living underwater

saukrates - still caught up 12″
(1994, steppin’ bigga records)

download.

side a
1. still caught up
2. still caught up (inst)

side b
1. still caught up (remix)
2. still caught up (remix inst)
3. skillz ta thrill feat. lj (lock jaw)

all lyrics written and performed by saukrates
produced by saukrates
engineered by alex g.
executive prodcuer: eugnene tam
a&r direction: john “bronski” adams
mastered by: b. muntz (daddy biggs)
management: soul ink ent.

the debut 12″ from toronto’s own saukrates, on steppin’ bigga records, the label owned by play de record’s own eugene tam (somebody who is very familar to anybody who was a vinyl junkie in toronto in the mid-90s). the label on the 12″ is incorrect, as it says the instrumental is track 2 on side a, when in fact it is track 3 on side b. also, “skillz ta thrill” is labelled as track 3 on side b, when in fact it is track 1 on side a. whatever, you can download all 5 tracks and figure it out for yourself…

saukrates is a well-known canadian producer/mc, and, along with kardinal offishall (who can also be heard on this 12″, back when he was known as “kool aid”) and choclair, is one of the most prominent members of the circle crew, which is a toronto hip-hop collective made up of two sub-crews, “paranormal” and “f.o.s.” (figures of speech). some other members of the crew are lock jaw (featured on this 12″), marvel (featured on sauk’s third 12″, “hate runs deep”), solitaire, jully black (r&b), and ro ro dolla. in the mid-90s, right as the indie scene was taking off, these cats made some serious noise with a series of well-received 12″ singles, on various indie labels, including a few of their own (knee deep records, capitol hill entertainment, etc.).

saukrates went on to sign a major label deal with warner records in the u.s., in 1996, but was dropped before anything materialized. a few years later, he hooked up with redman and was signed to his def jam imprint, but again, nothing ever materialized. still active, saukrates has continued producing for a number of other artists, both canadian and american, indie and major, as well as co-producing and performing vocals for the toronto-based soul/funk/r&b/hip-hop supergroup big black lincoln. more to come…

myspace.com/saukrates
myspace.com/bigblacklincoln

-fritz tha cat