It's very interesting when you're on top for only a moment, isn't it?
Many bands tried to reach the top of the hip-hop food chain by themselves, but very few actually succeed in doing so.
When you picture acts like Jay-Z, Biggie, 2Pac & Nas, you find that they've all established themselves as businesses, one way or another from the very get-go.
While other acts, such as Onyx, Naughty By Nature & Das EFX, they've reached the top with only their primary team behind them.
Das EFX, to be particular, relied on their in-house production crew, Solid Scheme, of which the late Chris Charity, a.k.a. C-Dog, ran the entire operation in a close knit group. These types of teams are molded strictly for underground audiences & rarely make an impact in the mainstream industry, let alone shoot straight to the top of it. But, shoot to the top they did.
It didn't happen overnight, though. In '91, Brooklyn-born Teaneck-raised Andre Weston bka Krazy Drazy and Brooklyn-born-&-raised William Hines bka Books In Reverse (Skoob for the challenged) were buddying it up in Virgina State masquerading as students along with their two producers when a small hip hop contest was advertised. The winner would get 100 dollars. Only top dollar for the top talents. The crucial details to this otherwise-boring-ass origin story is that the judges of said competition were none other than one Erick Sermon and one Parish Smith, or for the uninitiated, EPMD. Our duo, prior to even calling themselves by their now-household moniker, performed a routine that would later be known as Klap Ya Handz. Needless to say, both E&P were blown the hell away. So naturally, they rigged the competition so that our two protagonists wouldn't win. Parish then came up to the duo and issued the following: "You want a hundred bucks or a record deal?" Which was literally the one thing P could've said to stop Drazy, Books, Solid Scheme member Derek Lynch & ringleader C-Dog from shooting up the place.
As a result, Dead Serious, the duo's debut, executive-produced by EPMD (an obvious step), was the pure definition of a sleeper hit in 1992, gaining vast critical & commercial success, resulting in it rightly gaining classic status in later years. Stuff of fairytales. Really.
However, things began to spiral out of control once the big EPMD fiasco hit that very same year. To top it all off, the two snots actually ditched what made them so popular in the first place, "the iggedy" or the "sewage" gimmick. As a result, it didn't really matter if their sophomore effort, the very underrated Straight Up Sewaside, was a better album in all aspects. The critical & commercial success ship has long sailed.
So, they did the only thing they could do at that point & tried the underground route. Their 3rd opus, Hold It Down, was a sort of calling in favours from fans within the industry, resulting in a 20-track album with very different musical backdrops, most of which were pretty damn good. Yet, critics & sales still slumped.
So we come to the year 1998. The new millennium's on the horizon, boom bap is thought to be long dead and our protagonists are out of favours in the industry. They had only one option remaining.
Parish Smith, whom the duo sided with after his temporary breakup with Erick Sermon, released his 2nd album in 1996 that somehow gave his camp an identity. "Business Is Business" was basically a PMD Squad album (I refuse to call that clique the Hit Squad. To me, that moniker is reserved for the reunited camps of Erick and Parish respectively), with productions from Solid Scheme, Charlie Marotta, DJ Scratch and the excellent Agallah, or 8-Off the Assassin as he was known at the time, along with rap appearances by M.O.P., Nocturnal, Prodigy from Mobb Deep & our headliners today, who appeared on 4 songs on the album. They later collaborated with EPMD on the reunion album, "Back In Business" on the awesome track, "Intrigued".
So, in-house was the way to go. This time around, PMD felt like he had to have more of a hand in the sound of the album, given that he was once an extraordinary producer himself. So, he geared up with his production affiliates from his sophomore LP, along with a few additions, and set off making the final Das EFX album in many people's eyes.
Anyone bringing up How We Do would be wasting his goddamn time.
Here's Generation EFX:
INTRO
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RAW BREED
The second single & the first song of the album is a collaboration between Agallah & Solid Scheme, crafting a 50-themed classical music beat that is very easy on the ears. A very contrasting style to what we're accustomed to from Solid Scheme, but that's merely due to Agallah's input. The lyrics, however, are a different story. The duo has seemingly lost all sense of fun in recording by themselves, resulting in a very paint-by-the-numbers lyrical display. This aspect was very disappointing. I dunno, I still enjoy this because of the beat.
