THE BEATNUTS

They legendary group from Queens, NYC are celebrating the 30th anniversary of their debut album ‘The Beatnuts: Street Level’ this year.

JuJu and Psycho Les grew up in different communities in Queens, New York City. Psycho Les started producing beats and DJing at age 15 under aliases including DJ Les Jams and DJ Incredible. At a high school in Flushing, Queens, a friend DJ Loco Moe introduced Les to fellow producer JuJu. While crate digging, both Beatnuts ran into Afrika Baby Bam from the Jungle Brothers. Afrika introduced them to Native Tongues members including De La Soul, A Tribe Called Quest and the Jungle Brothers. At this time, JuJu and Psycho Les were DJing parties under the alias Beat Kings. The Jungle Brothers claimed that they were not kings, but rather two nuts for their comical nature and the fact that they were crazy enough to carry hundreds of
records to every show they played. They thus changed their name and “it stuck.”

The Beatnuts entered the recording industry in 1990 producing two tracks for the British alternative hip hop/electronica group Stereo MCs as well as a song for British rapper Monie Love. Over the next two years, they produced songs for rappers including Common, Pete Nice & DJ Richie Rich and Kurious, as well as a full album for Chi-Ali. As of 1992, JuJu had not appeared on a record, but fellow Beatnuts rappers Fashion and Psycho Les appeared on tracks that he produced. In 1993, The Beatnuts produced more songs for the artists they had previously collaborated with
as well as Fat Joe, Suprême NTM and Da Youngsta’s. At the same time, The Beatnuts made their name as remix specialists by remixing songs for MC Lyte, Da Lench Mob, Naughty by Nature, Jomanda and others. The Beatnuts signed deals with Violator Management and Relativity Records. In
April 1993, The Beatnuts released their debut album, Intoxicated Demons.

Support from MR PHORMULA