DJ Spinna and Kriminal provided the 1996 indy stand-out single, ‘Beyond Real’/’Dead Man Walking,’ which proved to be the one of the highlights of an extensive discography over the next six years. Spinna was in high demand during this period for his signature lush production style which combined restrained sampling and original riffs for an atmospheric canvas of sounds, while Krim provided the most compelling verbal contributions from a wide range of vocalists who utilized the Beyond Real catalog. Ignoring the hackneyed ‘conscious’/’underground’ cliches that came to sully much of the ‘independent as fuck’ mantra of the day, Kriminal maintained a refreshingly honest style of Brooklyn brag rap that wasn’t afraid to boast of of ‘putting a dick in your girl’ during a time of tiresome politically correct posturing and underground flag-waving.
Jigmastas produced an impressive collection of guest appearances on compilation albums that would prove to be more effective than the ill-fated Tommy Boy Black album project which would eventually be distributed by Landspeed after the deal fell through. Perhaps the most effective songs of this period was ‘Thief’s Theme,’ a powerful statement of intent that combined the best of Spinna and Kriminal’s talents over a Nas hook, five years before Nasir used an identical sample for his Streets Disciple single of the same name. The crew parted ways for an extended period before reuniting for Spinna’s 2009 Sonic Smash album, and reunited again five years later for the excellent ‘Resurge’ single from an EP that has yet to materialize. I’ve collected my sixteen favorite Jigmastas deep cuts in appreciation for the fine work that these two produced away from the hype that was assigned to many less interesting flavors of the month during an era of wasted potential and smug self-satisfaction of opposing against the ‘Jiggy Era,’ which on retrospect was a red herring for many borderline talents to justify their own lack of ability to rock a party.
Download: A Salute To Jigmastas
Track listing:
01 ‘Introduction’
02 ‘Beyond Real’
03 ‘If’
04 ‘Iz You Dee [Remix]’
05 ‘Thief’s Theme’
06 ‘Comments: To The Sure Shot’
07 ‘Keep On Rockin’
08 ‘Threat’
09 ‘On The Strength’
10 ‘You Got To Live’ feat. Akil
11 ‘Awareness’
12 ‘Last Will and Testimony’
13 ‘Stones’
14 ‘Black Amadeus’ feat. Dynas
15 ‘Dead Man’s Walk’
16 ‘Resurge’
Bonus:
Nice. I’m quite surprised you didn’t include Don’t Get It Twisted with the great Dot X.
Thief’s Theme is ace.
I think DJ Spinna is only a rung or two below the greatest producers out there (Premier, Pete Rock, etc.). Sonic Smash is the good stuff too.
@Ross: That’s a good song but didn’t quite make the cut.
Spinna always had the goods. His sets on the underground railroad show in the early 90s along side great dj’s like avee and monk1 were a preview of what was to come.
I like “chaundon” as well, think it was the other side to “iz you dee” 12″. Bit underrated – where as black star etc get unwarranted props.
Classic team.
Tommy Boy Black coulda been a contender up there with Rawkus..
Well done.. I got hyped when they dropped resurge outta nowhere.
Beyond Real Remix was the shit.
I remember hearing Spinna’s interview some 5 years ago about Jigmastas come back album – too bad if things like these don’t materialize…
Much better than the Polyrythmic releases
Interesting comments about the era…
Beyon Real/Dead man walking was one of my first vinyl when I started as DJ. And still playin’ it till these days!
Can you please reupload?