Only Built 4 Brownsville Linx

Tek and Steele came off their hiatus post Dah Shinin as the Cocoa Brovaz due to legal difficulties with the firearms manufacturer. They also seemed to leave their style and entire aesthetic in the early 90s, trading in their collected, laid back flows for a higher energy approach over some particularly awful production here on The Rude Awakening. In their videos off this release, The Cocoa Bs (I shudder at typing that name) traded in skullies, random hockey jerseys and rapping on the other side of honey comb wire fences under the BQE for those crazy goggles that were cool for half a week in Middle School, dancing around on generic Hip Hop video sets masquerading as fucked up Project apartments and rapping in bath tubs filled with blood. My take is they (or their label) were looking at the mega success of Jamaica's own Lost Boyz on their debut Legal Drug Money and tryied to emulate the accessible gangster Mr. Cheeks and co. pulled off so well. They did on the Wu Banger "Black Trump", if only for a moment. At the bottom, below their two singles you'll find "Super Brooklyn" and the Brownsville party that was "Bucktown USA Remix" ft. MOP. One's a shot at another Brooklyn anthem that plays like a sad gimmick. The other is one of the far too few Beatminerz contributions on The Rude Awakening. The contrast is startling, "Bucktown USA" sounds like Da Beatminerz grown up, still morose and dark but clean and lush. Perhaps a glimpse at what could have been. How does the quote go again? You sold out, homies.



Super Brooklyn


Bucktown USA (Remix)