Bumpy Knuckles - Crazy Like A Foxxx

Being a hip-hop fan can be tough sometimes. The ever changing world of rap and it's culture can prove to be very challenging to keep up with and due to the horrendously fickle fans, labels starting and folding at break neck speeds and the quasi racist music business hip-hop has never been prized within the industry or treated like the huge cash cow that it now is corporately. These things all contribute to a volotile business landscape within the genre that finds many artists jumping from label to label due to low album sales or mishandling, bad or no promotion and of course the dreaded "shelving" of albums; something that's happened to Trigga The Gambler, Rah Digga, Foxy Brown and countless other hip-hop artists. They have a budget to make and promote an album and for whatever reason the funding gets cut and an album either never get s finished or gets finished and there's no money left over to distribute it. Sometimes there's creative differences as well and the label just doesn't like the final product the artist turns in to them and refuses outright to put out that album. Almost always though, the shelving of an album will get you on an artist's bad side. And I can't say it shouldn't. I mean it's almost like saying what they've poured their heart and soul into creating has no potential, indirectly saying they have no potential. But, like many A&R's, label reps and artist's themselves will tell you, that's the business. The music industry has always been unforgiving and most of the time the only people who are really cheated are the fans. People that waited the months and sometimes years to hear and pay for a new LP from their favorite MC and get jack squat for their patience. A debacle of this very nature once went down with one of my favorite MC's of all time Freddie Foxxx AKA Bumpy Knuckles. In 1994 hip-hop was churning out tons of albums that had that raw, boom bap flavor that the east coast, specifically New York City was known for. With the west coast in full "G-Funk" swing mode and taking aim for New York at every possible moment many NY Heads felt it was necessary to uphold the traditional sound that had been put forth by legends like Big Daddy Kane, Marley Marl, Krs-One, MC Shan and others. The sound that would follow was like nothing else. Articulated by some of the time period's most talented producers like Pete Rock, Buckwild, The Beatnuts, DJ Premier, Large Professor and The Rza, Boom Bap beats accompanied by gruff and realistic lyrics filled with east coast jargon were the premium fuel for the engine that was New York in the mid nineties. No one exemplified this "rough and rugged" time period in NY more so than a very intimidating cat who many would first come to know as Freddie Foxxx. To all those that got knocked the fuck out due to his penchant for violence at a mere whim and a short temper he would become known as Bumpy Knuckles. Bumpy was an underground hip-hop fan's favorite. NYC has traditionally been known for producing many cats who successfully made the transition from a street tough, to a million dollar selling rapper. That story belongs a lot to Bumpy Knuckles. Despite his reputation for being a no nonsense type of cat Bumpy was always interested in and involved with hip-hop. He had released a 12" in 86' and dropped a full length album in 1989 on MCA. In the years following there was plenty of underground heads who were clamoring for him to release an album due to his stellar guest appearances alongside people like Kool G Rap, Naughty By Nature, and of course Gangstarr. By 1993 there were some grumblings and rumors that Bumpy would release his sophmore album soon. Sure enough Bumpy released a single in 1994 called "So Tough" that was to be the lead for the album. It had a version produced by Easy Mo Bee and a version produced by Pete Rock. The rap underground braced itself for what was sure to be a classic. As fate would have it the album was never released and Bumpy wouldn't drop and official sophmore release til' 2000 with Industry Shakedown. Eventually leaked versions of what was to be "Crazy Like A Foxxx" made their ways onto the net. I guess someone had had a cassette and ripped it onto the web. To his surprise Bumpy said that he found that there was a huge amount of people on the net that were really into the album but that bothered him in part because the version they were listening to had a bad audio quality and wasn't complete. So Bumpy got together with Fat Beats and like the true champion he is, decided to give the people what they wanted. Not only is Bumpy giving the people "Crazy Like A Foxxx" album in it's entirety and digitally enhanced and remastered, but he's also giving the masses the original version which was entirely produced by D.I.T.C. producer's Showbiz, Lord finesse and Buckwild. I'm at a fucking total loss for words man....I mean this is like christmas....even if you've heard this unreleased gem before you've never heard it like this and you've never heard the original version. Smack!!

-BIG D O



01. Can't Break Away 04:53
02. Crazy Like A Foxxx (Ultra Magnetic Dis) 04:06
03. Interlude 00:39
04. So Tough (Video Mix) 04:11
05. Daddy Boot Knock 03:28
06. Project Mice 04:57
07. Jail House Rock 03:06
08. Killa (feat. 2Pac) 04:09
09. Meet Some Skins 03:55
10. Interlude 01:16
11. Shotty In The Back 05:07
12. Interlude 01:26
13. Funk In Yo Brain 03:41
14. Step (feat. Chuck D) 04:12
15. Do What You Gotta Do 05:11
16. Pressure On The Brain 03:50
17. Rev. Glock Skit 01:24
18. Rev. Glock 04:39
19. Crazy Like A Foxxx (Alternate Mix) 03:50
20. Amen 04:52

D.I.T.C. Demo Version

01. Intro 01:00
02. Call Of The Wild 04:24
03. Can't Break Away 04:29
04. Click Click 04:09
05. 8 Bats To Catch A Body 03:39
06. Project Mice 04:44
07. Rev. Glock 04:16
08. Crazy Like A Foxxx 03:57
09. Man Destroy's Man 04:41
10. Pressure On The Brain 03:49
11. Who Is The Middle Man 05:13
12. Cook A Niggaz Ass (feat. Kool G. Rap) 05:44

Part 1
http://rapidshare.com/files/132204521/Bumpy_Knuckles-Crazy_Like_A_Foxxx-2CD-2008-C4.part1.rar

Part 2
http://rapidshare.com/files/132205987/Bumpy_Knuckles-Crazy_Like_A_Foxxx-2CD-2008-C4.part2.rar