Happy 25th Anniversary to Das EFX’s third studio album Hold It Down, originally released September 26, 1995.
Das EFX was in a precarious situation when it came to recording their third album. Comprised of Andre “Crazy Drayz” Weston and Willie “Skoob” (a.k.a. “Books”) Hines, they became a hip-hop sensation with their debut release Dead Serious (1992), but followed up with an album (1993’s Straight Up Sewaside) that wasn’t embraced by their fanbase. Figuring out a way to progress while still making your audience happy is a difficult challenge. But with their third LP Hold It Down, the pair found a way to create the type of music that they wanted to make, while honoring their past.
Dead Serious exploded onto the hip-hop scene in the spring of 1992. They’d been discovered by EPMD as college students at Virginia State University and became members of the Hit Squad posse. The pair strung together commercial jingles, nursery rhymes, pop culture references and “iggedys” into a mind-bending mash over grimy, straight-from-the-sewa tracks. It was one of the best albums of the year and one of the best debut albums ever made.
Things got a little weird for the duo after EPMD broke up, with Das remaining with the PMD-led Hit Squad. The pair returned with their follow-up album Straight Up Sewaside a little over 18 months later, which sort of shocked me at the time. They pretty distinctly changed up their style with their sophomore effort, slowing down their flows and abandoning the “iggedys” almost completely. I’m not sure if they changed their approach because they thought too many rappers were appropriating their style, didn’t want to be tied to that “gimmick” or just wanted to try something different. Beat-wise, they still worked almost exclusively with Solid Scheme Productions, made up of Chris Charity and Derek Lynch, who created a much murkier soundscape.
Sewaside wasn’t bad by any estimation, but it wasn’t very much fun. Audiences liked the “iggedys” and the free-flowing rhymes, and without it, Sewaside wasn’t a commercial or critical hit. As a result, when it came to Hold It Down, Das EFX compromised between the first and second albums. The pair brought back the sense of exuberance, and yes, the “iggedys,” but kept the more focused song structure.
Hold It Down is by far the group’s longest album. Both Dead Serious (38 minutes) and Sewaside (43 minutes) were on the lean side, while their third effort runs nearly 74 minutes. Das EFX make good use of the expanded run time, keeping things interesting throughout its duration, as the album never feels like it drags. As lyricists, Drayz and Skoob are mostly on some battle type rhyme shit. Both are highly skilled and entertaining as emcees, with distinctive voices and abilities to execute complicated rhyme flows. They also delve into a little of their personal history on this album, which is a first for the pair. DJ Dice is also a featured player throughout Hold It Down, providing scratches on the majority of the tracks.
The beats on Hold It Down are central to its success. The Solid Scheme returns, and while they vary their productions style up a bit, they have significantly fewer contributions this time out. Das EFX enlist a whole host of producers to support their effort. The lineup includes the then-peaking DJ Premier and Pete Rock, accompanied by Showbiz, DJ Clark, DJ Scratch, and some other newcomers. But one of the production stars of the album is Easy Mo Bee. Then fresh off the success of producing some of the most memorable tracks for Craig Mack’s Project: Funk Da World (1994) and The Notorious B.I.G.’s Ready To Die (1994), he has the most production credits on Hold It Down. He helms five tracks and shows a great amount of versatility in his musical stylings.
Das EFX made its opening statement for this album backed by DJ Premier, who produced the lead single “Real Hip-Hop.”. As some may forget, creating “real,” hardcore, uncompromised hip-hop was a badge of honor for many artists during this era, and both the duo and Preemo combine to create an anthem to sticking to hip-hop’s roots. Preemo puts together one of his finest beats of this era, taking some guitar licks from Norman Connors’ “The Creator Has a Master Plan” and pairing it with a solid breakbeat, because sometimes minimalism is the most hip-hop thing possible. The track was also remixed by Pete Rock, who’s version also appears on the album and is just as good as the original recording. Pete makes the song sound even more sublime by using ethereal keyboards and chimes. It’s one of the few songs that both Preemo and Pete Rock have both done mixes for.
Das EFX and Preemo worked together again on the album-opening “No Diggedy,” an early indication that the duo would be re-integrating the “iggedys” back into their rhyme vocabulary. Musically, it’s busier that “Real Hip-Hop” and decidedly more aggressive. “Ain't no diggedy, I flow until infinity, you must be kidding me,” Drayz raps. “Ain’t niggedy-nothing getting rid of me.”
But even with the presence of two legends in their prime, it’s the aforementioned Easy Mo Bee that really sets the production tone for Hold It Down. He deftly crafts tracks that allow Skoob and Drayz to showcase the array of their rhyming skills. On fast-paced tracks like “Knockin’ N****z Off” and “Alright,” the duo shows their rapid-fire flows and overall hunger as emcees.
