Coming out of the depths of Brooklyn in the early 90s, WordSound, a label founded by Skiz Fernando Jr. a.k.a. Spectre was instrumental in defining the sound of “illbient,” a term which has largely fallen out of use in this day and age. Maybe that’s because Spectre and his cadre of weirdos (including rapper Sensational, Kevin ‘The Bug’ Martin, Doc Israel, and Metabolics) did such a thorough job cultivating this dark, grotty, experimental hip-hop meets dub sound that no one has even come close to touching it in subsequent years. To put it more concisely, they run this game.
Released in 1998, Spectre’s Ruff Kutz mixtape came when WordSound was really hitting its stride, collecting alternate mixes, unreleased tracks, and obscure beats culled from Spectre’s “underground vaults.” The tape features material from some of the biggest names of the WordSound stable: Dubadelic, Sensational, Kevin Martin’s Techno Animal project, Professor Shehab a.k.a. Psycho Priest, Djini Brown, Mr. Dead of Metabolics, Doc Israel, Scotty Hard, and Slotek. Originally, Ruff Kutz was released as an extremely limited cassette, and like most extremely limited cassettes of the era, it quickly fell into obscurity. That is, of course, until now. Thank god Bill “Fuck You, Pay Me” Kouligas and his PAN cohorts have decided to give us all a lesson in who the king of dubby, dizzy, hazy mixtapes really is.
On March 9, PAN will release Ruff Kutz fully mastered from the original DAT tapes on 140g double vinyl and in digital formats. Fans of Bootleg Tapes take note, this is some real raw shit. Check out the first side of the tape below in its original unmastered form, and let Spectre smear some of his ill shit in your ears (his words, not mine, you’ll see).
Ruff Kutz tracklist:
01. I
02. II
• WordSound: http://www.wordsound.com
• PAN: http://p-a-n.org