We don’t get much of a winter here in San Diego but when it turns to hoodie and beanie season it also means something else for me. It means it’s 90’s east coast hip hop time. And when most think 90’s NY hip hop they immediately go to Biggie, Jigga, Nas, Gang Starr, and Wu and they should. All of those emcees are legends and they have some classic albums in their catalogs. But 90’s east coast hip hop to me always goes a level deeper than the Mt. Rushmore of NY hip hop. I like my 90’s hip hop a little grimier so when winter comes around it means it’s Boot Camp Clik time. If you made it to this article through Google search, I don’t need to tell you who Boot Camp is but for anybody sleeping, here is a breakdown.
The Boot Camp Clik is comprised of Black Moon (Buckshot, 5ft, and DJ Evil Dee), Smif-N-Wessun (Tek & Steele), Heltah Skeltah (Ruck aka Sean Price and Rock), and O.G.C. aka Da Originoo Gunn Clappaz (Starang Wondah, Top Dog, and Louieville Sluggah). Their early production was handled by Da Beatminerz (Mr. Walt, DJ Evil Dee, and Baby Paul) and the beats laid down by Da Beatminerz gave the Boot Camp emcees everything they needed to kick their grimy NY bars. Dru Ha and Buckshot managed the Boot Camp Clik under the label Duck Down Records. They key Boot Camp albums dropped from ‘93 - ‘98 and it all kicked off with Black Moon who released their debut album, Enta Da Stage which dropped in 1993. The album was kicked off by their first single that dropped in ‘92 called “Who Got the Props?”. The song was recorded at D&D Studios and produced by DJ Evil Dee who sampled “Tidal Wave” by Ronnie Laws from 1975. Fantastic lead single!
Enta Da Stage was a great album that I caught wind of through their videos being played on Yo! MTV Raps when I was in junior high school. The production on the album had a jazzy feel which reminded me of Q-Tip’s beats with ATCQ but just a little bit darker and grimier. Wu’s Enter the 36 Chambers also came out in 1993 so it was a great year for dusty production from the likes of RZA and DJ Evil Dee. The Enta Da Stage album was received well by hip hop fans worldwide. Tek and Steele from Smif-N-Wessun made their debut on Enta Da Stage on 2 tracks, “U Da Man” and “Black Smif-N-Wessun.”
In 1994, it was Smif-N-Wessun’s time to shine with their first single “Bucktown” with “Let’s Git It On” on the B-side. DJ Evil Dee and Mr. Walt did their damn thing on the “Bucktown” beat. And let’s not sleep on “Let’s Git It On” because it was on the same level of the lead single. Both songs were major. Smif-N-Wessun were building serious hype for their debut album, Dah Shinin’.
Smif-N-Wessun dropped Dah Shinin’ in 1995 and while I love all of the first Boot Camp albums in their own way, Dah Shinin’ is my favorite out of the crew. Tek and Steele just had great chemistry and their back-and-forth rhymes were on par with what Tip and Phife were doing with ATCQ. I can listen to Smif-N-Wessun’s debut album from front to back with no skips. Loved their style… Loved the production on the album from Da Beatminerz… Classic album! And while the “Wrekonize (Remix)” wasn’t on the album, I just have to give it mention here because of how dope the song is. Here’s their Tiny Desk performance if you missed it.
Boot Camp Clik was 2 for 2 on their releases and next up was Heltah Skeltah who were also featured on Dah Shinin’. Heltah Skeltah dropped “Leflaur Leflah Eshkoshka” in 1995. It featured O.G.C. and the crew of Heltah Skeltah and Da Originoo Gunn Clappaz were known as The Fab 5. You had Ruck and Rock from Heltah Skeltah and then Louieville Sluggah, Starang Wondah, and Top Dog from O.G.C. Without further adieu, here is Heltah Skeltah’s lead single from ‘95, “Leflaur Leflah Eshkoshka.”
The Heltah Skeltah duo vibed just liked their counterparts Tek and Steele from Smif-N-Wessun. Rock had one of the most recognizable voices in hip hop and Ruck just had that ill flow. For those that don’t know, Ruck is Sean Price and while I could go off on a Sean Price tangent, i have to save it for another blog. I have too much to write on him. Heltah Skeltah’s debut album, Nocturnal, dropped in 1996 and yup, you guessed it, 3 for 3 from the Boot Camp Clik. The Heltah Skeltah album was super gutter and Ruck and Rock sounded like they were rapping with baseball bats in their hands ready to do some damage. The beats were on point as usual with Da Beatminerz behind the boards. Heltah Skeltah even touched on mental health with the track “Therapy” which was ahead of its time. I have a lot of options for the songs I can link up but to me there is one that stands above everything. It only has 62K views on YouTube which is just wild to me. C’mon fam! You’re sleeping on “Who Dat?” which is pure gold from Ruck, Rock, and Da Beatminerz.
1996 also gave us the final debut album from the Boot Camp Clik with O.G.C. and their album, Da Storm. The 3 emcees from O.G.C., Starang Wondah, Louieville Sluggah, and Top Dog all worked well with each other. Boot Camp as a whole had such good chemistry as a whole and within their individual groups. I think that’s why I’ve stayed bumping their music for so long. But in my younger hip hop memories, there was one song in particular where I remember hearing it on Rap City and just losing my mind. It was “Hurricane Starang” and it is a perfect song. The build up, the beat, the adlibs, and my main man “Strang comin’ like a hurricane lickin’ shots.” I went out an bought that tape off the strength of that single. If that cat was spittin like that on that single I knew there would be other songs I’d be feeling. And for anybody counting, Boot Camp was 4/4 with these debut releases from the crew,
It’s always baffled me why Boot Camp Clik got slept on. If you’re an east coast head, you probably don’t agree that they were slept on but out here in Cali, everybody was bumpin’ the Wu but you had to dig a little deeper to find the cats who were listening to Black Moon, Smif-N-Wessun, Heltah Skeltah, and O.G.C. I love all of the rap documentaries that have come out over the years and I’m still hopeful that one will pop up on Boot Camp / Duck Down telling their whole story of their debut albums. Those debut albums were right there with the Wu solo albums. The one thing missing was the full crew posse album which did drop eventually but if it would have dropped in ‘95? Now that would have been something. But as a rap fan I can’t complain, I was laced with gems from this crew out of NY. And if you weren’t up on Boot Camp, I hope “I Got You Opin” with these words.