In 1988, hip-hop fans Andre "Dray" Weston and Willie "Skoob" Hines meet at Virginia State University, decide to enter a campus contest by performing together, winning it. It's the birth of Das EFX, union of their names (Dray and Skoob) and the desire to want the reverb effect for their voices in the songs (EFX).
Hines comes from Crown Heights, Brooklyn, Weston comes from New Jersey: in 1991, EPMD hosted a talent show in a club in Richmond, Virginia. The duo participates and wins, but EPMD decide to award the prize to another group and communicate to Das EFX the will to put them under contract and to make an album of ten tracks similar to the one they have just heard, "Klap Ya Handz", produced by Dexx, a young producer from Crown Heights. After finishing school, Das EFX are inducted into the EPMD's Hit Squad, they return to the studio and record nine more final songs: the result is one of the freshest albums of the year.
The production is done by Chris Charity and Derek Lynch, they bring back an accessible and simple sound, with excellent samples, a light drum and a fresh and light jazzy-funky boom bap, while their lyricism is curious. Das EFX choose elementary lyrics which are recited with a very smooth delivery and a lighthearted style: there is some reference to pop culture present, but most of their bars are nonsense and partly even indecipherable, they decide to insert the suffix "-iggidy" at the end of practically everything, no matter whether it makes sense or not, and this peculiarity allows them to easily distinguish themselves from all the other rap acts that came before them, quickly becoming famous on both Coasts, and entering easily into the pop culture of the time.
The album is pleasant, funny, short (no more than 40 minutes), compact and effective, presenting a union of light rhythms and unstoppable flow that will influence many hip-hop artists of the immediately following years. It's published by East West (via Atlantic) and reaches the top of the rnb chart, staying there for over a month and obtaining gold certification in a few months and platinum in 1993.
Highlights: "Mic Checka", "Jussummen", "They Want EFX", "Straight Out the Sewer".
Rating: 8.5/10.
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