Unsigned Hype: Dr. Seus

 

For its first foreign-born Unsigned Hype feature, the August 1993 edition of The Source magazine featured England-native and New York-bred Dr. Seus. Raised in the boroughs of the Bronx and Brooklyn, Seus found his home in Queens and established a friendship with high school classmates Mobb Deep (who appeared as the Poetical Prophets in Unsigned Hype's July 1991 release). Seus maintained his Mobb Deep affiliation through the recording of his demo tape; Prodigy makes a guest appearance on "Catchin' Bodies" and served as a producer alongside Kerwin "Sleek" Young (the former Bomb Squad affiliate who had produced four tracks on Mobb Deep's 1993 debut album Juvenile Hell). Seus' demo featured "slow and funky, hardcore, jazzy tracks" accompanied his "serious flow" and "laid-back drawn outt voice". Seus described his character on the microphone as being "Voodoo Magic" as he used a technique that sounded like two "separate minds rhyming with one style alternating back and forth". He presented "rugged realities" that were relatable to any kid from the streets.

Alas, Seus' content did not appeal to the kids of the record companies and he failed to sign a deal or put out a single. He also could not further secure the help of his friends Mobb Deep to make a guest appearance on any of their material and his output – or any sign of his existence – was over by the end of 1993.

The two named tracks from his demo tape  – "Dearly Beloved" and "Catchin' Bodies" – have found their way to release: the former through Young's 2015 production compilation album Beats, Breaks & Rhymes [1992-1995] Vol 1 and the latter on Vol 2. Another Seus track, titled "Clips", also appears on Vol 2. Seus and Prodigy display neat chemistry on "Catchin' Bodies" but Seus proved he was capable of holding his own on "Dearly Beloved" over Juvenile Hell-sounding production by Young. 

Unsigned Hype: Big Ill the Mack

Dedicated readers of The Source in the early-1990s but have already been familiar with Big Ill the Mack by the time he was featured in the July 1993 issue. He previously appeared in the magazine's year-end issue in 1992 in a section titled "I–to tha L–to tha L.", about an infamous freestyle where he dissed Big Daddy Kane at his own party. Apparently Ill earned enough notoriety from the freestyle to have the whole thing played on The Stretch Armstrong Show and then establish a name for himself in the underground scene prior to appearing in Unsigned Hype. His demo was produced entirely by The LG Experience, the younger brother of Easy Mo Bee and who would go on to have an solid yet underappreciated career in production. Ill's demo was recorded at Soundtrack Studios in Manhattan, leading to a very polished sound on the demo. The professionalism might have also been influenced by Ill's prior career: in 1989 he released the album eF yoU eN Kay E with group The W.I.S.E. Guyz, who receive a couple of disses on the demo ("niggas got gassed so I bounced" and "that's why I left the group and I bought my ass a gun"). Matty C concludes with "Ill is well on his way to blowing up the spot on a wide scale with a new flow, fat beats provided by LG and a very real perspective on getting paid in the streets of Brooklyn."

Big Ill never embarked on a solo career, but is best known for being one half of the duo Ill Al Skratch with fellow rapper Al Skratch. They released two albums, Creep wit' Me in 1994 and Keep It Movin' in 1997, as well as two successful singles, "Where My Homiez?" and "I'll Take Her", both of which reached the top 10 of the US Rap Singles chart. They broke up in 1997, but apparently reformed in 2012 under the name Brooklyn/Uptown Connection. The one song I could find by them under their new name was "And U Say NYC", which is a stark departure from their 1990s sound.

Besides his career with Ill Al Skratch, by the far the most interesting thing about Ill's career is his freestyle at Big Daddy Kane's party, which turned him into sort of a legend around the time it came out. Among those who witnessed the freestyle was Masta Ace (who included his part of the freestyle at the end of his song "Rollin' wit Umdadda" from 1993's Slaughtahouse), and recalls the details in an interview with Robbie of unkut. Ill's freestyle occurred when most of the people at the party had already dispersed, including Kane himself, and Masta Ace was one of the few to notice. However, there was tension created due to Ill's subject matter, and it remained by the time Ill signed to Mercury Records with Ill Al Skratch two years later. Mister Cee, who was Big Daddy Kane's DJ, worked as an A&R at the label, and Ill was scared to come to the label "because they thought somebody was gonna do something to them". Fortunately it was worked out and no further drama was created.

Here's the one solo Big Ill song I could find: an untitled demo track that was featured on the 2 September 1993 episode of The Stretch Armstrong show.

