The Beatnuts: Street Level

The Beatnuts
Studio album by the Beatnuts
Released	June 21, 1994 (1994-06-21)
Recorded	May 1993 – March 1994
Studio	LGK Studios (Leonia, NJ) Soundtrack Studios (New York, NY) Greene St. Recording
Genre	Hip hop
Length	58:21
Label	Violator Relativity
Producer	The Beatnuts Lucien V.I.C.
The Beatnuts chronology
Intoxicated Demons: The EP (1993) The Beatnuts (1994) Stone Crazy (1997)
Singles from The Beatnuts
"Props Over Here" Released: 1994 "Hit Me with That" Released: 1994 "Hellraiser" Released: 1994

The Beatnuts is the self-titled full-length debut album by American hip hop trio the Beatnuts. It was released on June 21, 1994, via Violator/Relativity Records.^[1] The recording sessions took place at LGK Studios in Leonia, New Jersey, at Soundtrack Studios and Greene St. Recording in New York. The album was produced by the Beatnuts, except for one song produced by Lucien. It features guest appearances from Gab Gotcha of Triflicts, Grand Puba and Miss Jones. The album reached number 182 on the Billboard 200 and number 28 on the Top R&B/Hip Hop Albums in the United States. Two singles were released: "Props Over Here", which peaked at number 39 on the US Hot Rap Singles, and "Hit Me with That". The music video for "Props Over Here" was directed by Abraham Lincoln Lim.

The album's title is sometimes mistakenly referred to as Street Level, because those words appear on the album cover; however, the words "Street Level" do not appear anywhere else on the CD (in the liner notes or on the CD spine label). The song "Psycho Dwarf" previously appeared on the 1993 Intoxicated Demons: The EP. It is the last Beatnuts album to include Fashion, who left the group to pursue a solo career under the alias Al' Tariq.

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[2]
Entertainment Weekly	B[3]
RapReviews	8/10[4]
(The New) Rolling Stone Album Guide	[5]
The Source

The Washington Post noted that "the Beatnuts stance is hard but not impenetrable, though the laid-back geniality of the first single, 'Props Over Here', seems a little forced and radio-friendly."^[6]

In 2012, the album was listed at No. 23 on Complex magazine's "The 50 Greatest Debut Albums in Hip-Hop History".^[7] In 2014, the album was listed at No. 19 on Vibe's "The 50 Best Rap Albums of 1994" list.^[8]

Track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Performer(s)	Length
1.	"Intro"	Jerry Tineo	The Beatnuts	1:47
2.	"Ya Don't Stop"	Tineo Lester Fernandez Berntony Smalls Michelle Willems James Edward Heath	Lucien	3:06
3.	"Props Over Here"	Smalls Fernandez Tineo	The Beatnuts	3:59
4.	"Hellraiser"	Smalls Fernandez Tineo	The Beatnuts	3:10
5.	"Are You Ready" (featuring Grand Puba)	Fernandez Smalls Tineo Victor Padilla William Ballard Doggett	V.I.C.	3:14
6.	"Superbad"	Fernandez Smalls Tineo	The Beatnuts	3:57
7.	"Straight Jacket"	Fernandez Tineo Smalls William Bradford Champlin	The Beatnuts	3:57
8.	"Let Off a Couple"	Smalls Fernandez Tineo	The Beatnuts	1:43
9.	"Rik's Joint" (featuring Miss Jones)	Smalls Tineo	The Beatnuts	4:01
10.	"Fried Chicken"	Fernandez Smalls Tineo	The Beatnuts	3:57
11.	"Yeah You Get Props"	Smalls Tineo Fernandez	The Beatnuts	3:29
12.	"Get Funky"	Tineo Fernandez Smalls Josef Erich Zawinul	The Beatnuts	3:37
13.	"Hit Me with That"	Tineo Smalls Fernandez	The Beatnuts	3:36
14.	"2-3 Break" (featuring Gab Gotcha)	Fernandez Smalls Tineo	The Beatnuts	3:17
15.	"Lick the Pussy"	Smalls Fernandez Joseph Copeland Garland	The Beatnuts	4:18
16.	"Sandwiches"	Fernandez Padilla	The Beatnuts	1:33
17.	"Psycho Dwarf"	Fernandez Tineo	The Beatnuts	5:25
Total length:				58:21

Personnel

• Lester "Psycho Les" Fernandez – vocals, producer
• Jerry "JuJu" Tineo – vocals, producer
• Berntony "Fashion" Smalls – vocals
• Victor "V.I.C." Padilla – producer
• Lenny Underwood – keyboards (track 3)
• Joel "Mista Sinista" Wright – additional scratches (track 5), scratches (track 6)
• Maxwell "Grand Puba" Dixon – vocals (track 5)
• Tarsha Nicole Jones – vocals (track 9)
• Gabriel "Gab Gotcha" Velasquez – vocals (track 14)
• Lucien M'Baïdem – producer (track 2)
• Troy Hightower – recording, mixing
• Kirk Yano – recording, mixing
• Rich Keller – recording
• Andy Blakelock – assistant recording & mixing engineer
• Chris Curran – assistant recording & mixing engineer
• Matt Tuffi – assistant recording & mixing engineer
• Danny Madorsky – assistant recording engineer
• Emerson Mykoo – assistant recording engineer
• Djinji Brown – assistant recording engineer
• Steve Souder – assistant mixing engineer
• Jack Hersca – assistant mixing engineer
• Chris Gehringer – mastering
• Chris Lighty – executive producer
• Peter Kang – executive producer
• David Bett – art direction
• Danny Clinch – photography

Charts

Chart (1994)	Peak position
US Billboard 200[9]	182
US Top R&B Albums (Billboard)	28

References

1. Hess, Mickey (November 25, 2009). Hip Hop in America: A Regional Guide. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 9780313343216.
2. Valdivia, Victor W. "The Beatnuts Street Level". AllMusic. Retrieved March 10, 2023.
3. Ehrlich, Dimitri (July 29, 1994). "The Beatnuts". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved March 10, 2023.
4. Jost, Matt (December 20, 2005). "The Beatnuts The Beatnuts". www.rapreviews.com. Archived from the original on December 20, 2005. Retrieved March 10, 2023.
5. Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian David (May 25, 2004). (The New) Rolling Stone Album Guide. Simon & Schuster. pp. 54–55. ISBN 9780743201698. Retrieved March 10, 2023.
6. Harrington, Richard (Aug 26, 1994). "Classic Beatnuts Still Cracked". The Washington Post. p. N14.
7. "The 50 Greatest Debut Albums in Hip-Hop History". Complex. November 27, 2012. Retrieved March 10, 2023.
8. Weinstein, Max (September 17, 2014). "'94 Week: The 50 Best Rap Albums of 1994". Vibe. Retrieved March 10, 2023.
9. "Billboard 200 Chart: Week of July 9, 1994". Billboard. Retrieved March 10, 2023.

External links

• The Beatnuts at Discogs (list of releases)