again I'll be sure to piggedy put it up here in the figgedy future.
DAS EFX - Hard Like A Criminal RE-UPPED
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8 comments:
Diggedy dope: thanks.
I know it really wasn't what the crew was intially about, but there are still moments that I really like on the 3rd LP. From that point onwards it was definitely spiraling down the toilet...
Peace,
Dan
The first three diggity Das EFX albums are still in heavy rotation, mos def!
i always liked the premier kaught in da ak remix
I was always fond of Das. It's funny how they seem a little corny now but at the time (I was like 12 when they first came out) I thought they were the next level of hardcore. I mean, fuck a project they were from the SEWER!!
That third album was definitely slept on. And remember the Microphone Master remix with Mobb? Wasn't on the album but that's still their overall dopest song to me.
bubble wrap that hard drive and mail it to me. you haven't thrown it away yet have you?
yunno what else seemed cool about them? it was like- boom- here's the tape and- boom- it was classic. despite the EPMD connection, Das blowing up in the spring of '92 seemed organic. 'round my suburbs it was word of mouth, "let me borrow that tape", before even yo! caught on. it was strictly underground funk AND it crossed over, no diggity.
Fom what I remember "Hard Like A Criminal" was actually supposed to be on "Dead Serious" but the record company took it off because it didn't fit the record's mood. Which is true, but it's still dope.
yo, i just listened to the 2nd das album for the first time in a long time and was surprised to find that it's actually a lost closer to the sound of their 1st album than i remembered it being. no iggedy iggedys and not as clever IMO but still a hard azz record. funny how time can change your perspective when it comes to music (and i guess when it comes to everything else too).
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