User:Ed catto/Freestyle professors

After dropping a little-known EP titled Your Pocket’s Been P:cked in 1994, recorded in Jazzy Jay’s Bronx studio and with a beat from the legendary Showbiz of D.I.T.C., the Rap group The Freestyle Professors slid into obscurity hastened by familial problems and discouraged by the industry as a whole. The leader of the crew, Branesparker, was approached many times in the late 1990s and early 2000s about reissuing the now sought-after EP. A consummate musician, his interest lay in the possibilities of making new music rather than dwelling in the past. No offer or proposition satisfied him. Meanwhile, the Japanese bootlegged the EP in 2004 and, after selling out immediately, again in 2005.

In early 2006, with the help of Amed (aka DJ Timbalan of the original Freestyle Professors and an accomplished producer who has worked with Freddie Foxxx, Milano and O.C. among others) Branesparker and Ed Catto met and drew up a plan to bring the Freestyle Professors back into the Rap scene. They went into the FP’s vaults and dusted off 4 unheard tracks from the same 1994 sessions that had spawned the Your Pocket’s Been P:cked EP. The cuts were slated for the full-length LP but never saw the light of day. By packaging these cuts together with the cuts from the original EP, some unreleased instrumentals and two newly recorded cuts (one produced by Showbiz and the other by Branesparker), the Professors would bring out the long awaited Your Pocket’s Been P:cked 2xLP at a time when vinyl sales were at all time lows.

Positive reviews came from the likes of Dave Tompkins (The Wire, November 2006) and Stephan Szillus in German-based Juice Magazine with the largest readership of any German Rap magazine (November, 2006). The Freestyle Professors now had their budget to record new music. The crew’s lineup remained much the same with the only change being the departure of rapper Don Q who was replaced by Giff (formerly Geo of Geo & Ricochet, a satellite Freestyle Professors crew). The group hit the studio with a vengeance and completed the Vintage EP during the Fall of 2006.

The resulting 8 cuts on the Vintage EP showcased both the production skills of Branesparker, along with the rough, guttural rhymes of B-Spark and the smooth, polished flow of Giff. They enlisted the help of Showbiz, a continued supporter of the crew, who produced two tracks. With its mix of hardcore street cuts like Hear What I Hear, mellower radio cuts like Lil’ Boy Blue and throwback Old School like Take It Back, The Vintage EP was released simultaneously with a limited one-time 500 press EP from Geo & Ricochet entitled The Lil’ Sum ‘Em Sum ‘Em EP. This EP, named after an underground hit produced by Branesparker for the duo back in 1994 and previously only available on vinyl, brought out 5 unreleased cuts all produced by B-Spark as well as a brand new Freestyle Professors cut titled Corporate America.

The response was again encouraging with a positive review from Chairman Mao in XXL (March, 2007) and an article appeared in the British-based magazine Hip Hop Connection with photography by the legendary Joe Conzo. Galvanized, the crew set about working on a brand new full length LP entitled Gryme Tyme. Word had spread and established names in the South Bronx production world were eager to help the newly-returned crew. Along with the requisite cuts from beatsmith Branesparker, the crew received complementary beats from Lord Finesse, Diamond D, Showbiz, Buckwild and Minnesota.