Unsigned Hype: Fesu

Fesu of Houston, Texas, was featured in the Unsigned Hype column in the May 1993 issue of The Source. Fesu, who got his stage name by spelling his first name Yusef backwards (obviously Fesuy was not a less desirable option), had already made a name for himself around the Houston area with his single "Streets of Greenspoint", a song about the area where he and his group The Jump Out Boyz came from. Fesu "sticks to his tracks with a unique slow flow and a southern drawl", which is guaranteed to "catch all kinds of ears". Apparently Fesu didn't hold back on his demo, as it only took a few tracks for writer Matty C to declare that Fesu "raps with one of foulest mouths [sic] to touch a microphone". His song "Goose Bumps" is "up there" with songs such as "Gangster of Love" by Geto Boys and "She Swallowed It" by N.W.A. Another track, "Blind, Cripple and Crazy" shows that "Fesu can get deep too". Fesu was funded by Houston Oilers players Marcus Robinson and Darryl Lewis for studio time, and he and producer TK completed over "thirty songs" together. In what is by far the most bold statement I've seen so far in an Unsigned Hype column, Matty C concludes that "some of the production on this demo is in a class with "My Mind Is Playin' Tricks on Me" and "Ain't Nuthin' but a G Thang". Even though Fesu "might ... have some flack for being so explicit", "he may be looking at a fat deal" if "things go right".

In 1993, Fesu released his debut EP, Blind Cripple and Crazy, on New York-based label Fang Records (their only other release being a single by the group No Concept). The EP featured both songs mentioned on his demo tape, "Goosebumps" and the title track, as well as four new songs and a "Goosebumps" extended mix. Stunningly, the album received a four-mic rating in The Source magazine, only half-a-mic less than De La Soul's Buhloone Mindstate which was featured in the same issue.

Fesu then signed to Continuum Records, a subsidiary of MCA Records. He released his debut studio album, War with No Mercy, in 1994, which featured both songs mentioned on his demo. "Blind, Cripple & Crazy" was additionally released as a single. Fesu released a second album in 1996 on Albatross Records, titled Life Goes On, and a third in 1998 on Destiny Records titled The Game. His last appearance was in 2000 on the song "The Good Old Days (Remix)" by Bishop "Stick" Burrell on his album The Man and His Music. Fesu then disappeared from the rap game and hasn't been seen since. A short write-up in The Source's own Unsigned Hype retrospective in their January 1998 issue states that Fesu is "currently in the witness protection program".

It's been a long-standing controversy over Fesu's appearance in The Source, and there is a strong consensus that maybe there was some money exchanged to get the feature. I can't find this hard to believe, especially considering some of the outlandish comments made by writer Matty C that seem very forced in comparison to his previous write-ups on artists. In no other feature before this has anybody had their production compared to two of the greatest hip hop songs of all time, making the comment seem really out of place. To add further fuel to the flame, Fesu's debut EP received a prestigious 4 mic rating by The Source themselves only a few months later. Seven track EPs with a small cassette-only release on an independent label rarely, if ever, received such high ratings and even exposure (it was featured on the first page of the reviews section when it was published), and though Fesu was a decent rapper, the EP definitely was not "slammin'", which the 4 mics indicated. Fesu is an interesting case, and might have been the first involved artist in The Source rumours about paying for good reviews.

Unsigned Hype: Artifacts

"A young duo" named Artifacts were the featured artists in the April 1993 edition of Unsigned Hype in The Source magazine. MCs Tame and El the Sensei earn a comparison to fellow New Jersey rapper Redman in the first paragraph, which is aided by the fact that Tame and Redman are revealed to be cousins. Artifacts had already had some exposure through appearances on The Stretch Armstrong Show since the previous year after winning an over-the-phone rap contest. Artifacts incorporated "classic B-boy flavor into their lyrics" on the demo, with mentions of "train yards, third rails, mad color tips, black books and backspins" being common topics. One of the songs featured on the demo was an early version of "Wrong Side of the Tracks", featuring and produced by none other than Lord Jamar of Brand Nubian. Lord Jamar enlisted his fellow Brand Nubian member Sadat X to appear on the song "Check the Fine Print", which apparently featured "a verbal assault on the ex-Brand Nubian member" Grand Puba. T-Ray, who would go on to produce almost the entirety of the group's debut but at the time was best known for producing for the Double XX Posse, produced the song "Wicked Lyrics". "Although they had some serious help on the production side", Artifacts "show and prove skills of their own" to earn their appearance in Unsigned Hype.

With the name-drops of the Artifacts' connections in their write-up, it was no wonder they were immediately signed to a record deal with Big Beat, a subsidiary of Atlantic Records. On the label, they re-recorded "Wrong Side of the Tracks" with a new beat by T-Ray and without Lord Jamar's vocals, which became a hip hop classic and the group's most well-known song. Their debut album, Between a Rock and a Hard Place, was released in 1994 and peaked at #17 on the Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop Chart. Tame's cousin Redman features and produced the song "Cummin' Through Ya Fuckin' Block", while the group also secured a guest appearance from Busta Rhymes. Interestingly, there is no Brand Nubian contribution to the album, which seems odd considering the group's impact on the Artifacts demo. Artifacts would go on to release one more album, That's Them, in 1997 before disbanding. Both rappers embarked on solo careers and have since released multiple albums each.

