Hold It Down (Das EFX album)

Hold It Down is the third studio album by American Brooklyn-based hip hop duo Das EFX. It was released on September 26, 1995 via East West Records. Recording sessions took place at Ian London Studios in East Islip, at Northshore Soundworks, D&D Studios, The Music Palace and Chung King Studios in New York, and at The Sewa. Production was handled by Easy Mo Bee, Solid Scheme, DJ Premier, DJ Scratch, DJ Clark Kent, Kevin Geeda, Peter Lewis, Showbiz, Soul G., Pete Rock and Das EFX themselves, with PMD serving as an executive producer. It features guest appearances from KRS-One and PMD.

The album peaked at number 22 on the Billboard 200 and number 4 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums in the United States. Its singles "Real Hip-Hop" and "Microphone Master" made it to the Billboard Hot 100, reaching No. 61 and No. 86, respectively. The song "Represent the Real" first appeared under the title "Represent the Real Hip Hop" as the B-side to KRS-One's "MC's Act Like They Don't Know" single, which was released during the summer of 1995, taken off of his eponymous album KRS-One.

Track listing

 * Sample credits
 * Track 6 contains elements from "Blue Prelude" written by Joe Bishop and Gordon Jenkins and performed by Nina Simone.
 * Track 12 contains elements from "Different Strokes" written by John Andrew Cameron and John Zachary and performed by Syl Johnson.
 * Track 13 contains elements from "Slum Creeper" by Quincy Jones.
 * Track 14 contains elements from "Lock It in the Pocket" written by Richard Steacker and performed by Grover Washington Jr.

Personnel

 * Andre "Krazy Drayz" Weston – vocals, producer (track 9)
 * Willie "Skoob" Hines – vocals, producer (track 9)
 * Lawrence "KRS-One" Parker – vocals (track 16)
 * Parrish "PMD" Smith – vocals (track 19), executive producer
 * Rodney "DJ Dice" Battle – scratches
 * Peter Lewis – producer (track 1)
 * Chris "DJ Premier" Martin – producer (tracks: 2, 5)
 * Osten "Easy Mo Bee" Harvey, Jr. – producer (tracks: 3, 7, 8, 12, 13)
 * Chris Charity – producer (tracks: 4, 15, 18)
 * Derek Lynch – producer (tracks: 4, 15, 18)
 * Kevin Geeda – producer (track 6)
 * Gerald "Soul G." Stevens – producer (track 11)
 * Rodolfo "DJ Clark Kent" Franklin – producer (track 14)
 * Rodney "Showbiz" LeMay – producer (track 16)
 * George "DJ Scratch" Spivey – producer (tracks: 17, 19)
 * Peter "Pete Rock" Phillips – producer & mixing (track 20)
 * Charlie Marotta – engineering (track 1), mixing (tracks: 1, 18)
 * Eddie Sancho – engineering (tracks: 2, 5)
 * Norty Cotto – engineering (tracks: 2, 5)
 * Luis Tineo – engineering assistant (tracks: 2, 5)
 * Ken Wallace – engineering (tracks: 3, 6-8, 11-15)
 * Ivan 'Doc' Rodriguez – mixing (tracks: 3, 4, 6-8, 12, 13, 17)
 * Mike Tuosto – mixing (track 3)
 * Rick St. Hilaire – engineering (tracks: 9, 19), mixing (tracks: 9, 11, 15, 19)
 * Kenny Ortiz – mixing (track 14)
 * Gordon "Commissioner Gordon" Williams – engineering (track 16)
 * Jamie Staub – engineering (track 20)
 * Alli Truch – art direction
 * Romon Kimin "Ro-Starr" Yang – design
 * Butch Belair – photography