Station Identification

Sound DNA

• Hip-Hop
• Boom Bap

• gritty
• urban
• soulful

About

A two-man crew from New Jersey, Channel Live (Hakim and Tuffy) started their career as background dancers for Naughty by Nature. They were taken under the wing of KRS-One, who produced much of this debut album (along with a young Salaam Remi) and costarred on their signature single, "Mad Izm": a smokers' anthem that was hard to escape in 1995 and still gets clubs hyped up today. <i>Station Identification</i> would sell enough to go gold, and although Channel Live went on to release a few more projects (including <i>Armaghetto</i> and <i>Secret Science Rap</i>), the duo is frequently regarded as a one-hit wonder. But there are some very solid joints here, including the spooky, Gravediggaz-esque title track, the freaky synth- and sax-propelled "Lock It Up," and "Sex for the Sport," which sounds like some sort of Group Home outtake. For fans of that classic East Coast underground vibe (see: Smif-N-Wessun, Artifacts, Jeru), this will definitely hit the spot.

via Apple Music

Tracklist

Credits