Duo formed by brothers Robert "Rob G" Gray and Jason "J Sweets" Gray, rappers from Vallejo, California. Later, the two were part of the group Handful of Hoolligans together with Buddah Mack and Don P. The boys worked alongside some of the Bay Area's greatest artists, including Potna Deuce, Cool-E, N2DEEP, Baby Beesh aka Baby Bash, Jay Tee, Cougnut, Don Cisco, Kaveo, Mac Shawn, Taydatay, JT the Bigg Figga, E-40, San Quinn, Rappin' 4-Tay and Black Nate. Childhood friends of Luniz, the duo chose their name in homage to the group Con Funk Shun, their neighbors to whom they also pay tribute in their first single "You Ain't Neva Lied", sampling one of their songs, "By Your Side".
Production is primarily handled by Rob G and Rick "Gold Finger" Rivera, the other beats are provided by Johnny Zunino aka Z, Al "Baby Jesus" Eaton and Filthy Rich. Joining the Grays at the microphone are Black Toot, Young Keylo, Den Fen, G-Nut and Mac Mall, while the other guests are Black Platinum, Aaron Nicholas, Eclipse, Passion & Percise, Co Co, Mac Tarrus, Part Time Drunk, Retired Pimp, Myshallee, Dion and Walt.
At the first listen I went looking for the tracks one by one in a frayed way and I was missing a couple of songs produced by Z. A couple of months ago someone managed to upload the entire CD on the internet. The album is g-funk from the Bay, with mobb beats and a melodic rapping style that warmly welcomes several guest singers for rnb hooks. The Gray brothers' performance is enjoyable and the guys behind the keyboards do almost nothing wrong. "Honey" pays homage to a famous hit by Marvey Gaye, a great influence on DaFunk$hun's music.
There are a couple of slight flaws in this set of beats when Rivera decides to insert the first real synth line twenty minutes after the beginning of the record and it's too shrill for the ear to get used to quickly, the uptempo drums don't help and the opening hook of Black Platinum doesn't sound well. Even the sexual ballad "Slide Through And Chill" towards the end, which abounds and overflows with orgasms, it's quite negligible and I would add useless in disk economy: the mixing is interesting and manages to make the moans prevail even on the hook performed by Black Platinum, a shame because Rob G & Rick Rivera's rhythm was good.
The liner notes are almost more interesting than the music itself that the Gray brothers undertake to drop together with Rivera for 67 minutes. While we know every single rapper who was active in the mid nineties and who for whatever reason wasn't in 2Pac's liking had made peace with him from two days until twenty minutes before his death, all the others had the intention of collaborating with Shakur (in the notes defined as "G-Funk god") in the following days. Yes, even DaFunk$hun.
Thanks to some friends, the guys might sign with some of the biggest hip-hop labels of the time, including Capitol Records and Profile Records, instead they take another path by agreeing with Select Records and signing with the German label Black Jam, a subsidiary of SPV Records. For their next effort, DaFunk$hun planned to spit bars on productions by Dr. Dre, Teddy Riley and Warren G with guest star like LL Cool J, Nas, and rnb group Total. Despite their plans, a second CD never seems to have been released, also because this first one doesn't get enough attention neither at home nor in Germany, where the guys have to fly on tour to promote the album. In 1997, Koch also had it printed for the Polish market, without any particular success.
Today, there remains a hidden hip-hop record that may still be of interest to fans of the Bay-Area scene.
Rating: 6/10.
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