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artist · tony d
release · wizard of oz
year · 2001
genre · lo-fi
label · grand central
catalogue · gc 142
website · www.grandcentralrecords.co.uk
date · 03-may-2004
quality · 202kbps/44,1khz
source · vinyl
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a1 wizard of oz 4:51
b1 yodel 4:40
playtime · 00h 09m 31s
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tony d, beats-maker extraordinaire, is a resident of trenton, new
jersey and since the labelÆs inception at the start of 1996 has
continued to strengthen our manchester-stateside connection.
tony was responsible for the labels first release and then became
the first artist to release an artist-led album. his æpound for
poundÆ long player was released in 1997 to critical acclaim and
featured longtime spar rapper yz, as well as several members of
the grand central family including veba, buffy brox and ex-goldie
collaborator lorna harris.
tony d has been around as long as this thing called hip hop.
influenced by the early eighties radio shows of marley marl and
red alert, tony d cut his teeth with the local hip hop crews in
the project areas of trenton, new jersey - an area which as seen
the emergence of several hip hop superstars, most notably the
fugees. tony first hooked up with one of the local crew, the poor
righteous teachers back in the early eighties. it wasnÆt easy
going though; tony recalls ôwhat with me being caucasian and them
being five percent nation of islam - we really didnÆt hit it off
at first. they would rap for me, so i started rapping for them. i
got them so ticked off, they starting rapping to out do me. i
suggested they come by my house to check some beats- it took a
while but we finally started making music togetherÆ.
soon they were hanging out together, checking breaks and so forth
and it wasnÆt long until ætime to say peaceÆ was released on their
own suicide records label. ætime to...Æ was then picked up by
profile after heavy rotation from marley marl and red alert.
tony d produced all the tracks on the first prt album and was
heavily involved with the second and third lpÆs producing classics
like ærock the funky jointÆ and æshaquilaÆ.
then came the hook up with grand central records. whilst over in
new york on a fact finding mission, grand centralÆs mark rae and
fat cityÆs dave walker stumbled across tony dÆs æcentral j. parlay
epÆ- so impressed by the quality of the beats that mark licensed
it and it became grand centralÆs first release. this was followed
by the seminal ætrenton connection epÆ, and then grand centralÆs
first solo tony dÆs æpound for poundÆ.
tony identifies the move, working over here in the uk, as hip hop
going back to itÆs roots. the dj, seen as the root of hip hop in
the states, has become somewhat of a dinosaur. apart from the
street style flava tapes, the dj has become pretty much redundant.
all of which has meant that tony d has been blown away by the
skills and enthusiasm of manchesterÆs djs. predominantly exposed
to manchesterÆs beat culture , tony was blown away by the
turntablism of mark rae, peter parker, mark 1 and chubby grooves.
this collaboration between tony and the grand central family is in
keeping with the true spirit of hip hop. tony d and grand central
have one thing in common. originality. never content to wheel out
the tired old æfunky drummerÆ breaks and not content to use other
peoples breaks. originality is the motivation behind both grand
centralÆs and tony dÆs music. itÆs the strive for the ultimate
beats which has seen tony d settle out of court with such hip hop
luminaries as naughty by nature and clarke kent for nicking tony
dÆs beats.
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