With much motivation I, Herbz, listened to this new album of Serge Boogie, notorious of the HipHop radio show Beneath the Surface. For somebody (like us) who doesn't now Serge Boogie yet, he's busy with his own material since 1995. His debut album was recorded in late 1997 and went by the name Eye Contact EP, all songs were written as well as produced by Sir Serge.

The highest point in received media attention is an article in the mainstream glossy magazine VIBE in the Black Spots column March '98. He has an inimitable monotone voice, and an own deviation view and about doing and creating HipHop of today.

The album contains 2 EP's, Eye Contact, produced in 1997 and Amotivation a production of Serge from last year and features co-productions by producer Squibcakes and continues to move the boundaries of this music.

To begin with Eye Contact, it was recorded in late 1997 and all songs were written as well as produced by Serge Boogie. The cassette-only EP reached many heads in the underground,
magazines like Vice, Divine Styler and Fever let the sales rise by free-publicity. That's the way it goes, and must go.

Eye Contact is the best part of the double EP. Even when this work is more then 3 years old, it still holds up now. Nice hooks in The Soak and amusingly Gimplogy 101 starts with an unclear German spoken sample, of some guy announcing that the ride at a fair is taking off again, or as he puts it 'ab geht's'. Serge uses the track to make fun of the corrupted aspects of this music genre. But he doesn't do it in a frustrated way, or in a 'why do they get anything and I don't' kind of way, but just in an amusing way. He takes the rap game to pieces over a content beat.

"From kids with dough-dough in their Tommy Hills / To chicks who suck producers dicks for record contracts / From pseudo intellects who hang out sporting butt less pants / To glossy videos with effects but no real content" Phat chorus line: "Said it, yep / regret it? Nope."

He hits the nail on the head again on Hollywood with providing the platform from DJ Eraq's scratching. Lawnmower Man is yet another dope track with upbeat production and there is even an Ol Dirty Bastard sample in it. Fast spit out lyrics and energy on this track.

Rewind the album and play the start of the album, on the why-do-it-simple-when-you-can-do-it-more-complicated tip, the Amotivation side. Mostly produced by Squibcakes of Wrecluse Records. A 2 minutes intro that's starts with a The Never-ending Beginning, hopefully the begin don't stop, like that Heineken commercial, "He is good in starting things up but that is the only thing he does". Nice transforming and cutting turntablism by DJ Eraq.

Secret Agentz is a fancy story telling track with a sort of bubbling beat. A nice one on this side of the album is St. Ides Satire a creative production with surprising sounds like those infamous MS Windows ways but by the end of the track it didn't really have me reaching for the rewind button. The track 5 is a really layback track where Serge slowdown his tempo. On Pagin J.B. you can even recognize his words, what is a hard statement, cause of the rhythm of speaking.

To reviewing this double album, you should split up the record. Eye Contact is definitely the dopest side, between Masterpiece and the Phat rating. Not that "Amotivation" is any wack, it's just the comparison between those two. Even when they mixed up the two production you should pick the tracks out. Serge Boogie needs to go back for some time and get that old Eye Contact sound out there again, maybe he was just too ahead of his time for heads, to realize he was on some next shit. "The oldies do their work still well."

Info Wrecluse Records:
Wrecluse Records
P.O. Box 284
Greenville, PA 16125
E-mail your words to: eraq@wrecluse.com

Herbz