DAS EFX
Das EFX’s wildly playful, rapid-fire stuttering — dense with rhymes and nonsense words — was one of the most distinctive and influential lyrical styles in early-’90s hip-hop. While the duo completely rewrote the MC rule book, they themselves were increasingly pegged as a one-dimensional novelty the longer their career progressed, despite watching elements of their style creep into countless rappers’ bags of tricks. Krazy Drazyz (born Andre Weston; Teaneck, NJ) and Skoob (born Willie Hines) were both raised in Brooklyn, but didn’t begin performing together until they met at Virginia State University in 1988. Removed from an active music scene, the two were free to develop their most idiosyncratic tendencies; they started making up gibberish words (anything ending in “-iggity” was a favorite) that added loads of extra syllables to their lines, and wove plenty of pop-cultural references into the tongue-twisting lyrical gymnastics that resulted. Das EFX caught their big break when they performed at a talent show judged by EPMD; though they didn’t win, EPMD was impressed enough to offer them a deal, and the duo became part of the Def Squad crew of protégés.
Signing to the East West label, Das EFX began work on their debut album, commuting between Virginia and New York and mailing tapes to EPMD (then touring the country) for guidance. Upon its release in 1992, Dead Serious caused an immediate sensation, and is still considered something of a landmark in hip-hop circles. The first single, the instantly memorable signature song “They Want EFX,” was a Top 40 pop hit and a Top Ten R&B hit, and helped push sales of Dead Serious past the platinum mark. Wary of being pigeonholed by repeating themselves, the duo slowed down their lyrical flow and downplayed the surrealistic side of their interplay on the follow-up album, 1993′s Straight Up Sewaside, which went gold. Around the time of 1995′s disappointing Hold It Down, Das EFX found themselves caught in the middle of EPMD’s ugly breakup; it led to a three-year absence from recording. By the time they returned in 1998 with Generation EFX, the group was playing more to a devoted but narrower cult audience; they have remained largely silent since.
RADIX
Starting out as two randomly selected roommates, Quite Nyce and SEEK founded a rap duo, RADIx, beginning what is now a successful career. Since its inception, RADIx has released over 12 projects on its self-funded record label Abstrak Recordings, toured throughout Europe three times and toured the USA countless times. Quite Nyce and Seek officially formed RADIx in 2003 and have continued to support themselves independently in order to reach their fan base directly. They received critical acclaim with their debut album, The Staple (2006), which featured Mr.EON, Akrobatik, Insight, DJ JS-1, and Mista Sinista. RADIx has been featured on MTV2, URB Magazine, Performer Magazine, Elemental, and all major Massachusetts newspaper publications. In 2008, singles from RADIx’s album debuted on Fox. RADIx is now set to gather even more success with its second studio album. The duo has enlisted one of the top producers in the game, Statik Selektah, to produce the entire album. The debut single from the new album, The Return, has already been featured on major hip-hop sites such as2dopeboyz.com, Nahright.com, and Kevinnottingham.com. Renewed motivation to get the type of acclaim they feel RADIx deserves has already launched Quite Nyce and Seek back into the spotlight. In 2010, RADIx will cement itself as one of the best groups in the game. Quite Nyce and Seek both know that it will take hard work and dedication, but that is nothing new to a group that started in a small dorm room in 2003 and advanced to perform in front of hundreds of thousands of people.
