Cut Out to FL

from the LP Deadringer, Definitive Jux Records, 2002



Florida is truly the inverted armpit of our nation (a quick perusal of our country’s more disturbing news stories will give you some indication, and watching the movie Bully will give you even more); I spent my whole youth growing up there, in a few different locales, and I can most assuredly attest to that fact---hell, I was joyfully a part of the problem previous to my departures. The scum of this entire fucking country eventually washes up down in Florida, as if there is some gigantic magnet for arrest warrants & bullshit under the ground that literally lures the hustlers, addicts, fools, & evil motherfuckers down south. That’s why the little vocal sample at the beginning of this track is so friggin’ appropriate, and one can scarcely imagine how many similar conversations and trains of thought wind up at that same conclusion every day. Sadly, it’s the same reason a lot of individuals wind up getting themselves killed down there. RJ ‘D2’ Krohn came up DJing in Columbus, Ohio and I saw him spin at a few parties around there in the ‘90s when I was living in Cleveland, long before he signed with Def Jux---I don’t think many ravers, including myself, had any clue what was in the works for this cat’s career. The comparisons to Shadow & Cam are fair, but RJ has his own vibe, more soul than funk maybe, like the Otis Redding to their Jimmy Castor Bunch, dig? Watch for the smooth switch-up around two minutes in, categorically seamless!