Book Cover via Velocity Press
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The following is an excerpt from Ben Pedroche’s (Grown Up Rap) new book, Independent as F**: Underground Hip-hop from 1995-2005, out May 2, via Velocity Press.
Pre-order Independent as F***: Underground Hip-hop from 1995-2005 here.
If you’ve ever heard an episode of The Stretch Armstrong and Bobbito Show, or watched the 2015 Stretch and Bobbito: Radio That Changed Lives documentary, you’ll know that Bobbito Garcia is a funny guy who likes to laugh. This is further evidenced by the fact he sometimes went by the name DJ Cucumber Slice, and how he named his record label Fondle ‘Em, complete with claims that the label was a division of ‘Tickle ‘Em Label Group’, itself a subsidiary of ‘Squeeze ‘Em Entertainment’, and how the whole concept of the record label was thought up on a whim. You’d be naive to assume this meant Bob didn’t take developing artists and putting out their music seriously, however, and he’d been doing it for years.
In addition to the artists managed and developed by Bobbito and Pete Nice in the early 90s via their Hit-U-Off Management, they also owned a small label named Hoppoh Recordings, distributed by Columbia, and opened in 1993 after Bob left his job working for Def Jam. Hoppah was short-lived with only two releases, although both were strong: Kurious’ 1994 album A Constipated Monkey, and Pre-Life Crisis by Count Bass D in 1995.
That same year, Bob regrouped and founded Fondle ‘Em as a vinyl-only label, after being convinced by an associate from a distribution company that people would be interested in buying the kind of gritty hip-hop records he and Stretch played on their show. The radio program provided a rich stream of unsigned and hungry artists shopping their demos, and the ones he dug the most stood a good chance of getting their music put out on Fondle ‘Em. There would be no formal contracts between the label and artist, no budget for promotion of any kind, and all profits made would be shared equally.
Bob decided that Fondle ‘Em would be dedicated to only putting out the rawest underground records, starting off with Kool Keith and Godfather Don’s The Cenobites EP. By the year 2000 Fondle ‘Em had racked up releases by a line-up of artists that are today considered to be amongst the best of the underground era, including 12”s by Scienz of Life, Arsonists, MF DOOM, MHz, MF Grimm, J Treds, KMD, Cage and Yak Ballz; EPs by Siah and Yeshua DapoED and The Boulevard Connection; and albums by The Cenobites, MF DOOM and the Juggaknots, including the revered Operation: Doomsday and Clear Blue Skies.
There was also a 12” by Bob’s radio co host Lord Sear as his Stak Chedda character, plus records by some lesser remembered artists such as Mr. Live, Da Nuthouse, Rok One, Monsta Island Czars member Megalon (aka Tommy Gun), and South African group Cashless Society. Additionally, in 1999 a label known as Guntez Records licensed Fondle ‘Em releases and put out a Japan-only compilation named World of Fondle ‘Em.
True to Bob’s vision of Fondle ‘Em being wax only, virtually the entire discography was only ever pressed to vinyl, except for Operation: Doomsday and the extended version of the Cenobites project.
In 2001 Bobbito decided to shut the label down, happy to pass the torch to the various other labels he had inspired. He considered El-P’s Definitive Jux to be the natural successor to keep the spirit alive of what he set out to achieve, and so that same year Bob and El-P put out a tribute record to celebrate what had made Fondle ‘Em so great. First came the “Fondle ‘Em Fossils” 12” with vocals by the dream line-up of MF DOOM, Godfather Don, Q-Unique, Breeze Brewin and J-Treds, followed by the Farewell Fondle ‘Em album that also featured Arsonists, Kool Keith, Cage, MHz, Yak Ballz and MF Grimm.
Bobbito later founded two other indie labels: firstly Fruitmeat Records, with an eclectic mix of artists including some hip-hop, and then a 7”-only label named Alala.
It should be noted that Bobbito wasn’t just an innovator for having written the blueprint for how to run an underground record label. He also helped pioneer the idea of a hip-hop record store being a hub for artists and fans to hang out and share music. Fat Beats is rightly remembered as the place to be in New York, but for a time Bobbito also had his own shop, named Bobbito’s Footwork, with branches in New York and Philadelphia, selling vinyl, apparel, and the source of another of Bob’s passions, sneakers.
Fondle ‘Em is looked back upon today as being the gold standard for underground hip-hop from New York, and almost the entire catalog is now highly coveted and on sale for premium prices on sites like Discogs, especially as most of the records were only ever pressed in small amounts. The legacy of the label is another of the many reasons why Bobbito Garcia is one of the most important people in the history of the movement, if not the most important.
