“Wassup nerds, you know you been waiting for this shit…” First single from Thirsty Greedy’s Survival Of The Skillest. Directed by Box Lo.

Not quite an official Liknuts (Alkaholiks + Beatnuts) cut, but J-Ro grabs Psycho Les to produce this cut from his 818 Antics Vol. 2 release.

New material from the upcoming Beatnuts + Alkaholiks collaborative album, Liknuts, with “Bang”.

Awesome. Directed by James Wade. Filmed at Real Results Gym in Las Vegas.

The Beatnuts and Tha Alkaholiks have announced their upcoming collaborative EP titled Liknuts. Before The Beatnuts release their upcoming album Planet of the Crates, their joint EP will hit stores.

JuJu added that their album Planet of the Crates will be finished in the next few months. “Next month or two after we finish this tour, we’re going to go back home and finish it up,” he said. “We already got a couple of joints that’s done already. We’re going to do like two or three joints tonight.”

Never judge a book by it’s cover.

The cutting room floor. Just imagine what it would be like, to go into your favorite rapper or producer’s archives, and raid the masters, discovering hundreds of great tracks they felt weren’t good enough for official release. RZA’s basement, pre-flood era? Forgettabout it. The Pharcyde’s deleted tracks from Bizarre Ride? Nerdgasm. Dr. Dre’s vault during the Oh My God recording sessions with Rakim? Only in your dreams. However, you have to imagine that a lot of this stuff would be crap as well. Without naming names, we’ve seen artists destroy their careers by completely ruining their mystique and release every track they’ve ever recorded on Unreleased Shit Vol. 5 type of albums. The Beatnuts are a rare case, however, since they have never really had to rely on others to make their music for them. As emcees, producers, and hardened crate diggers, they’ve had everything they’ve ever needed to make classics in their closets.

With The U.F.O. Files, we get a hearty plate of unreleased tracks and a few alternate versions from The Beatnuts catalog. With a signature style all their own – one that’s never been duplicated, mind you – the ‘Nuts deliver their usual brand of scumbag rhymes over dusty breaks, leaving the listener wondering why some of these songs weren’t released in the first place. Tracks like “All My Life” or “The Language” have that classic quality and original sound that would have fit in on any of their post-Kool Fash albums. Both “Easy Does It” and the creepy (like masturbating in a closet creepy, not zombie creepy) “Story To Tell You” find the Nuts in their most crass, with plenty of laugh out loud amounts – that is, at least if you girl isn’t present.

Most of the real treats are towards the end of the album, however. Two classic Beatnut breaks – previously released on Hydra’s vinyl-only instrumental EP’s – are fully realized on “Party” and “Freak N The Club”, as both original tracks were too good to go to waste. However the real gems here are in the recording sessions from the Intoxicated Demons and Street Level that previously were only available as bootlegs, or unreleased up until this point. Classic white label jawns like “40 Oz” and “Fluid” were perhaps originally shelved as artists like A Tribe Called Quest and Pete Rock beat-the-Nuts to these samples (on “Steve Biko” and “Center Of Attention”, respectively), but sound instantly classic in this context. Meanwhile, songs like “We Came Here”, “Dawn of The Dead”, and “Sandwiches (Original Version)” successfully time-capsule a sound now lost in hip-hop, and will instantly take the older heads back to the Nuts early years.

22 tracks in length leaves plenty of room for error, with a couple of tracks that could have forever been left in the vaults, such as the club-attempt “Get It!”, or the hilarious trainwreck “Disco”. Despite a few missteps however, it’s a sad state of affairs when a group like The Beatnuts can release their table scraps and still make a better album than half the major label rappers out today. – DJ Pizzo

Emerging almost twenty years after these recordings were released is the “new” Intoxicated Demos EP (read: “Demos”, not “Demons”), a vinyl only release (!) with a press run of 200 copies, sold online at exorbitant prices per unit (around $90 a copy), from mysterious label One Leg Up Records. Whether or not the artist is cut in here is unknown, but judging from the exclusivity of the material and high quality of the recordings, it’s highly likely. This EP collects previously unreleased material from the Beatnuts archives, capturing those moments of their respective careers which is long gone.

The EP opens with “Snatch My Crops”, build around a Cypress Hill sample, over a typical sinister Beatnuts bassline, as each Fash, Juju, and Les spit their usual brand “bullet in the cunt” (actual quote) style of rhymes. Sample clearance may have killed this song back in 1992, and the same could be suspected for other tracks included here as well. While reportedly “Fashion Goes Off” was recorded before Black Sheep’s “The Choice Is Yours”, it utilizes the same Sweet Linda Divine “I’ll Say It Again” sample. The same could be hypothesized on “You Got My Back”, which uses the break from Ultramagnetic MC’s mega-hit, “Poppa Large”, however Psycho Les quotes the actual song here, proving it was recorded later. Notably, he also flips Run DMC’s “Sucker MC’s” opening lines in their usual dirtbag style, bragging “two years ago, a hoe of mine, asked me do her in her hine…”. You can guess where it goes from here….

Also included on this EP are a series of radio recordings, such as “DJ Red Alert Promo”, which is a short, glorified commercial for the legendary DJ’s radio show, as well as the “Reign Of The Tec” single. Even though it was just a radio promo, it flawlessly captures that distinct sound that was only present on the group’s first two releases. Meanwhile, “Catch A Little Wreck” is a freestyle session featuring the Nuts over a familiar, jazzy break (crate diggers, feel free to ID this), featuring Rob Swift on the cuts (here called DJ Swift) and the Lost Boyz looming in the background. Thankfully, no ad-libs from Freaky Tah, rest his soul.

