According to Zevlove X lead rapper for K.M.D., the group's message is "to uplift." His partner-in-rhyme, Onyx ("The Birthstone Kid") extends the sentiment saying, "the main message of K.M.D. is to uplift the conscience of all Nubian people." To K.M.D., Nubian doesn't only refer to the Muslim slaves stolen from Africa in the 1600s, it's a scattered nation of oppressed peoples including "Latinos, Japanese, Sicilians, Indians and American Blacks." K.M.D. lay down the tenets of their manifest on Mr. Hood, their debut album on Elektra Entertainment. The raps and rants and rhymes of K.M.D. rattle the roots of cultural stereotypes. Like the parable of the Bible or the fables of Aesop, K.M.D. use a disarming simplicity as a way of communicating high spiritual truths. Amidst the brutally eclectic sampling, cutting, and beatbox prowess of DJ Subroc, one hears echoes of childhood: strains of playground music and deconstructions of whitebread educational narration. "The way we relay the messages," says Onyx, "makes people want to strain the brain as a mental exercise to figure out what we're talking about." Songs like "Crackpot," "Who Me?", "The Humrush" and "Banana Peel Blues" hit back hard at the disinformational barrage washing over post-war America. Bio continues below...
K.M.D. hail from Long Beach, New York, where Long Island has been dubbed Strong Island by the rap community. Zevlove X was technically born in Brighton, England, and moved to New York when he was a year old. His brother, Subroc, was born two years later. "We're real close, he's my best friend type of thing," says Zevlove X. "Anything a kid did, we did together." In 1986, while still in their teens, Zevlove X and Subroc began to make the first cassette demos that would become the cornerstone of the K.M.D. sound. While Zev was writing and rapping his first rhymes, Subroc would cut hair for people in the neighborhood. He used a barter system and would often let his customers pay him in old albums, a practice which resulted in Subroc's extraordinary record collection. "The records were worthless to them," he says, "but valuable to me." Subroc has immortalized this experience on "The Barber's Mission," his solo track on the K.M.D. album. Zev and Subroc were introduced to the Five Pillars of Faith of Islam by their mother. Onyx, a Long Beach native, had been raised Baptist and "used to sing in church choirs until my conversion to Islam." He'd known Zev and Subroc but didn't really start hanging around with them until 1987. Zev had a developing rep producing demos for other artists and surfaced as a rapper on 3rd Bass's hit "Gas Face." By the time KMD recorded their rebuttal track, "Gas Face Refill," Onyx was a solid part of the crew. Cont'd...
Produced by K.M.D., Mr. Hood raises the consciousness of a Rap Nation by several notches. "Crackpot' finds the roots of drug abuse in the crabgrass of middle class suburbia, "Figure of Speech" and "Bumrush" are tour-de-forces of Zevlove X's tongue-twisting lyrical intricacies and Subroc's sonic wizardry, "Who Me?" and "Banana Peel Blues" smash racist cliches with shards of vinyl. "Hard With No Hoe" is a double-helix of interconnected puns and tricky meanings. "If you're a farmer," says Zevlove X "and you don't have the proper tools to run the farm, life is hard." Life may be hard but on Mr. Hood K.M.D. access the proper tools. "It's a Kauz in a Much Damaged... fill-in-the-blank," says Zevlove X. "Wherever we are, wherever there's negativity, we are positive kauz in that place." - Press Kit. Rest in Peace, Subroc and Zevlove X (MF DOOM). Revisit the Mr. Hood LP today.
