One of the early members of the Flavor Unit, Double J doesn’t feature on much of their output other than his spot on “The Flavor Unit Assination Squad” and a couple of 12″s. He mentions how it all started in an old Hip Hop Connection piece:
“We used to do block parties in Jersey City where I was born and raised. Me, Latee and Zeke met up with DJ Mark in 1988 and he introduced us to this other rapper named Apache and the rest of the Flavor Unit.”
He also explains how he got his deal with Island Records on the strength of his appearence in a homemade video of the crew that Fab Five Freddy had shot.
His first major single with the 45 King, “Bless The Funk”, wasn’t really all that due to it’s uptempo club feel. The joint you really need is the hard to find “Cannibal Town/Def Style” (Chanpen). By the time he cut his album though, DJ Mark was either busy doing other stuff or was charging more than 4th & Broadway could afford (there is no way in hell that the 4-5 would have let them remake “Funky Town”!). Other than Louie Louie‘s sole contribution, the beats are all done in-house by J and his mans CraigaSki, who get the job done in unspectacular fashion with the exception of the killer “Double J’z Tantrum”. The entire Hitman album sounds like it was released two years too late, with all the trademarks of a typical 1989 release – two songs are straight James Brown loops (while another uses the obligitory “Funky Drummer” break), “Let’s Make Love” is the standard cheesy ballad, while “If it Ain’t A Caddy” fills the “song about cars” quota. The only thing missing is a hip-house excursion.
Double J reappeared a couple of years later as half of the Maniac Mob, wisely letting the 45 King resume production duties on several of his independent compilations (including “Rock The Rhythm” from the Brainstorm EP), and later on a song for the D&D Project. They can also be heard on the King’s recent Cat Jams album.
Double J – Double J’z Tantrum [The Hitman, 4th & Broadway, 1991]
“Brian Beck” Bonus: Double J – Girl From Wisconsin [The Hitman, 4th & Broadway, 1991]
…cause I bless the funk
4th and b’way had it going on at that time with singing mc breeze and sir ibu as well
Anyone ever hear what happened to Sir Ibu ?
ahhhhh here we go again, man you always come through kid…
Cannibal Town/Def Style/Bless The Funk
can we get those PLEEEEEEEAAAAASSSSEEEE?…anyone?
yep. cannibal town.
n could we get a divine force/sir ibu special?
that would be twice as nice…
fanx anyway.
You’re right about the sound, it has that ’89 sound.
Dude is doper than Apache to me.
Good looks on the links Robbie
The Divine Force thing is something I could make happen, but I can’t help with “Cannibal Town” – that’s just about the only hole in my Flavor U collection. I’ve got it on tape though.
I think I sold my “Bless The Funk” 12 twelve as well, come to think of it.
A mystery tipster was kind enough to pass this on to me:
Cannibal Town
Ah, you got my email I suppose. I actually like a few tracks on the Double J album. He just has a nice “gentleman gangster style” mixed with some humor that I like. Sure it’s played out loops, but I like the way he rides the beat on tracks like “manslaughter”. It’s the way he says things like, “they’ll be surgical removing my foot from your ass” and there’s a couple nice rhyme patterns thrown in from time to time to.
Coulda sworn Double J name-drops 45 on some of his the 4th&B’way tracks. Case of later remixing? Uncredited production?
MANSLAUGHTER!
Double J is my bo$$…….And he still gets love though the city …..everyone still wants stuff from the unit the real unit…..that has flavor.
Trivial info here, but I remember Guru droppin Double J’s name at the end of the Gang Starr ‘Movin’On’ 12″. 45 King produced the track, a pre-Primo Wild Pitch release in ’88. I suppose 45 asked Guru to give shout outs to all the Flavor U members…. unless, the origial plan was to add Gang Starr to the Unit…??? I dunno… – BC