Finally, we get a collection of original demo versions of songs that were released in other forms. “In My Room” is a demo version of the Chi Ali song of the same name, with Fashion ghost-spitting lyrics from the perspective of the then 14-year old, Native Tounge affiliate and future-murderer. “Do That” is another version of a Chi Ali song, however here it is intended as a Beatnuts song, with the group’s usual brand of silliness and no ghost-written rhymes for Chi. Finally, we get a bonus alternate version of the group’s famous single, “Props Over Here”, with different lyrics than the original version.

Is it worth spending almost a bill on? For the esteemed hip-hop archivist and vinyl enthusiast – yes; for the rest of the world – no. It may not hold the classic status that the group’s two EP releases have had, but it definitely allows longtime fans an exclusive look into The Beatnuts creative process, and is in fact a lot better than much of the group’s post Street Level material. – D.T. Swinga

     While Milk Me is the group’s second independent release, following 2002′s The Originators, it finds the Nuts literally hungrier than ever, trying to balance their rugged Corona-Queens sound with the dominant commercial sounds of today. The album opens with “Hot”, an obnoxious Greg Nice led anthem sure to incite riots at any Queens thug convention, but one that may have trouble getting the same reaction elsewhere. Nevertheless, the Nuts do come with the friendlier rockabilly hip-hop joint (a first), “Find Us (ft. Akon) (In The Back Of The Club)”, an uptempo 50′s throwback with millennial mindset, as Akon’s breezy hook animates their longtime desires to fuck, drink beer, and smoke some shit. While longtime listeners might now know whether to cringe or sing-along to “Find Us”, it certainly fares much better than some of the other commercial attempts included here. “Madness” struggles for definition with its Roger Troutman-esque synth hook, while both “All Night” and “Freak Off” (especially the latter) are drowned out by R&B singer, Chris Chandler’s war with harmony. Still, while at times, Milk is more watered down than your average Nuts album, who can blame them for having chips on their shoulders after Jennifer Lopez’s jacking of “Off The Books” for “Jenny From The Block”? The very issue is addressed on one of the LP’s best tracks, “Confused Rappers”, where Les and Juju lash out at J-Lo and the “Trashmasters”, with bonus beef from Rahzel, who clowns on other no-talents who overpay for beats. 

     It’s tracks like “Confused Rappers” that show the Nuts in their element, and they aren’t afraid to tap some A-grade talent to help fill in the blanks when needed. The 70′s swagger of “Buggin’ (ft. Prince Whipper Whip) ” amazingly drags Prince Whipper Whip out of retirement, while “It’s Nothing” does the same for disappearing/reappearing D.I.T.C. rapper, A.G. - both who have no problem dusting off their mics and fitting right in. “Uh Huh” is one of the album’s best lyrical free-for-alls, where Tony Touch and Gab Gotcha compete for the top spot over an infectious beat described by Toca as “Se Acabo meets motherfuckin’ Prendelo”.  Freeway shows up for “U Knomsayin”, stealing the show on this cool, late night city beat, while Milano helps out on the bluesy head-nodder, “Down”. While the guests do outshine Les and Juju from time-to-time, it’s a wonder that more rappers aren’t tapping them for beats these days, as their tracks easily make their fellow emcees sound great on the mic. 

     While the subject matter hasn’t changed over ten years, the Beatnuts remain true to their craft, despite an occasional drab track or lame commercial outing. Fact remains, The Beatnuts are some of the only people in hip-hop who can say they produced their entire album by themselves, even sewing it together with those fat little interludes. Heads will argue as to which post-Fashion Beatnuts album is the best, and while this might not be it, it still shows that group’s hearts are in the right places. Take a sip of Milk and decide for yourself.

Both “Off The Books” and “Watch Out Now” carried their last two albums, but despite a few memorable album cuts sprinkled in between, the consistency of a solid full-length release just wasn’t there. Thankfully, for the first time in years, Da Nuts have pieced together a full-length project that can be listened to from start to finish, heavy on the mayonnaise.

The Beatnuts’ production has become such an original sound, that it is a wonder that rappers aren’t knocking on their doors as much as DJ Premier’s or Rockwilder’s. The lead single, “No Escapin’ This”, as well as it’s b-side, “It’s Da Nuts” are perfect examples of what the full-length has to offer – raw production with style that can only be credited to The Beatnuts. The Afro-Spanish influence in the beats alone separate Da Nuts from anyone else out there, whether it’s the Greg Nice fueled party starter “Yo Yo Yo” or the addictive high of “Contact”. Stranger selections keep it movin’, such as “If It Ain’t Gangsta”, “Hammer Time”, or “Prendelo (Light It Up)” each as different as they are dope.

While the ambitions of Psycho Les and Juju still remain to fuck, drink beer, and smoke some shit, when their doing it over beats as good as these, it could turn even Mormons and bookworms into a psycho dwarves. Following tradition, the hoe-hoppin’ tales that started with “Story” are continued on both “Mayonnaise” and “Hood Thang”, still treading the line of what’s disgusting and what’s funny. But with lines like: “My whole click’s starvin’ like a jail cafeteria / while you on the block suckin’ cock, I’m in Siberia,” sprinkled throughout the album, how can you not crack a smile?

While “Hood Thang”, as well as the iffy “Let’s Get Doe” (feat. Fatman Scoop) are obviously a little more watered down than the standard Beatnuts fare, these somewhat lame attempts at getting commercial attention aren’t completely useless, as for the most part they still stick to the script. And while some may feel that the over extended guest list detracts from the album, remember that the missing third of the trio, Al Tariq, isn’t always around anymore to fill in those empty last verses, (but thankfully he does pop up once or twice on this album).

While it has taken them several attempts to deliver the audience a solid full-length release, they’ve finally done it with Take It Or Squeeze It. Perhaps this will up the ante for popular rappers to get a track or two from those fuckin’ Beatnut guys. Prendelo!