Das EFX — How We Do

So Diggie-Das return to the game. It seems they broke ties with EPMD’s Def Squad or in fact any (wellknown) click at all. During the six-year-hiatus between How We Do and Generation EFX Dray and Skoob appear to have returned to their hustle in the hood.

This album has a streetappeal that’s way more realistic than the bling-infested stuff that is flooding MTV. No 20 inch rims, not 10 hoes on every toe, no iced grills and no glorification of their life. Das EFX represent a more realistic view on life in the streets and show that life is tough and it ain’t all good. Jungle, paraphrasing Grandmaster Flash’s famous rhyme, shows the troubles of trying to maintain in the streets in a way that you don’t hear too often. It’s one of the most emotional rapsongs I heard in years because it ‘keeps it real’. On top of that it has great vocals by a girl named Lovey. Das EFX show the doubts that you’re bound to have if you have to hustle to keep you and your peers alive. Not in a moralistic way, but by showing ‘how they do’.

There are no big-shot producers in the credits, some is done by themselves, sometimes other producers, but no Battlecat, Dr. Dre, Neptunes, Timbaland, Eminem (thank gawd!) or Swizz Beats, not even Premier or Erick Sermon, the list that seems to be on every hiphop-CD these days. Likewise, there no cameo’s by big stars, except for The Memories Remain, which features Sean Paul, but there’s no big sticker, it’s not even in the track's title. I only found out when I started listening (it’s in the individual trackcredits, but don’t always start reading those before listening). The production is raw and quite naturally a bit different, not experimental or something, but just straight-up B-Boy shit.

Das EFX always represented the real hiphop but on this album it seems more ‘real’ than ever. Like they found time inbetween their hustle to record this joint. In times where hiphop is everywhere and mainstream, it reminds you what real hiphop sounded like without sounding retro.