The Greatest Crew That Never Was - Rawcotiks

Rawcotiks - Hardcore Hip Hop (Freeze, 1996)
DJ Honda - For Everyday That Goes By feat. Rawcotiks
taken from HII (Epic, 1998)

Hip hop is a culture plagued by the typically brief careers of all too many of its most promising artists. Notions of the 'sophomore slump' are rampant in the genre's golden ages, as are crews who managed one of two popular singles before fading rapidly into obscurity, never to be heard from again. Washington Heights' Rawcotiks crew avoid falling into either of these categories, but they do so somewhat by default. Having never released a full length album means that they dodge the pitfalls of the troublesome follow-up LP, and they have done enough in terms of 12'' releases and guest spots over the years to become a part of the collective hip hop conscience, but for me, they are one of the genre's greatest underachievers. Even with decent mic skills, some heavy hitting affiliations and a classic single all in their favour, they still failed to make a serious impression on the game, and will largely only be remembered by enthusiasts. Bottom line, it's a damn shame.

I first came across the crew around '99, when I copped Kenny Dope's first installment of the 'Hip Hop Forever' series which featured their smash single 'Hardcore Hip Hop'. There is no doubting the quality of this track, and I believe it ranks amongst the best cuts of '96. The sweeping strings, rolling yet subtle drum track and anthemic chorus loop make for an absolute banger, and Buttah Lee and Jeff Valentino come correct with the rhymes as well. They even scored a Primo remix, making this a 12'' of serious stature.

Of course, this wasn't the last of their appearances on wax, albeit in small doses as guest MCs on other artists' releases. Affiliations with the Beatnuts meant that they cropped up on Al Tariq's much slept on 'God Connections' LP as well as a couple of Nuts' remixes that feature on 'The Spot (The Remix EP)' that saw a release in '98. Their reputation even saw them hook up with Japan's DJ Honda who subsequently became one of their most regular and long-standing affiliations for whom they provided verses on several tracks in the run up to the millennium. On the solo tip they put out a few decent 12''s spanning a five year period that took them up to 2001, but these made relatively impact and are the reserve of committed hip hop heads and vinyl addicts. Ultimately, their actual output never seemed to match up to the air of significance that the crew undoubtedly radiated towards the end of the '90s.

So what exactly went wrong? The connections were in place and their profile was large enough to warrant being picked up by a label to record a complete album. You can even picture it: '97/'98, Beatnuts production with a couple of Premier joints thrown in for good measure and Jeff and Buttah kickin' it with some Dominican flava. It could have been a banger, but for whatever reason, it never materialised. Indicative of their 'underachievement' is the fact that their presence on the internet is also incredibly limited. I've spent hours trying to find out a little bit more about these boys, but with little success beyond Discogs and the odd mention of the Premier 'Hardcore Hip Hop' remix here and there. Don't get me wrong, it's not that I don't like the bulk of their material because I really do, but my point here is that there remains a lingering sensation that they could have achieved so much more given their pedigree. There are of course plenty of groups that have followed a similar path, but very few have seemed to promise quite as much. According to their MySpace they 'are ready to go all out in 2007', but I can't help but feel that to some degree, their moment has passed. Maybe they'll prove me wrong, but Rawcotiks go down in my book as a crew that could have been significant players in the rap game, but who ultimately failed to deliver in the manner that I would have anticipated. Just another factor in the trials and tribulations of being a hardcore rap fan... ain't it a bitch?