January 15, 2016

Illegal "Head Or Gut" (12", 1993)


I think everyone is familiar with this 12”, but it was released in 1993 on Rowdy Records, Dallas Austin’s label. Illegal was Jamal (Philly) and Malik (SC), with production by Erick Sermon. Their debut album ‘The Untold Truth’ was a pretty dope (red) cassette with production by Diamond D, Erick Sermon, Dallas Austin, Spearhead X, Biz Markie and among others, Lord Finesse. Pretty dope, right? They had moderate success, but it was enough to convince me to buy the cassette and vinyl as a 13-year old kid lol Jamal went on to release a great solo project called ‘Last Chance No Breaks’ with the standout single, ‘Jamal Fades Em All’, while Malik later worked on projects with Monica, his cousin Snoop, Warren G, and put out a solo effort in 2005. The one 12” single Malik released on Rowdy called ‘Malik Goes On’ I can’t remember at all, but I’m interested to hear it. Oh and yes, ‘Head or Gut’ dissed the shit out of Kris Kross with writing by Jamal and Erick Sermon. Dig into it...