Oh no, not the piano…
September 18, 2007
A 12″ Single. An all blacked out MAPL, signifying 100% Canadian Content. Justin Entertainment. 1991, Blast Records. Manufactured and Distributed in Canada by MCA. A single songwriting credit, (Chris Fielder). Published by Fumo Publishing. An artist with a touch of a Mid-Western drawl, who makes a reference to “Northwest D-Town”. Very confusing.
Ontario and Michigan share some musical history. CKLW in Windsor broke many Motown hits, back before the airwaves became the cluttered mess they are now. More recently, Obie Trice’s pre-Shady Records production was put down by Da Grassroots. Slum Village’s ‘Fantastic Vol 1″ made noise in Toronto before most of the U.S. caught on. It’s not a very long drive.
So after a few conversations and a quick google check, I seem to have put it together. Chris Fielder was a Canadian house producer. RazorBlayd was indeed from The D, and he’s now known as Axman. From his myspace bio…
“Axman was born on the mean streets of Detroit, Michigan and was the last of ten kids. So you already know that there were survival issues. Being around his two older brothers is what really sparked his musical interest because they had a record collection that was large and versatile. His older brother also had a little basement band which was always a treat to watch from the basement steps. This led to Ax being involved with the music programs at school from the 4th grade all the way through high school. In 1985 he and his family moved to Windor, Ontario which is right across the river from Detroit. He immediately joined forces with three other rappers from Detroit and a D.J. from Windsor. Even though some would disagree, it is a fact that this is what started the hip-hop movement in Windsor. Axman, along with the other members rocked numerous shows and soon gained respect in Windsor and Detroit. Axman soon started producing different local talent and even was a member of several bands. He moved to Toronto in 1990 to produce for an independent lable which led to his debut album, “Razorblayd (Razor’s Gruv)” , a distribution deal with MCA Canada and an appearance on the then popular dance show, Electric Circus. The album did fairly well. After two years in Toronto Axman went back to Detroit to spend time with his family and to set up shop in his hometown.”
A shout out to DJ Sipreano for supplying the photo, and for hipping me to this record.
- Birdapres
“Razor’s Gruv”
*endspace.com/file/dvp4zw
“Razor’s Gruv (Remix)”
*endspace.com/file/2dma51
Replace * with s
cousins of def – fried chicken flavoured (2003)
September 18, 2007
cousins of def – fried chicken flavoured
(2003, low pressure records)
Track Listing:
01. The New and Improoved Hip Club Groove
02. Livin’ Foul
03. Daily Basis (feat. Moves)
04. Booze Heist
05. Hot Bar-B-Que(feat. Jon Diss)
06. Funnel!!!!!!!! (feat. Kaboom)
07. Handle
08. If Ya Aint Shit (Don’t Do It)
09. No Coast (feat. B-Side)
10. Down Ddown
11. The Real Green Party (feat. J Ras, Moves, Caspian, Kaboom and B-Side)
12. Today (Death)
13. Rap 4 Food
14. Hard Assed Outro
bending mouth (2002)
September 18, 2007
bending mouth
(2002, vulgar)
“Selfhelp and Thesis came together for the first time on “Baby Ducks and Dragon Flys,” from the latter’s solo debut, The Adventures of Thesis Sahib and Friends, thus initiating the foundation for a partnership that would evolve into Bending Mouth. Representing both London, ON, and Halifax, NS, means an abundance of talent to tap for production on their independently released self-titled debut. More than half the production credits are shared almost equally between Kilgour (with some assists from Fester) and Toolshed’s Timbuktu, who sets the scene with quirky, mostly mid-tempo head-nodders. The rest of the tracks are contributed in small quantities by Jesse Dangerously (part of Imaginary Friends, with Thesis), Lazyman, G-Force and Creature Box’s Savilion, but the big coup is opening track “Stolen From Family,” produced by Sixtoo, and likely the best track on the album. But what is truly amazing is that even with the large number of producers, BM’s debut has a cohesive feel that wouldn’t be expected. On top of that, Thesis and Selfhelp have an undeniable chemistry that reveals itself through the subject matter and intertwined rhymes that is never jarring from one MC to the other. The lyrical wordplay rotates around the axis of social commentary and personal introspection, creating an album that not only sounds good, but means something, too. And to top it all off, how can you go wrong when Alf invites you to the group’s “unveiling” during the intro?”