El-P is less angry today about what went down with Rawkus Records, but was big mad about it at the start of the millennium. Company Flow’s second album – Little Johnny from the Hospitul: Breaks & Instrumentals Vol.1, recorded without Bigg Jus – had come out in the middle of Rawkus’ epic 1999, but the relationship between the group and label was by now a flaming dumpster fire. By the end of 2000, Company Flow had departed.
The decline of Rawkus and the pain of getting fucked over by a label who once shared his view was the impetus El-P needed to finally build his own thing, and so Definitive Jux was born, co-founded with El-P’s longtime business partner and manager, Amaechi Uzoigwe.
In truth, having his own label was always El-P’s plan. Rawkus may have started out in support of independence, but by being on a label, Company Flow was not fully independent. From as far back as the days of Company Flow’s own Official Recordings label, it was El-P’s hope to one day put out his music by himself. First, however, there was a legal wrinkle to iron out. The label was originally named Def Jux, but El-P’s new company was hit with litigation threats by Def Jam, due to the similarities. The case was ironic, in that on one hand, being sued by a corporate entity could be seen as a badge of honor to the fiercely anti-corporate El-P. On the other hand, Def Jam was responsible for some of the classic era albums El-P was most inspired by. Either way, an out of court settlement was reached, and the name was changed to Definitive Jux.
For a label so deeply rooted in New York City, surprisingly the first release on Definitive Jux was by Boston emcee Mr. Lif’, who dropped the Enters the Colossus EP in late 2000. If 1997-1999 were Rawkus’ breakout years, then 2001-2005 were Definitive Jux’s, in which time the label released landmark albums and EPs by Cannibal Ox (The Cold Vein); Aesop Rock (Labor Days, Daylight, Bazooka Tooth, Fast Cars, Danger, Fire and Knives); Mr. Lif (Emergency Rations, I Phantom); RJD2 (Deadringer, The Horror, Since We Last Spoke); Murs (The End of the Beginning, Murs 3:16: The 9th Edition with 9th Wonder); S.A. Smash (Smashy Trashy); Party Fun Action Committee (Let’s Get Serious); C-Rayz Walz (Ravipops: The Substance, Year of the Beast); Hangar 18 (The Multi-Platinum Debut Album); Rob Sonic (Telicatessen), The Perceptionists (Black Dialogue); and Cage (Hell’s Winter). That time span also included three editions of the Definitive Jux Presents series, and the release of El-P’s own solo debut, Fantastic Damage.
It was a mesmerizing discography of releases that breathed new life into the underground scene, and by branching out to include artists from Columbus, Boston, and Los Angeles, El-P was able to show that the indie rap wave was no longer just New York centric.
Additional music came out in subsequent years, including more from El-P, Mr. Lif, Aesop Rock, Rob Sonic, Cage and Hangar 18, plus releases from new signings such as the group Sonic Sum (Fred Ones, Rob Sonic, Preservation and Eric M.O.) and Cool Calm Pete, and albums from west coast indie rap royalty Del the Funky Homosapien, and Gift of Gab, Lateef and Headnodic as the group The Mighty Underdogs.
Then, in 2010, El-P pulled the plug, making an announcement that Definitive Jux was to be no more. There are several reasons why the label ended, and there are many different theories floating about online, but the most accepted are that El-P had become dissatisfied with the direction the label had taken, and how it was pigeon-holded as a label seemingly only for white backpackers. He also wanted to get back to solely making music and not having the stress of running a business, especially in a climate where illegal downloading was very quickly killing off small indie labels across the board.
The death of Camu Tao in 2008 was also a big factor in El-P losing his enthusiasm for Definitive Jux. As a close friend it hit him hard, but it was a suitable tribute to both the artist and label that Definitive Jux’s final release was the posthumous Camu Tao album, King of Hearts (released in partnership with Fat Possum Records, who two years later released El-P’s third album, Cancer 4 Cure, which he dedicated to Tao).
El-P’s Company Flow partners also briefly had their own post-Rawkus labels. Bigg Jus launched Sub Verse Music in 1998 which put out music by Scienz of Life, Micranots and more, and played a part in the history of MF DOOM by releasing KMD’s Black Bastards and a reissue of Operation: Doomsday. Mr. Len created Smacks Records (sometimes credited as Dummy Smacks Records) to release his own music, side projects Roosevelt Franklin and The Dix, and others.
Rapper and producer Uncommon Nasa also credits Definitive Jux for inspiring him to start his own label, Uncommon Records, with Nasa learning how to run a music business during his years as Definite Jux’s in-house mix engineer.
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