It was no surprise that Artifacts were signed to a record deal after this feature, and it was even less of a surprise that they were featured in Unsigned Hype in the first place. This is the first Unsigned Hype demo tape I can recall that features artists with already established names. I hope I am not the only one busting to hear that demo version of "Wrong Side of the Tracks" with Jamar.

Edit: Anybody who wants to hear Artifacts' demo tape in its entirety now can through our YouTube playlist. Lord Jamar's appearance on "Wrong Side" is limited to hook duties but he and Sadat X go all out on "Check the Fine Print".

Unsigned Hype: The Red Eye Crew

The Red Eye Crew of Staten Island, New York were featured in the Unsigned Hype column of The Source Magazine's March 1993 issue. Staten Island is referred to as "New York's most slept-on borough", only a few months before a local group called the Wu-Tang Clan released their debut Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) and brought the area to the forefront of hip hop. The trio consisted of rappers Hype, Jun Jak the Invincible Principle and Oob the Freestyle Fanatic. Hype was previously a member of a group called the Brooklyn Poets and spent a year playing college basketball for the Xavier Gold Rush basketball team in Lousiana, before returning to Staten Island to form the group. The other two members "just started actually writing rhymes together in the last year", which brought a "spontaneous element and a brand new style" to the group. The group had influences in the form of fellow New York artists: listing Slick Rick, Organized Konfusion and KRS-One as their favourite artists. They only had two songs on their demo tape – "Red Eye" and "Flowin' in Fly" – but were working on cleaning up their 4-track demo with Web D of Darc Mind (a group featured in Unsigned Hype less than a year prior).

As Red Eye in 1993, they appeared on "Darc Mind Inc." by Legion of D.U.M.E. alongside Funky Jilz (in what is an ultimate Unsigned Hype collaboration: Legion of D.U.M.E. of June 1992, Red Eye of March 1993 and Jilz of June 1994). Hype released the singles "Da Professional"/"Real MC's" as HDM (Hype da Madman) and "No Nice Timez"/"Who Wanna Taste"/"Big Apple Anthem" as Sho-Nuf in 1997. He appeared on The Stretch Armstrong show in 1997.

With credit to a great post by HipHop-TheGoldenEra that brought this to my attention, HDM could have had his career go very different. Through an affiliation with fellow Staten Islander Schott Free, HDM was invited to appear on "Right Back at You" by Mobb Deep from their album The Infamous. Prodigy wanted him to change his verse but HDM refused and he was replaced by another Staten Island rapper: none other than Ghostface Killah. That must have been a reasonably life-altering decision; Big Noyd built his whole career off of his Infamous appearances. Only a demo version with HDM's appearance exists.

Edit: This article was edited to update corrections by Digital Stimulation, who performed their research a bit better than mine. Big ups. The group also apparently appeared on The Stretch Armstrong Show in 1993 but I cannot find a working link.

Unsigned Hype: Snupe (Extra Prolific)

18-year-old Snupe of East Oakland, California was the Unsigned Hype feature in The Source magazine's February 1993 issue. It was always going to be tough for Snupe to make a name for himself when a much larger rap figure had an identical sounding nickname, as even in early 1993 Source writer Matty C predicts that "it's not going to be easy" to differentiate himself from a young Snoop Doggy Dogg of nearby Long Beach, who had been brought to the forefront of the hip hop world through his guest appearances on Dr. Dre's The Chronic which was released only three months prior. In fact, Matty C spends the entire first paragraph of Snupe's Unsigned Hype feature talking about the name similarities, making it even harder for Snupe to make a name for himself when his supposed "big break" was talking about another rapper. He then goes on to talk about Snupe's membership in the Hieroglyphics collective, stating that it will be possible to "peep Snupe on Casual's and Del's forthcoming albums" (Snupe produced "You're in Shambles" and appeared on "No More Worries" for Del's No Need for Alarm, but did not appear on Casual's album Fear Itself). Regardless of his strong connections with already established hip hop artists, Snupe gets props for his "strong 3-cut demo of innovative Hieroglyphic hip-hop", which "all skillfully exibit Snupe's laid-back jazzy vibe as he gets lyrical with a country East Oakland accent" (the article fails to mention Snupe's upbringing in Houston, hence the accent). Matty C points out that, "unlike most Unsigned Hype artists", Snupe has an advantage on getting a record deal due to the "ties with his crew".