-By Thomas Quinlan for Exclaim Magazine
October 08, 2002
flipkuma – the burnt rubber lung (2005)
September 18, 2007
atherton & sire – a different way… (2006)
September 18, 2007
atherton & sire – a different way of doing the same old thing
(2006, vinyl tap)
toolshed – relapse (2006)
September 18, 2007
toolshed – relapse
(2006, backburner)
Track Listing:
01. Texas Rangers
02. Nextime
03. Rocker Juice
04. Day Like This
05. Yell
06. Dead Drop
07. Irish Car Bomb
08. Slow Life
09. Known Aim feat. Fritz tha Cat
10. Wookiee Boots
11. Cabbage Night
12. Relapse
13. Random Update
14. Last Time feat. Selfhelp
-fritz tha cat (the guy featured on track 9)
thesis sahib – loved ones (2006)
September 18, 2007
thesis sahib – loved ones
(2006, clothes horse records)
Track Listing:
01. Dengue
02. The Butcher’s Daughter
03. I’ll Ride Away *End
04. Mud Pies
05. Thought This as Thoughtless
06. With What We Have
07. How Fortunate
08. On Secondhand
09. Twenty Sick Sweet Teeth
10. Plastic Spoons
11. Punk Rock Soccer Mom
12. Stuffed as a Champion
13. * Abandon
14. Part of the Family
15. And So and So
16. On the Road to Rotting
17. The King’s Men * Lets See
18. Useless Honest
19. Near the Low Stream
20. Crawling on Your Needs
21. A Different * Lullabies
22. Inside Voices
23. Eavesdrops
24. Calling Home
25. Action Man
26. Laugh Lines
27. Sleep to the Sound of…
28. The List * Thin Veil
29. Again and the Guilty Man
30. Face and Hands
bio from here:
Thesis Sahib has been contributing to the underground hip hop movement for the past thirteen years, both as an innovative rapper and a well known graffiti artist. His articulate, rapid-fire delivery, harmonic vocals and imaginative lyrics have graced an impressive catalogue of sought after releases on CD and vinyl.
Thesis has recorded a number of solo projects and collaborative works with Bending Mouth, Imaginary Friends, Les Swashbuckeling Napoleon’s and on his latest venture as the front man with the group HOWL. These releases have created a buzz within the underground and have received considerable air play on radio stations across North America and Europe. With production from underground legends such as Backburner Recordings, Joey Beats (Non Prophets) and Anticon’s Sixtoo and Alias, Thesis has become a permanent name within the realm of contemporary underground hip hop.
Thesis has toured North America several times performing with many well known artists such as, Buck 65, Busdriver, Adeem, Swollen Members, Sweat Shop Union and the Shape Shifters. Chosen in to play the 2005 Canadian dates in the WARPED TOUR with his band “HOWL,” Thesis in the same year was also nominated as Urban Artist of the Year for the Jack Richardson Awards. Currently Thesis is focusing on live shows as a solo rapper, accompanied by DJ Dubble.
concrete mob – concrete mob (2001)
September 18, 2007
concrete mob – concrete mob
(2001, concrete mob enterprises)
1. walk that talk
2. thug shit
3. poo butt
4. couldn’t see
5. friend or foe
6. boing point (bonus track)
saukrates – still caught up 12″ (1994)
September 17, 2007
saukrates – still caught up 12″
(1994, steppin’ bigga records)
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…
mr. roam – the 12 pack (2003)
September 17, 2007
tom strokes presents: the classix plus six by mr. roam
(2003, choice cut records)
1. what dough brings
2. system
3. bragn ‘n bosn
4. another love song
5. surgeon bubbler
6. luvovadu feat. saukrates
7. what dough brings… cont’d
8. neo b-boyism
9. psyko-nitro
10. who do you adore? feat. q-bot & cryp2nite
11. groupie central
12. sunny kiss is wack
