In late 1986 a young Jeff Liles was introduced to Eazy E who sent him cassette tapes to play. “This was around the time when Licensed to Ill came out” Jeff Liles remembers, “and Yo Bum Rush the Show. When it was truly underground. Eric [Eazy E] would call me every day from out on the streets. He was the first person I knew that had a cell phone, and when they first came to Dallas to a club called City Lights, it was really something revolutionary.” City Lights was one of the original Dallas clubs for rap. It’s now owned by Erykah Badu and called the Black Forest Theater. Jeff Liles formed the experimental group, Decadent Dub Team. Through his affiliation with an influential A&R at the time named Kim Buie, and with N.W.A, their track “Six Gun” was remixed by Dr. Dre and included on the Colors soundtrack. Around this time Dallas also saw the beginnings of one of the most important voices in mid to late 80’s hip-hop, the D.O.C. His group the Fila Fresh Crew were straight underground, but are recognized as one of the city’s pioneering crews. Their singles “I Hate to Go to Work” and “Dunk the Funk” were Dallas classics. They also appeared on the album N.W.A and the Posse. “Dr. Rock was one of the biggest DJs in Dallas in the 80’s.” Cold Cris continues with his history lesson. “He was originally from Los Angeles and was a member of the World Class Wreckin’ Crew – Dr. Dre’s original group – and later in Dallas became a part of the Fila Fresh Crew with The D.O.C. He introduced D.O.C. to Dr. Dre. D.O.C. was just way ahead of his time. Dr. Rock used to have a mix show on the weekend nights, him and Ushay, who was also a huge DJ back then. They were really rival DJs on separate stations and Ushay had a popular club called Starz. Ushay actually produced one of the earliest records to come out of Dallas called “Neck Work” by the Star Studded Strutters. That probably came out in 1983 or 1984.” Soon after the Fila Fresh Crew began making noise, the D.O.C. moved to Los Angeles, connected with Dr. Dre and N.W.A and released his debut album, the hip-hop classic, No One Can Do It Better. That record produced the mega hits “It’s Funky Enough” and “The Formula,” and also one of the most incredible posse cuts of all time, “The Grand Finale.” It was one of the most important LPs of its era. Unfortunately, because he really didn’t make it a point to rep Dallas, many, including myself and actual residents of Dallas thought he was from Los Angeles. In fact, in his first video, and on the cover of the album he was wearing Los Angeles Kings gear. This pissed off a lot of people in Dallas who did know him from his early days, and it was seen as a setback at the time. But Nemesis repped Dallas to the fullest. Their major success came in the early 90s with their hit “Munchies For Your Bass,” which was a slow, R&B-tinted, bass-heavy cut that rang out of every car for years from Florida to Cali. Their first album, released on vinyl only, “To Hell and Back,” was self-financed and self-released and sold upwards of
20,000 copies. This sparked the attention of Profile Records, who were known at the time for releasing hip-hop classics by Run-DMC, Special Ed and DJ Quik, as well as Poor Righteous Teachers, Rob Base & DJ EZ Rock and N2Deep. Joe Macc, an early investor/affiliate of Nemesis who later became a rapper in the group remembers their initial days. “It was a struggle, it was hell, dude.” He says, “We was trying to get out the streets and do something else besides hustling. People looked at us like, ‘Yeah right.’ Nobody believed in us until we got on the radio.” These were the days before every boy in the hood knew that there was money to be made in the rap game. It was also an era where regional styles weren’t really looked at as having national appeal outside of New York and Los Angeles. Nemesis, and their friends in Houston the Geto Boys, helped to change all that. Their break out successes brought eyes to Texas. DJ Snake is recognized to this day as a bass music pioneer and has mixed recent records by Lil Jon and a lot of other folks who followed his lead. Other important records that came out of Dallas in the 80’s were “Me, My Bo and Ho” by U Know Who and “Yellow Hammer” by K-Cold. In 1990 Dallas saw another major success in a young DJ named Baby G. A quiet, intelligent type, Baby G was one of the most exciting DJs of the time. It was this year that he won the DMC U.S. Championship and showed the world that there was real hip-hop outside the major hotspots of New York, Los Angeles and Miami. “The fact that a guy from Dallas went up there and took that shit from all those judges from New York was phenomenal,” Cold Cris says. Baby G. was in a group with Cris called I.G.P., which was an extension of their crew the International Grand Posse. One night after opening a show for Professor Griff, the recently ousted Minister of Information for Public Enemy, Cold Cris and Baby G. were offered a deal. “Professor Griff of Public Enemy was doing A&R for Luke Records.” Cris remembers, “Me and Baby G. opened up for him and he called me backstage after his show and basically said he was putting together a group and wanted me and G. to come to Miami. I thought he was bullshitting. Next thing you know he called the next week and was putting the whole shit together. He found Hype Dawg in St. Louis and these two dancing cats in Louisville and basically flew us all down to Miami and that’s how we formed the group. I.G.P. was really a collective, a crew which was not only music but a very large set. It was me, Kasaan, Ice Mike, EZ Eddie D, Almight-D, Baby G, Kid Cannabis, Shabazz who is now World Fame from Grifter and way more people. But Griff put us together as 2AWK – Two Average White Kids.” Even though Baby G is not white. 2AWK didn’t quite work out as Griff had planned, but from its ashes formed Mad Flava, a group consisting of Cold Cris, Baby G., Hype Dawg and The Don Kasaan. Mad Flava got a deal with Priority Re-
(l to r): Pimpsta, SEJ, guest, Skillz, guest, Play, DeVille, Jizno, George, DJ Drop, guest, DJ G-Rock, Big Bink, Sleepy, KottonMouth, Philly Station, Tahiti, Philly Station, Philly Station, Gunna, Caesar, OZONE/CRUNK!!! truck, Philly Station, Skin, Mes, guest, Rig, Picnic Time