SHINE
It was bound to happen. The fucking sewer rats are now attempting a track for the fucking radio. It's not even a fucking single. Was this what the streets wanted to hear from the guys who made Hard Like A Criminal and Kaught In Da Ak??!! On here, these two sound like they were the inspiration for the Beavis & Butthead cartoons. They hear fucking Comby on the radio, they whimper to themselves: "Hey!! We can have a good time, too!! We can look good in a fucking club, too!!!" Some sewage (pun motherfucking intended) that calls itself Tony L produced this horseshit, by the way. Important note: Drazy's delivery has become even more annoying than usual this time round.
SOMEBODY TOLD ME (FEATURING 8-OFF & NOCTURNAL)
8-Off returns behind the boards by himself this time & crafts a beat that successfully washes the remnants of the previous song outta my ear. However, his verse is the only somewhat decent verse on this whole song, with the worst offender being Nocturnal, who sounds like a fucking mafioso-rap reject. Lord Almighty, this album's off to a bad start. By the way, who in the FUCK played Sega Genesis back in 98? (I’m assuming they’re not talking about the Saturn or the Dreamcast. Ah, the Dreamcast.) Talk about some false advertising. Overall, the beat saved this.
SET IT OFF
By far, the worst song on the album. Rashad Smith & Armando Colon are with us to bring us this pig shit. Believe me, my fellow lonely soul, it's much worse than the crap that was "Shine". I mean, it reeks, reeks of sounding like something Mase aka Pastor Betha would’ve left on the cutting room floor when he was making the abysmal Harlem World. For their part, Das EFX have now officially transformed into the poor man's M.O.P. Scratch that, actually. They're the de-fucking-prived-of-every-fucking-privilege-known-to-fucking-humankind man's M.O.P.
NO DOUBT (FEATURING M.O.P. & TEFLON)
Speak of the devils. Solid Scheme return with the very original M.O.P. with their kinfolk, Teflon, to show our hosts how they're supposed to sound if they're gonna make an M.O.P. song. First, you need a beat worth demolishing, and Solid Scheme provide just that. Then, you need some competent MC's, and M.O.P. succeed in bringing our hosts into that special Onyx/M.O.P. vibe of furniture & limb tornados. This was a much-needed breather from all the shit we've been swimming through.
RAP SCHOLAR (FEATURING REDMAN)
The lead single & yep. You read this right. Redman's here. And he's fitting to wreck some shop. Armando & Rashad handle a sample of Brick's "Dazz" that was very famously sampled in Ice Cube’s scathing demolishment of his former NWA brethren, "No Vaseline". This song is originally produced by Parish Smith, with the original popping up later on the album. And, somehow, he thought his version wasn't good enough to be the lead single, so he brought us the dynamic duo of pop at the time. One that isn't called The Trackmasters nor the Neptunes. Anyway the fuckers were brought in to spice things up a little. Well, I'm very pleased to tell you that, while their take is clearly the inferior one, they still provided a competent enough spin to justify making this the lead single. Redman naturally steals the track from our hosts by sticking them up with a lollipop. Well, actually Books put up some kind of a fight. Drazy went off rambling absolute gibberish. But don't hold it against him. Too much stress from shitting out all those chimichangas from yesterday apparently fried his wires. We'll get someone to fix him later.
GENERATION EFX (FEATURING EPMD)
It should be notable this is the sole completed EPMD guest appearance released on record, shouldn't it? Well, thank God this song fucking knocks, then. Parish & Agallah collaborate on this track to produce a brilliant take on "Eye Of The Tiger", which is then demolished by both duos with infectious energy. The sound of Erick & Parish back together on another record just can't be denied. Plus, any song where BOTH members of Das EFX are awake & carrying each other's backs is a big step in the right direction. The hook sucks walrus balls, though. Courtesy of Books In Reverse who's drunk off his ass. Why did you piss him off so, Drazy?
