I heard about this LP when it came out after hearing the PBC crew track on radio (Mike Allen on Capital Radio I think. I don't think I even saw this in my local import record shop back in the day, but I did see it in people's collections. I managed to get a copy a few years back and it's dope, well worth 20 years of waiting!

"This album came about as I wanted to get back into running a label as I had initially done at the start of my career. I was the first rapper to start his own label, so I wanted to be the first to get a distribution deal with a non-rap label. So I hooked up with Eddie O'Lochlin of Next Plateau, and came up with the concept of "Battle of the Raps" which wasn't really anybody battling against each other, but battling for attention of the public eye as they were all unknown on a national scale. Butch Deyo was my co-producer on "Smerphie's Dance" and a talented musician/singer who was originally part of "Bounce, Rock, Skate, Roll" fame with Vaughan Mason & Crew. The PBC Crew was some cats from Laurelton, Queens that used to battle at house parties with Mikey D and his crew (LA Posse), including my brother, Spyder C. DJ Divine every one knows from his Infinity Machine days as the cats with the most powerful sound system in NY. We did the entire album at Power Play studios, and I remember having to beat this deadline to get the album mastered in order to make the release date on time. I stayed up editing the final mixes for 18 straight hours! That was before digital editing so I did it the old fashioned way, WITH A RAZOR BLADE! Tape was every where on the cutting room floor when I finished. I was exhausted but I met the deadline. A lot of people wondered why the album was not promoted more but that wasn't the way it was done back then. The Profile Records and Next Plateau's of the industry still considered rap somewhat of a fad, and they weren't going to spend much money past the original recording budget. The premise was, "let's throw it against the wall and see if it sticks". Only a few groups were going to get pushed (Run-DMC), and even that would be only after x amount of records were sold, whereby the money being used to promote the group is the groups money, not out of the record company's pocket. A lot of people slept on that album, but understandably so, with no video or promotion behind it. The Pro 5 songs on that album are still two of the best songs I've been associated with. It was their production and my mix. "Rock Meets Rap" was groundbreaking, the bassline on the song "NY Boogie" is one of the most infectious ever. You could play that right now and get the club bouncing." Spyder D - oldschoolhiphop.com March 2006

spyder d is such a legend!