It turns out Matty C's predictions were almost correct. Snupe did attain a record deal not too long after his Unsigned Hype appearance, but not as a solo act. Instead, he and DJ Mike G signed to Jive (the label of fellow Hieroglyphics members Souls of Mischief and Casual) as the duo Extra Prolific. In 1994, they released their stellar and highly under appreciated debut album, Like It Should Be, which is performed exclusively and produced predominantly by Snupe himself, with Mike G's only contribution to the album being the production on the intro. Jive cleansed itself of the Hieroglyphics members not too long afterwards, dropping all three affiliated artists from the label. In 1996, Extra Prolific released the album 2 for 15 on Security Records, which was only pressed in 500 copies. Mike G contribute to the album at all, let alone appear on the cover, and so it appears that Snupe was using the already-established Extra Prolific name for himself. Following this, Snupe and Hieroglyphics split "due to musical differences". The Hiero press release comedically bluntly states that "the crew decided that Snupe would be better off his own", very obviously meaning that his departure from the group was probably due to something greater than just musical differences. Regardless, Snupe continued making music, releasing his next album, From Block to Block, as the slightly altered Extra Pro in 1998, marking a reunion with former partner Mike G who receives a credit as a separate artist (the album is credited to Extra Pro & Mike G). That same year, Extra Pro released Master Piece as a solo act on Snuper Records, which is an obvious throwback to his original stagename.

Then Snupe disappeared and did not release any music until 2013.

After a 15-year departure from the music scene, Extra Prolific returned in 2013 to release the digital-exclusive Royalty. Its one review on iTunes gives the album a one-star rating and mentions that "Extra Pro has gone off the deep end and landed in a giant pool of Faith", criticising the fact that "literally every song is religious". Snupe was no stranger to religious references in his early work ("First Sermon" from LISB is an obvious example) so this shouldn't come as a surprise that as he's grown older he's become more reliant on these references.

One thing really incredible about the Hieroglyphics collective that I think is often overlooked is the fact that these dudes were so young when they were releasing material in the early-to-mid-1990s that is now universally regarded as classic material. Snupe was one of these young dudes and I think it's a real shame that he never received the same attention that his partners received. Whether it was due to his Snoop Dogg-reminiscent stage name, releasing music as a duo under Extra Prolific, or releasing solo material under the names Extra Prolific and Extra Pro, there was definitely some odd reason as to why Snupe never attained the hype he seemed destined to achieve when he was starting out, because there was definitely never anything lacking with the music.

Edit: This article previously incorrectly stated that Del was signed to Jive. He was the one Hieroglyphics artist signed elsewhere during major label days and instead had his contract handled by Elektra/Warner.

Unsigned Hype: Total Pack

The duo Total Pack of Hollis, Queens, New York, were the Unsigned Hype artists in the December 1992 issue of The Source magazine. Active "for about a year" at the time of their appearance, rappers Kamal B. Wise and Cestyle met each other battling in 1988. Bobbito of The Stretch Armstrong Show on WKCR met Kamal at a nightclub, and was so impressed by the duo that they went on to have four guest appearances on the show. Writer Matty C describes their style as "hardcore hip hop without the guns and the curses" and "strictly verbal assault". Cestyle is also described as the beatmaker for the group, although it is mentioned that Total Pack were working on a studio quality demo with producer Money Moses, who had previously most notably worked with Pretty Tone Capone of Mobstyle. With their "exceptionally positive attitude, mad skills and raw fruit loops" (the latter expression for making beats is used twice in the article but bears no relevance to anything), the group seemed to have been poised for success.

Except they weren't. Their only official releases were two songs ("Battle Hymn" and "What's the Deal") on the Wild Pitch Records mixtape Wild Pitch Blends in 1994.

Though Matty C mentions the group having appeared on The Stretch Armstrong Show four times before they appeared in Unsigned Hype, according to this website that lists guests on the show, the pair had their first appearance together on the 14 January 1993 show (one month after appearing in UH). Kamal B. Wise appeared by himself in 1994 on 2 June. They then appeared together again twice in 1995, on 9 February and 17 August. Cestyle then made his only solo appearance in 1997 on the 13 July show.

Kamal seems to have not released any solo material. Cestyle, on the other hand, produced Non Phixion's 1996 debut single "Legacy". He appeared on The Korp's song "The Champion", which saw its only release as part of Stretch Armstrong's 1997 mixtape Lesson 1. The following year, Cestyle collaborated again with The Korp, appearing on their songs "We Comin'" and "Never Ending Story". Cestyle only put out one solo single, "Thumpathon", on Plasma Records, which has an unknown release date but is almost certainly early 2000s.

A compilation of unreleased Cestyle songs was released in 2014 by Chopped Herring Records, titled Parkhouse Music 1995-1998 EP.