Frankie Cutlass is a dance and hip-hop DJ from Spanish Harlem in New York with family roots in Puerto Rico. He was affiliated with Funkmaster Flex and the Flip Squad in the '90s and started interesting himself in producing his own records as well as keeping up his mixing skills. As a result he recorded and released his debut album by 1993. Titled "The Frankie Cutlass Show" the LP was fully produced by Cutlass and featured a bunch of guests in Rayvon, Evil Twins, Madstyle and Selector. Although it had flashes of brilliance it didn't make much noise on the scene and isn't well remembered today.
However, "The F.C. Show" did get him noticed by executives at Relativity Records which at the time was something of a haven for hardcore rap. This opened the door for Cutlass to secure guest spots on new projects from a bunch of great and well respected artists in the hip-hop community. In 1995 he released the banger "Bouriquas On Da Set" featuring fellow Puerto Rican's Fat Joe, DJ Doo Wop and The Evil Twinz. The boom bap sounds of the single pointed the way to his full-length on the label "Politics & Bullshit" the following year. Reminiscent of albums like Marley Marl's "In Control", Cutlass here gathered some of the most acclaimed emcees of tthe time for a bunch of posse cuts based around his production. Included on the set were peeps like M.O.P., Kool G Rap, Lost Boyz, Smif-N-Wessun, Big Daddy Kane, Craig G, Heltah Skeltah, Mobb Deep and Redman. The music on the disc certainly goes hard and is worth the attention of any fan of the vintage sounds of the mid '90s.
What's most suprising is the fact that "Politics & Bullshit" for some reason turned out to be the DJ and producer's final release .Since then not even many production credits has been added to his name. Why this is I have no idea but it's possible that Cutlass decided to focus on doing DJ sets full time instead. However that may be the album stands as a great document of where rap music was at in 1997 and is filled with hot beats and rhymes - what more could you ask for?
03. "Focus" (Ft. Lost Boyz & M.O.P.)
04. "You, You & You" (Ft. Sadat X, Redman & June Lover)
05. "Bouriquas On Da Set" [Remix] (Ft. Fat Joe, Doo Wop & The Evil Twinz)
06. "Old School Radio" [Interlude]
07. "The Cypher Part III" (Ft. Big Daddy Kane, Biz Markie, Craig G & Shanté)
08. "Know Da Game" (Ft. Kool G Rap, M.O.P. & Mobb Deep)
09. "Games" (Ft. Roc-City-O)
10. "Pay Ya Dues" (Ft. Busta Rhymes, Cocoa Brovaz & Keith Murray)
11. "Bouriquas On Da Set" (Ft. Fat Joe, Doo Wop & The Evil Twinz)
FRANKIE CUTLASS - "POLITICS & BULLSHIT"
Great post! I was listening to this album the other day! Keep doing what your doing, the blog is brilliant.
ReplyDeletethanks for the props on the blog, it's always a good feeling to know that your work is appreciated and yeah i'll definitely keep on doing my thing here!
ReplyDeletei agree the Frankie Cutlass album is ridiciously underrated so i thought a post on it was a must :)