April 06, 2017

The Beatnuts "Intoxicated Demons" (Microphone Check)

The Beatnuts Intoxicated Demons 1993 EP Advertisement
The Beatnuts Intoxicated Demons The Source June 1993

Intoxicated Demons: The EP’ is the debut EP from the Queens representatives, The Beatnuts. It was released on April 6, 1993 by Relativity Records. I bought the 12” for ‘Reign of the Tec’ on the strength of a quick listen at the turntable. At the time, I'd only known the name from liner notes, but their blend of ill production and off the top lyrics instantly made them a guilty pleasure. The music fit right in on the mixtapes we were making at the time. "Hardcore, straight to make you brothers act stupid." ‘Reign of the Tec’ may have been the only 12” released in advance of the album, otherwise ‘No Equal’ was the follow-up single, which incorporated vocal samples from Eric B. & Rakim + A Tribe Called Quest. Matter of fact, if you listen to the EP, there are a lot of small samples from other hip-hop records that weren't even out that long in their production. On the EP, Psycho Les and JuJu were joined by Fashion (Al’ Tariq), who went solo a couple years later for his dope LP, 'God Connections,' and V.I.C. (of Groove Merchantz) was part of their production team. Q-Tip regularly credited The Beatnuts as being down with Native Tongues and in turn, they all get shout-outs in the album credits along with Common, Brand Nubian, Large Pro, Stretch & Bobbito, Kid Capri, Red Alert and Chris Lighty, (R.I.P.), who also executive produced the EP. The zooted interview above is from The Source (6/93) and the video for 'Reign of the Tec' is below. "With the diabolical sound coming through your speaker." This still goes super hard! Updated video below.