M.O.P. Article from July 1994:
Has the recent tidal wave of studio gangsters with shiny new guns
left you wanting more from your hard-core rap music? Are you sick
of the generic hard-core beats and rhymes that they teach in Rap
A&R 101? Then creep through the Brownsville section of
Brooklyn with the Mash Out Posse (M.O.P.). Their debut album To
The Death is both the road map you need to get back to the
streets, and a description of what you'll find when you get
there.
Rappers Lil' Fame and Billy Danzenie not only represent where
they come from, they grab you by the back of the neck and slam
your face in it. The song titles alone show and prove their
attitudes with cuts like "Rugged Neva Smoove",
"Heistmasters", "To The Death", "Top of
the Line", "Fake Ass Gangsta (F.A.G.)", and
"Guns 'n' Roses", and with lyrics that border on being
autobiographical. They're representin' for the entire Mash Out
Posse, including all the brothers that are deceased and all the
brothers locked down.
"We write about things we've been through," declares
Lil' Fame, "some around-the-way shit. What we had to do to
survive, and the stuff that goes on around us."
But its much more than that. It appears that with their reality
lyrics, beat-you-down delivery, and infectious beats, M.O.P. are
trying to not only claim Brooklyn as the rap capital of New York,
but also re-claim New York as the rap capital of the world.
"That's right," explains Billy Danzenie, "We're
trying to bring this shit back home, but other than that, we're
trying to take this shit nationwide."
Raised in Brownsville, Lil' Fame and Billy Danzenie had
underground hard-core and other old school influences to help
develop their own style. Lil' Fame got a little rep for his
skills, and his name was born. "I get crazy props for what I
do. Everybody be like, 'Yo, that lil' nigga could rap!'",
says Lil' Fame.
Their rep kept growing and eventually they hooked up with a local
producer and put together a demo tape. The demo was circulated
through the neighborhood, and then through the record companies.
When it hit the desks at 4th and Broadway Records, they got
recruited to do a few tracks on a 1992 compilation set called
"The Hill That's Real". A few of the songs from the
compilation got some recognition including one of theirs,
"Bring the Ruckus", and one by Big Ken (of Positive K's
"I Got a Man" fame).
"We got a little underground props from that," explains
Lil' Fame. "We kept building, kept working, and looking for
a deal. In 1993, Silver D became A&R for Select Records and
he signed the group over. He knew us because he did the
production on 'The Hill That's Real'. We didn't even shop around,
we came straight up to Silver D."
But if you listened to the lyrics from "Top of the
Line", you'd already know that: "never reject me / my
home team protects me / Laz (E-Laz) hooked me with Blaze
(Entertainment) and Silver D selected me".
M.O.P.'s first single on Select Street Records was "How
About Some Hardcore", which also appeared on the "House
Party 3" soundtrack. For most of the world, that was their
introduction to the hardcore stylings of M.O.P.; Darrell D.'s
beats and the rugged back and forth delivery of Billy Danzenie
and Lil' Fame.
The initial buzz developed in New York, and after some mix-show
radio play, spread through New England. It had the same creeping
type of following similar to fellow Brooklyn artists Jeru the
Damaja with "Come Clean", and Black Moon's "Who
Got the Props". Eventually through word-of-mouth and college
radio play, the single got the nationwide props it deserved.
"I feel we deserve at least our street props, and anything
after that, thank god," says Lil' Fame. "We've been
getting a lot of good reviews. People have been loving us. But
we're ready for all the negative and all the positive." If
Select follows "Hardcore" with anything off of the
album, M.O.P. could have the best selling record for Select since
the Jerky Boys.
All the album and live performance reviews have been nothing but
positive. However, every hard-core rap group is subject to the
criticisms from conservatives about the lyrical content. As Billy
Danzenie explains, "They're trying to bring down the
hard-core rap. They're not trying to see it as another style of
rap. They're trying to make it seem like hard-core rap is killing
muthafuckas. Stop the violence, not the music!
"I look at it the same way they did 2-Live Crew back in like
1988. They tried to bring that down. Right now we're bringing the
hard-core and we're bringing the real. So I don't feel that they
should be trying to stop us from the ghetto, when we're trying to
do our thing."
Among the album tracks are "Fake Ass Gangsta (F.A.G.)"
where they're plucking cards of "all the frontin' ass
niggas," says Lil' Fame, "all the muthafuckas that's
frontin'. They know who they are, but we're not gonna call 'em
out by name.", and "To The Death" where Lil' Fame
tells us everything we need to know about M.O.P.: "the shit
is real son, you can't make no mistake about us / letting you
niggas know there ain't nothing fake about us / yeah again to the
end with all my niggas that's left / it's Lil' Fame and M.O.P. to
the death!"
(Article written by DJ Toast in July 1994. The article
originally appeared in numerous national music magazines.)
