Music Stars   Kanye West  

Consisting of Bundles and fellow MCs Cau2G'$, Bynoe and Chinx Drugz, Tha Riot Squad have been steadily building a name over the last few years, hitting the mix-tape circuit hard, dropping their "Squad Up" calling card into every appearance, solo or otherw

The neighborhood that Nassau County didn't want, and New York City often seems to forget, Far Rockaway is truly the end of the line
Ram Stone  |  by www.longislandpress.com. All rights reserved. 3.03 | 8:35


The neighborhood that Nassau County didn't want, and New York City often seems to forget, Far Rockaway is truly the end of the line. The last stop on the A train and the LIRR branch that takes its name, the former resort has, for the most part, become the sort of out-of-the-way place to which outsiders rarely venture.
But while it doesn't have the rep of a South Jamaica or a Queensbridge, Far Rock should still have a spot on New York's hip-hop map.

Pioneering MC and graffiti artist Rammellzee, who appeared in the legendary documentaries Style Wars and Wild Style and collaborated with Jean-Michel Basquiat, was from here. 3rd Bass' MC Serch came up in Far Rockaway before going on to discover Nas and run Wild Pitch Records. Though his LL-ish pop raps haven't exactly stood the test of time, local product Father MC was one of East Coast hip-hop's more commercial faces in the early '90s.


As some of today's Far Rock MCs might tell you, though, these artists didn't do much to rep their 'hood, with the possible exception of the white, Jewish Serch. Lately, however, the area is beginning to be known as a hotbed of hip-hop activity, at least in some circles. A couple years back, a small label called GBM Entertainment released a compilation of homegrown artists called Far Rock's Finest and, more recently, everyone from N.

O.R.E.

to Kanye West has been dropping the name of the hardscrabble neighborhood known for its imposing beachfront housing projects.
"We can pretty much take full responsibility for that," boasts Stack Bundles, one of four MCs in Tha Riot Squad, the crew formerly, and sometimes, still known as the Rockaway Riot Squad (RRS). "We the next Philly.

Or the next Atlanta."
Consisting of Bundles and fellow MCs Cau2G'$, Bynoe and Chinx Drugz, Tha Riot Squad have been steadily building a name over the last few years, hitting the mix-tape circuit hard, dropping their "Squad Up" calling card into every appearance, solo or otherwise, and working overtime to represent the "Rock."
"The first time you tell a chick you're from Far Rockaway they're like, 'Huh?

What? I'm not going out there,'" laughs Bundles, a product of the notorious Redfern housing project (Drugz and Bynoe are from the nearby Edgemere Houses, and Cau2G'$ is from the Gateway Houses).
"A lot of these industry dudes are scared to work with us because we're from over here," interjects group founder Cau2G'$, a freestyle veteran who earned his stripes traveling to MC battles like the one at Russell Simmons' first Hip-Hop Summit in 2001, which he won.


Initially solo artists, the crew (which also includes DJ Pudgee P, whose Tha Felony Hour show can be heard on XM Radio's RAW Channel 66 on Thursdays at 10 p.m., and whose web site, www.

djpud-geep.com, features a back catalogue of RRS mix tapes) came together in an effort to pool their resources and energy to a common cause.
"The concept was to have the best rappers in Far Rockaway at the time," Bundles says.

"We had all been friends, and we decided to just generate the buzz until one of us popped. Then we can bring everybody. In the beginning there were others, but they couldn't take the pressure, or they couldn't wait to do things on their own.

"
The first up to bat has been the charismatic Bundles, a lanky MC who somewhat resembles basketball star Carmelo Anthony and helped make a name for the crew as a member of mix-tape king DJ Clue's MC stable. While he's cut tracks with the likes of The Game and Kanye West, scored a profile in hip-hop bible XXL and appeared on MTV's Spring Break this year, Bundles will tell you that he may be the "weakest link" of a crew in which everybody plays a distinct position. Cau2G'$ (formerly Caution—he changed his name, or "took it to the next level" after he caught wind of gay rapper Caushun) is the wily veteran with a few years in an upstate prison and years of freestyle battle experience under his be the imposing Bynoe, a former basketball star at Far Rockaway High School, is the crew's "bouncer"; and the teenaged Drugz provides a dose of youthful flash.


While they are about to make their vinyl debut with an as-yet-untitled single for DJ label AV8, and material from A-list producers like Kanye, Needlz and Dame Grease has been lined up for a planned debut album, they're in no rush to cut a major-label deal. Instead, they have built themselves into a self-sufficient unit resembling Harlem's Dip Set.
"That is one of the movements we really respect," Bundles says of Cam'ron and company.

"It is genius. You had the front man, Cam, go to a major like Roc-A-Fella and everything else comes from an indie, but they promote it so much that it all seems big anyway."
As for RRS, "We are creating a situation where you will have to come to Far Rockaway and knock on our door and say where is this Riot Squad s**t coming from?

" Bundles says.
Inside the basement apartment they've converted into a studio, a chalkboard documents their goals and agendas, a list of artists and producers they've worked with and artists they want to work with in order to ensure maximum exposure.
"We get offers, but it is not what we are looking for," says Bundles.

"We are looking to do a down-south move in New York like how you would go and find [Houston indie label and hip-hop family] Swisha House and offer them $10 million. We have put the work in to generate that."
Says Drugz: "We built this from the ground up so when all is said and done we can say we did it our way with our money and we don't owe nobody s**t.

Read more on by www.longislandpress.com. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Hip Hop, Far Rockaway, Riot Squad, New York, Far Rock, Tha Riot Squad, Tha Riot, Chinx Drugz, Mcs Cau2g, Kanye West
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