Kru-Cut Records
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Kru-Cut is an American record label formed by Lonzo Williams in 1984 during the formation of his group the World Class Wreckin Cru in hopes of the group gaining a status and being able to make money. The Kru-Cut label struck a label with Macola records to help to distribute music and products of the group. Lonzo a club owner of one of the famous nightclubs in LA called Eve After Dark decided to do his music production within the nightclub because he couldn't afford an expensive studio so he had to his production within the small, dusky studio behind the back of the nightclub.
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[edit] History
One of the first productions by the group when they were first known as The Wreckin Cru was a song called "Slice" performed by DJ Yella and Cli-n-Tel. The song was very popular among the nightclubers and "Slice" would go on to earn street credibility and would to sell 5,000 copies in LA, which at time was a very amazing achievement in that particular period. 5,000 copies during that early 80s era was considered Ghetto Gold which was quite an achievement for that era.
Inspired by Afrika Bambaataa and his influential electro song "Planet Rock" and the whole electro period on the East Coast and also seeing what the underground rappers on the West Coast such as Egyptian Lover and LA Dream Team were doing Lonzo decided to fuse the electronic sound into their sound. The songs "Surgery" and "Juice" were very popular 12 inch street records and exemplified music elements of Kraftwerk. Those singles lured Lonzo to do an album which eventually became World Class.
The World Class album would gain cult status on the underground west coast hip-hop scene and helped to define electro-hop and the World Class Wreckin Cru became one of the most popular hip-hop groups on the West Coast. Although the group and the album attained cult status unfortunately they would never reach huge mainstream popularity and the album is virtually unknown to this day.
Macola records would drop Kru-Cut because the record label felt they were taking a huge risk on the group and Macola records were not a steady, well connected record label. This led to Lonzo striking a deal with Epic records to distribute Kru-Cut music. Cil-n-tel would leave the group after the group signed the deal with Epic records this led to Lonzo replacing Cil-n-tel with Shakespeare which led to their last album Rapped In Romance which gained cult appeal but was less popular than World Class which forced Macola records to distribute their material. Also around this time Lonzo and Dre began producing for Ice Cube and Sir Jinx Dre's cousin who at time were in the Cru In Action.
Dr Dre and Yella would leave the group in fall of 1986 over something which they called unfair contracts and lack of payment of money so they sought an opportunity with Eazy E and eventually became NWA. Lonzo would continue on with a new group World Class Wreckin Kru along with forming a new record label called Techno Kut records. Also Lonzo enjoyed moderate mainstream success with "Turn Off The Lights" featuring Dr Dres ex-wife Michel'le.
Techno Kut records was an extension of Kru-Cut with collaboration from Unknown DJ and led to Lonzo Williams to recruiting hip-hop talent such as DJ Battlecat, The Mistress, Professor X and a few others. Professor X typified the Techno sound pioneered by Juan Atkins and his records became relatively well-liked and profitable which led to the birth of the ghettotech and electroclash movement which is something Professor X is not crediting for starting making him underrated and unappericated.
[edit] Discography
[edit] Kru-Cut
- Yella and Cil-n-tel - "Slice" (12") (1984)
- World Class Wreckin Cru - "Surgery" (12") (1984)
- World Class Wreckin Cru - "Juice" (12") (1985)
- World Class Wreckin Cru - "World Class" (LP) (1985)
- World Class Wreckin Cru - "Bust It Up" (12") (1985)
- World Class Wreckin Cru - "Turn Off The Lights" (12") (1987)
- B-Boy Rage and Bedrock Posse - "Mo Bounce To 40 Oz" (12") (1987)
- C.I.A - "My Posse" (12") (1987)
- DJ Battery Brain - "World Class Mega Mix 89 "(12") (1989)
- Vanilla C - "Him Nor You/Enough Bass" (12") (1989)
- Quicksand - "Quicksand" (12") (1989)
- Sound Control Mob - "Compton Compilation" (12") (1989)
[edit] Techno Kut
- Unknown DJ - "Breakdown" (12") (1988)
- Unknown DJ and DJ Slip - "X-Men" (12") (1988)
- DJ Battlecat - "DJ-N-Effect" - (12") (1988)
- Unknown DJ and DJ Slip - "Revenge Of The X-Men" (12") (1988)
- The Mistress - "Let It Go" (12") (1988)
- E.V.I.A.N and The Atlantis Posse - "Techno City" (12") (1988)
- Unknown DJ - "Basstronic" (12") (1988)
- Lonzo and World Class Wreckin Kru - "Turn Off The Lights In The Fast Line" (LP) (1988)
- The Mistress and DJ Madame E - "I Got Your Wild Thang" (12") (1989)
- Professor X - "Professor X Saga" (12") (1989)
- The Mistress and DJ Madame E - "Mic Jack" (12") (1989)
- The Mistress and DJ Madame E - "Leather And Lace" (LP) (1989)
- Unknown DJ - "Unknown's House Album" (LP) (1990)
