In my previous blog, I talked about my love for Ultramagnetic MCs and their ‘Critical Beatdown’ album. There is another group from the ‘80s who take a high spot in my faves of all time and they are Tuff Crew.

They were known as Philadelphia’s “first rap supergroup” and if you go through their back catalogue they have some absolute gems they have released over the years. The group members are Ice Dog, Tone Love, DJ Too Tuff, LA Kidd and Monty G.

Tuff Crew released five albums which are in chronological order:

Phanjam – 1987

Danger Zone – 1988

Back to Wreck Shop – 1989

Still Dangerous – 1991

DJ Too Tuff’s Lost Archives – 2008

I am going to focus on their first three albums, although I lose all of them. I have a soft spot for Phanjam as it’s co produced by none other than Ced Gee and Kool Keith with a trusty Roland TR-808 drum machine.

Phanjam

Their first album consists of 8 tracks and weighs in at a modest 35.5 minutes which is perfect for me as I have a short attention span. The last two tracks are from Krown Rulers who released one album Paper Chase in 1988 which is another favourite. I have an aversion for double albums, particularly ones with lots of skits which I find more annoying than amusing. Although saying that, there are a few which make me laugh.

Techno – Tuff is the scratchtastic first track off the Phanjam album and samples Beside ‘Change The Beat’ which is a song with English & French vocals, and some Japanese rapping. If you aren’t familiar with it then it’s worth a listen because you will instantly recognise samples from ‘Change the Beat’ which have been used in many tracks over the years. Some notable tracks from the 80s includes Herbie Hancock ‘Rockit’, Schoolly D ‘P.S.K’ and Eric B & Rakim ‘Paid in Full’. I am digressing now so let’s get back to Tuff Crew!

‘And We Will Rock’ is another favourite from their first album. It reminds me of being a teenager sitting in my bedroom at home listening to Hip Hop non stop, whenever I could. I didn’t particularly have a nice childhood so I drowned it out with music. I also love this track because it makes me think of B-Boys and B-Girls battling it out.

I am going to fast forward to Danger Zone because there are two stand out tracks on the album that I play regularly and are firm favourites with many Hip Hop heads. It’s another short album of 10 tracks and 38 minutes long. I miss the days of albums being that short. DJ Too Tuff programmed the drums, the album was produced by LA Kidd, Tone Love and DJ Too Tuff.

My Part Of Town

This track needs no introduction. I am obsessed with the scratching in it. I have to confess that I totally wrecked the needle of my first record player that I had when I was 15 because I wanted to be a scratch DJ which was partly influenced by Tuff Crew, Cash Money, Cutmaster Swift, and QBert. Sadly that was never fulfilled, however I did have a dream many years ago that I won the DMC World Finals. I got woken up because I was face down on my bed scratching and cross fading the mattress like my life depended on it. I was very disappointed when I was told it was a dream. I also got pissed off that I was woken up as it probably stopped me from being announced the winner and being awarded my trophy.

My Part of Town starts off with a sample from The Blackbyrds ‘Street Games’ which is an amazing track. If I have any advice for young Hip Hop fans of today, please take the time to do some homework and immerse yourself in music history and listen to the original tracks that have been sampled – your life will be richer for it. It also samples Lynn Collins ‘Think’ and Kurtis Blow ‘Tough’. A trio of musical treasures.

Open Field Attack

I could listen to this track every day. Infact I think I do! If I had a crew and we had a theme song, this would be it. We would be the Crazy Cat Ladies Crew, rescuing and feeding stray and feral cats around the world. We would specialise in kibbles and beats. Sorry, my coffee has kicked in and I am getting a bit carried away.

Open Field Attack samples a few tracks, most notably Dennis Coffey & The Detroit Guitar Band ‘Scorpio’ from 1971. With both tracks I have highlighted from their second album, I really like the fact they haven’t chopped the original songs to death. It’s what I call a sympathetic and respectful homage, taken to a different level for a new audience. Some people might think it’s not that inspiring that they are so instantly recognisable from the originals, but I appreciate it.

Out of all their albums, Danger Zone is my favourite. Back to Wreck Shop which is their third album is also amazing and has some stand out tracks which I also love. ‘Show Em Hell’ is one that makes me smile, it’s a guaranteed pick me up when I need a bit of a boost. ‘What, You Don’t Know’ and ‘Soul Food’ are also regular plays. The latter’s intro always makes me think of Loose Ends ‘Don’t Be A Fool’, which links both tracks to Johnny Pate ‘Shaft in Africa (Addis)’ from 1973…

For me, their five albums are one of my favourite and strongest runs for a Hip Hop Group. Each album still totally kicks ass and I regularly play them, I will never get bored of hearing them.

*blog update* DJ Too Tuff has also released his first solo album ‘Behold the Detonator’ in July 2022 which I also love. As always, thank you for reading!

Special thanks to Whosampled.com and Discogs where I got some info to help me write this blog.