Kozmonautz (1995)

Product Summary Label: Caroline Distribution UPC: 00706962100122 Release Date: 2/22/2005 Buy.com Sku: 63942969 Item#: M22MPY Format:  CD Song Listing Disc 1 Song Title Sample 1. Big Bang: Kozmonautz, The ~ Key Kool & Rhettmatic 2. Wreck N' Destroy (Non-Believers Get Stomped) ~ Key Kool & Rhettmatic 3. Brain Swell ~ Key Kool & Rhettmatic 4. Can U Hear It? ~ Key Kool & Rhettmatic 5. Afta Hours 5/19/95 ~ Key Kool & Rhettmatic 6. Be A Hoodlum ~ Key Kool & Rhettmatic 7. Head Trip ~ Key Kool & Rhettmatic 8. Visionaries (Stop Actin' Scary) - (with LMNO/2Mex/Dannu) ~ Key Kool & Rhettmatic 9. Lyrical MD's ~ Key Kool & Rhettmatic 10. E=MC5 - (with Vooodu/LMNO/Meen Green/Ras Kass) ~ Key Kool & Rhettmatic 11. Sexually Repressed ~ Key Kool & Rhettmatic 12. Just Into My Music ~ Key Kool & Rhettmatic 13. Kik Yo Kan ~ Key Kool & Rhettmatic 14. Existentialism ~ Key Kool & Rhettmatic 15. Shape Shiftaz - (with Saafir/The Sauce Nomad) ~ Key Kool & Rhettmatic   Album Notes and Credits Notes & Personnel Info Producers: DJ Rhettmatic, Key Kool, Moki, Western HemisFear. Personnel: Papadoug Kato, LMNO, Ras Kass, Vooodu (vocals); DJ Rhettmatic, Key-Kool (scratches). Audio Mixer: Vachik. Recording information: The Bomb Shelter. The introduction clues us in to the fact that Key Kool and DJ Rhettmatic are going to be operating on a higher level on this album, actually "through infinite galaxies of thought and planetary systems." Not hard to believe, considering they operate on the Up Above label, and when remembering that these two come from Los Angeles, they might as well be aliens when compared with their gang-bangin' peers. They come from a very strong but commercially unknown group of Californian rap artists that have thrown away the traditional West Coast sound for an intelligent and often times very trippy hip-hop experience. Kozmonautz is a prime example of the quality of underground music emerging from Los Angeles, and although it takes a bit of getting used to, it's not that much different from, say, the Hieroglyphics, Del the Funky Homosapien, Grouch and the whole Living Legendz crew, or Aceyalone. Tossing out the commercial imagery, marketing gimmicks, and everything else used to trick the masses into buying albums and being cool, Kool Key and DJ Rhettmatic are a small piece of a large movement giving it their best to keep a part of hip-hop subterranean. There's a notable introduction to a group called the Visionaries on a track called "Stop Actin Scary" and an appearance by Saafir of the Hieroglyphics. ~ Brad Mills Engineer: DJ Rhettmatic; Matt Stephens; Tony Flores; KeyKool Musical Guests Saafir Ras Kass   Technical Info Release Date : 02/22/2005 Original Release Date : 1995 Catalog ID : 1001 Label : Up Above Number of Discs : 1 Studio/Live : Studio Mono/Stereo : Stereo SPAR Code : n/a UPC : 00706962100122   Professional Reviews The Source (2/96, pp.93, 96) - 3 Mics - Good - "...All in all, KOZMONAUTZ has the ingredients of a hip-hop record: beats, rhymes, cuts and cameos by crew members..."