RITE NOW
Some dude named Mike Lowe provides us with East Coast beat #2458842, which does nothing for our hosts, as Drazy's drunk again. Leaving Books as the only sober dude in the booth. I'm telling you that through his delivery, you can hear him getting angrier at Drazy for being such a fucking bum so far on this album.
WHUT GOES AROUND (FEATURING MISS JONES)
The Sugar Hill songstress is here, and lil Jonesy is so much the wrong companion for a group like our kings of sewage. Nevertheless, she & PMD, who's on his own behind the boards, do enough with what they can. This might attract some listeners, but it's merely meh for me. The beat sounds like it came straight from an 80s pop song. Not bad, I guess?
MAKE NOIZE
The very final Solid Scheme production EVER. Chris Charity aka C-Dog, who was the leader of the whole Das EFX movement, would pass away 2 years later, effectively ending any sort of real Solid Scheme comeback. RIP. Kinda wish the beat was more fitting. It's not bad, per se, but if you're a fan of the group's earlier work, you kinda feel wanting a little bit more than a Nightmare Before Christmas-type of beat. Oh well, the rhymes were somewhat good, at least. I'm almost sad it had to end for them this way. Almost.
NEW STUFF
PMD & Agallah return to give us a more uptempo beat than the previous one, but with very similar lyrical results. Also, Books shows his first signs of lyrical fatigue, as he's slowly but surely become the workhorse of the duo. Meanwhile, in between takes at the time of this song's recording, Drazy's slurping on his third fudgesicle while watching Mulan for the umpteenth time. He sure does love Eddie Murphy's family phase. Don't ask me why.
TAKE IT BACK (FEATURING PMD)
Parish is again left to his own devices behind the boards, which results in a beat that’s the most reminiscent of the Jeep-rattling EPMD sound I've heard in a long while. He appears on the song as well, raising the chemistry of every rapper involved to an enjoyable level. That's all I got.
CHANGE
So, you two fucks. You give us an entire album of mediocre rhymes before bringing us something that resembles interesting writing? Anyway, Agallah's behind the boards for dolo again. And this time, he freaks a friggin' somber sample of Queen's "Sail Away Sweet Sister" that sets the mood for the duo to spit. Luckily, they turn in their best lyrical display on the album, As Drazy is speaking to a girl he loves, and Skoob's speaking to a mentor of sorts in a parenting tone. Of course, both of these subjects are metaphors for hip-hop. Ah, well. Count me entertained. They do as well as they can in this point of their career, with Books finally catching up to Drazy in the storytelling department, yet still not passing him. This shit was nice!
RAP SCHOLAR (ORIGINAL VERSION) (FEATURING REDMAN)
I told you that the original version would pop up later on the album, but nooooooo: You had to insist on listening to all this shit first. Suit yourself, my fellow knucklehead. Anyway, Parish wasted his motherfucking time by commissioning Ringo & Armando to remix this shit earlier, as this version is by far the superior one. Reggie’s lyrics are the exact same while our duo’s pen game is different enough than the single version, but PMD's take elevates this song to very entertaining, as his use of the very same Dazz sample is much better than how those two laced it earlier.
FINAL THOUGHTS: Das EFX's fall from grace was swift & painful. This is the worst album in their real catalog, and you know what? They have no one to blame but their own goddamn selves. For the most part, no one can fault the beats, as they are a continuation of Parish's 2nd LP's successful run. No producer from Parish's in-house team came with a bad beat,and Solid Scheme tried their damn hardest. The same can NOT be said for the guest productions. However, most notable is that the duo's laziness, especially Drazy's, leaves this album falling flat on its shnoz. The commercial & critical no-shows this time were very well-deserved. Bottom line: Aside from the posse cuts and Change, this was a major letdown & a waste of my motherfucking time.
WORTH IT? Oh, by all means, stay away from this shit. I can not, with a clear conscience, recommend supporting this album to anyone. Scratch that. You know what? Just give Change & the posse cuts a spin. And if you don't like 'em, I implore you to ignore this album as if it never happened.
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