Search - Godfather Don :: The Nineties Sessions

In the early 90s heyday of NYC underground, few emcees could ever claim to have reached the status of Godfather Don. Already having debuted in 1991 with his Select Records LP "Hazardous", Don became a legendary fixture in 1993 after he started collaborating with The Ultramagnetic MC's and most specifically, Kool Keith. Gaining worldwide notoriety by producing and guest appearing on the "Raise It Up" single off of Ultra's "Four Horsemen" LP, Don and Kool Keith soon combined to form a unique, creative project called The Cenubites. They recorded dozens of demos and promos and appeared frequently on the Stretch Armstrong and Bobbito show to rhyme, play tracks, and co-host. While Don was enjoying this mid-Nineties reemergence as a recording artist, he was also excelling as a producer. Alongside V.I.C. (of Beatnuts fame) he formed The Groove Merchantz, and the duo produced and remixed tracks for the likes of Nas, House Of Pain, Kurious, and others. Around 1995, Godfather Don also started recording a series of 12" records on Queens, NYC indie label, Hydra Records. Tracks like "Properties Of Steel" and "Piece Of The Action" continued to cement Godfather Don as one of the great emcee/producers on the underground. These releases culminated in 1998 with the release of Don's second LP "Diabolique." That album and the 1995 release of The Cenubite project on Bobitto's Fondle Em' label are now extremely rare and both are considered essential to anyone who enjoyed classic underground Hip Hop. Don has put down the mic in recent years, but in response to a growing demand, he has agreed with No Sleep Recordings to finally unearth 17 vintage recordings done during the Cenubite and early Hydra era. Some of these were played at times on the Stretch and Bobitto show and have been sought after by collectors for years. Finally available on CD, these songs are all produced by Don and feature the complex flow and wordplay that made him a fan favorite in the underground. Sure to be as rare as his first two releases, this is underground Hip Hop at its finest...