Easy Mo slows things down a bit on “Microphone Master,” while Drayz and Skoob use more laconic deliveries, complimenting the jazzy keyboard and vibraphone samples. The song would later be “remixed” for the album’s second single, as Das teamed up with Queensbridge’s own Mobb Deep to record an entirely new, much grittier take on the song. The 12-inch version also featured a straight dope remix of the song produced by a then up-and-coming Domecracker production team (DJ Spinna and Joc Max).
Das EFX operate at a high level over slower Easy Mo Bee tracks. “40 & A Blunt,” with its slumping yet low-key bassline, makes for an ideal ode to getting stoned on good weed and kicking fly rhymes. Both emcees sound laid-back, but with a sharper edge on the track, as Skoob raps, “Well, Ima fucking bastard when it comes to getting blasted / If it’s the hashish then fuck that ole ‘two and pass’ shit.” Things get downright sinister on the title track, as both emcees flex over a skulking piano sample from Quincy Jones’ “Slum Creeper.” The pair bounce off of each other with tremendous energy, creating a ruff and rugged anthem to staying consistent as artists.
“Here It Is” is one of the album’s best entries, with both emcees laying down smooth braggadocio on a beat produced by Kevin Geeda. The largely unknown Geeda samples multiple layers of melancholy piano, making a somberly beautiful track. Das EFX later delve into their own origin on “Can’t Have Nuttin’,” chronicling their lives growing up in Brooklyn and New Jersey, before meeting each other while attending VSU, and leaving to pursue their dreams after meeting EPMD. Gerald “Soul G” Stevens hooked up the beat, sampling what sounds like gospel vocals, and transforming it into the most inspiring track on Hold It Down.
Solid Scheme does indeed contribute to Hold It Down’s sound, as songs like “Here We Go” and “Hardcore Rap Act” capture the spirit of Das’ Dead Serious era. The most interesting song put together by the production duo is “Ready to Rock Ruff Rhymes,” a bare bones track that features both members rapping. Musically, it’s a stripped-down affair, as the two, operating under the names C-Dog and DL, deliver their verses over a sturdy drum track and sprinkles of vibes. I’d hazard a guess that the song was originally intended as a Solid Scheme “solo” track for some other project, as Das EFX only appear on the song’s final verse. Neither C-Dog nor DL are top-shelf emcees, but they could be far worse.
“Buck Buck” is the one self-produced track on the album, as the duo and DJ Dice work to recreate the live park jam atmosphere. The song is the pair’s version of Run-DMC’s “Here We Go (Live at the Funhouse),” with Drayz and Skoob kicking old school routines “live” while Dice cuts up doubles of Billy Squier’s “Big Beat” drum break. This type of recapturing of the early ’80s era in a modern setting had been done by numerous groups, but the energy present here adds to the song’s execution.
The Showbiz produced “Represent the Real” is another solid inclusion. Featuring a verse by KRS-One, it sounds like it may have been originally intended as a remix for “Real Hip-Hop.” The song actually first appeared as the B-side to KRS’ “MCs Act Like They Don’t Know,” which was released during the summer of ’95, under the title “Represent the Real Hip-Hop.”
Regardless, it’s one of the best overall songs on the album, as a hard-as-steel drum track and staccato blasts of strings give it a grand, dramatic tone. Both members of Das deliver some of their strongest verses on the album, with Drayz vowing, “For a year I stopped recording / Now look we coming back and running shit like fucking Michael Jordan,” while Skoob threatens to “jux you with a blade from my logo.” However, it’s a tall proposition to try to top mid-’90s-era Blastmaster on a track, and KRS doesn’t disappoint. He first warns potential adversaries that “emcee threats are minimal to my physical” and boasts, “What’s your handle / I got mad emcee heads upon the mantle / I got genuine MC skin sandals / I light the mic up like a candle, watch it melt / ’Cause when I belt lyrics you fell, screaming for help.”
Songs like “Coming Thru” and “Bad News,” produced by DJ Scratch, recapture the early ’90s Hit Squad vibe. The two trade verses back and forth on the former, over staccato horn blasts and sparks of keys, with Skoob rhyming, “Yo, the jibber-jabber, ain’t a living rapper deeper / Who get looser than the leaves up in my fucking trapper keeper.” “Bad News” sounds like it could fit in on PMD’s first solo album, Shadē Business (1994), with the Mic Doc making an appearance on the muddy and messy track. It’s just under two-and-half minutes of grimy funk, with all three emcees throwing as many elbows as possible over the space of their brief verses.
Though Hold It Down is a clear artistic success, it didn’t perform as well as the platinum Dead Serious. However, I’d personally assert that it’s the second-best album the duo ever released (Skoob asserts that it’s their best). There’s enough “iggedys” to make some of the original audience happy, and enough great straight-up hip-hop to keep purists’ heads nodding. Das EFX successfully navigated a fine line with this album, and their triumph shouldn’t be overlooked.
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