Check the Batter... Ill Biskits

In many ways you could call Ill Biskits the Len Bias of Hip Hop. The famed Terrapin basketball star was drafted second by the Boston Celtics in the 1986 NBA Draft, only to drop dead two days later from a cocaine overdose. They had the same promise and potential of Bias, and like Bias their career was cut short before it even started. But it wasn’t a cocaine induced seizure that sent Ill Biskits career down the drain, rather some scrotal wart big wig at Atlantic Records.
In 1996 Ill Biskits were slated to release their first album, Chronicle of Two Losers: First Edition, until Atlantic Records decided to shelve the record the night before it was supposed to be released. Atlantic’s decision not to release the record is a mystery and it goes up there with Stonehenge. Thankfully for the rest of us, the bright people at Khari Entertainment released the album in 2007. For anyone who just happened to stumble upon the album, not knowing anything about the group like myself, it was like stepping into a DeLorean with Doc Brown and going back in time.



The 21 track album knocks you upside the head and brings you back to a better time in Hip Hop when people didn’t purchase ringtones and Notorious B.I.G. was certified as the best rapper alive. As soon as I popped in the album, it instantly reminded me of Pete Rock and C.L. Smooth’s, The Main Ingredient, from the mellowed out almost underwater like beats to the clean delivery and message of MC’s Deeda and Kleph. Coming out of the unlikely locale of Petersburg, Virginia, the duo have a unique rhyme style. They rarely curse, and for anyone who’s tried rhyming, take fuck, shit, and nigga out of your vocabulary, and it becomes increasingly more difficult.



Unlike the most successful rap duo out of Virginia, The Clipse, Ill Biskits rapped about the simpler things in life, something the average man can relate to. Toiling through menial jobs, chasing girls, and the all time favorite, smoking blunts with the crew. Admittedly I’m a Clipse fan, but I struggle identifying with them. I’ve never fucked up my mothers Pyrex pots cooking crack, or had to pick between my Ferrari F430 in indigo blue or burgundy, or go through the predicament of deciding which top tier bitch I want to bring down to the Bahamas this weekend. I have however had my fair share of shitty low paying jobs, chased countless women to no avail, and smoked the occasional blunt with the crew.

Bias was drafted by the defending NBA Champs and going to play alongside two of the greatest players at their respective positions, Larry Bird and Kevin McHale. Ill Biskits were entering the rap game with the same kind of good fortune, featuring production from two heavyweights behind the boards, Lord Finesse and Buckwild. Lord Finesse is a legendary producer who’s not too shabby on the mic either. He’s produced for Notorius B.I.G., much of Big L’s debut album, and even Dr. Dre. Not to mention, he formed rap’s first super group, The Diggin’ In The Crates Crew (D.I.T.C). Hip Hop’s version of the Traveling Wilbury’s. Buckwild was no slouch when it came to laying down tracks. Also part of the D.I.T.C., Buckwild produced much of O.C.’s debut album, Word…Life, AZ’s critically acclaimed single, “Ho Happy Jackie”, and perhaps his most famous work was for Black Rob’s hit, “Whoa.”



Ill Biskits path to rap stardom was almost as guaranteed as Bruce Willis saying, “Yippie-ki-yay Motherfucker!” while killing another East German. But listening to their album today is kind of sad. Many of their songs revolve around poverty, struggling and overcoming those hardships. Through the speakers their voices convey an almost triumphant, “We made it” tone, but as a listener you’re almost forced to grimace and shake your head. While Atlantic Records may have swept their career under the rug, I hope Ill Biskits are finally enjoying some royalties off their decade old debut album.