Masters Of Ceremony - CRIME (WHOOOF)

North of the Bronx, just beyond the New York City limits, lay three Westchester County areas that each have contributed to the history of New York hip-hop. Yonkers was the stomping ground of DMX and The LOX. Mount Vernon brought forth Heavy D & The Boyz and Pete Rock & CL Smooth. New Rochelle (separated from NYC by the barely mile-wide strip of Pelham Manor) gave us Brand Nubian and the Masters of Ceremony, the latter being Grand Puba's crew before the former were conceived. The Masters of Ceremony debuted in 1985 with the single "Crime," which was co-produced by a yet unknown Teddy Riley and followed up by the two '86 singles "Sexy" and "Cracked Out."

The group's line-up featured Grand Puba Maxwell and his cousin Dr. Who (AKA TLD), both MC's, and DJ Shabazz, as well as several dancers, all in all amounting to six people populating the futuristic album cover of their 1988 debut "Dynamite" (think six b-boys just beamed down from another planet). The cover looks a lot fancier than that of "Critical Beatdown," and yet in terms of outer-space hip-hop funk the baby steps of the Masters of Ceremony don't hold a candle to the visionary beats and rhymes of the Ultramagnetic MC's. They lasted from 85-88 something like that, anyway they dropped the famous CRACKED OUT, DYNAMITE Singles & some other Joints. A few albums too. But this one is one of their earlier joints, a single called "CRIME. (1985) (Sorry no instrumental yet) You know I love the Socially Consciousness of the early 80's Hip Hop Records. Speaking truth, if you have not heard this one, STOP! and listen. and if you have it and have been rocking this jam for decades you know what time it is. A solid Electro-Rap gem with some singing and rapping, all about doing crime and its consequences. A far cry from today's Rap content. Of course I added that download link. Oh wait Syke, I do have the Dub version and I included that too!!

A definite B-boy Jam from 1985 as well as a party-rocker you could get down with the honey's to at the Saturday night jam. Think Gold door knocker Earings, Fila Sneakers, Stone washed jeans, bulky Varsity coats , Cazels, Shell-Top Adidas, Track Suits and Rope Chains. A two for one smash!