ONE HIT WONDERS OF HIP-HOP Vol. 1 [AUDIO TWO]

MC am I, people call me Milk

When I'm bustin up a party I feel no guilt

Gizmo's cuttin, up for thee

Suckers that's, down with nei-

-ther one of us, that's how I feel

To be down you must appeal

To the Two, we're rated R

We're gifted, and we're going far

Down the road, to the bank

While I'm here I'd like to thank

Mom and dad, they knew the time

Gizmo's scratching, Milk Dee's rhyming

Milk is chillin', Giz is chillin'

What more can I say? Top billin'

These are the words from Audio Two's legendary TOP BILLIN' track - song that has been sampled by many artists in many occasions (for example 50 Cent - I Get Money). Despite producing this hip-hop anthem, their careers were shorter than initially expected. They had 2 albums, latter of whom was very controversial. They had their 3rd album recorded which remained unreleased and hip-hop heads are eager to hear it some day (I think only one track was leaked). They helped producing and elevating career of probably the best female emcee of all time. But they also had a bitter split-up in early 90's and went their separate paths.

So this mythical duo has a great cult following (including me), recognition from old school fans, one widely recognized track (due to heavy sampling of it) among older and  younger peeps, but 20+ years after their 2nd album, we can talk about the group as a one hit wonder. The highest peak of their duo was and is TOP BILLIN'. It was recreated in 50 Cent's album, had appearances in few game soundtracks (THUG2, GTA V) have sparked interest in it. But is there more to the duo that released one iconic track and 2 albums?

Nat Robinson and Kirk Robinson are brothers from Bronx, NYC who first made some noise as the half of Awesome Foursome old school / electro rap group in early and mid 80's. The quartet released 3 singles from 1982 to 1986 and split shortly after that. Robinson brothers; however, remained together and formed a new duo called AUDIO TWO in mid 80's under the guidance of their father Nat Robinson Sr. who was about to start an independent record label and introduce his sons as the first stars of the label.

Thus, the FIRST PRIORITY RECORDS were established in mid 80's and Audio Two released split mini album as the labels first record. Mini album was called Flip Flop did not have large run, and did make much noise as it did not much stand out of the average hip-hop style and sound of 1986.  

Audio Two and Top Priority did not stop there though, and released numerous singles during 1987 hitting few pretty much significant events that year: 

1) introduced MC Lyte to the rap world. Her track I Cram To Understand U (Sam) was produced by Audio Two.

2) Audio Two continued recording and released their biggest track ever - Top Billin'.  Being released on small independent label, the song has gained much attention since them. It was voted #8 in About.com's Top 100 Rap Songs. It was also included in both lists of the musical-reference book 1001 Songs You Must Hear Before You Die. 

So Audio Two's hip-hop classic was one of reasons Top Priority  signed a distribution deal with Atlantic Records soon after that. Under Atlantic, Milk D and Gizmo dropped 2 albums - debut album was What More Can I Say? (1988) which entered the Billboard 200. The follow-up I Don't Care: The Album (1990) wasn't nearly as successful, and was linked to some criticism and controversy. A third Audio Two album, First Dead Indian, was recorded but never got a release, and the duo subsequently split. As Gizmo told on an interview he hasn't spoken to Milk since then.

Milk released a Neva Dated EP on Rick Rubin's American Recordings in 1994 and produced Eamon's pop hit "Fuck It -I Don't Want You Back" the following decade. Gizmo changed his alter ego to "You Can Ask" Giz, went on to mix and engineer dozens of recordings by the likes of Jaheim, Tyrese, and Faith Evans.

As a fan, I have read interesting uncertainties, theories and some facts about the duo that you might not have heard:

1) Will the First Dead Indian ever come out? 

As Milk said in the interview for Fat Lace mag in 2007: "We are gonna put that out. People are gonna be able to get it. ‘First Dead Indian’ is similar to the first album, in that we were really trying to do something unique, but it was really different because we had a lot of different producers on it. Actually, Grandmaster Flash did two songs. Easy Mo Bee did a song. King of Chill did some songs. And I’m forgetting some people. But that was the first album where we had so many producers."

However, his non existent relationship with Gizmo may be too much to handle to re-release this one.

2) Why are Giz and Milk not on good terms?

Gizmo said on Leschea Show few years ago that he hasn't spoken to his brother since they split up in early 90's. The reason is linked to financial over family matters. He also mentioned, he does not see this relationship to be somehow fixed in future. Gizmo also has not spoken to his father and the founder of First Priority Records since 90's. In his interview Gizmo said, that none of the artists on FPR ''know how the royalty check looked like since they didn't receive any''.  

3) Is MC Lyte Giz's and Milk's sister?

Actually, there's no blood relation between Lyte and Audio Two's. She regards Milk Dee and DJ Giz, the hip hop duo Audio Two, as "totally like [her] brothers", because the three grew up together. 

__ So this is it in a nutshell, preview tracks are included as always + if you want full ones, check the rips of both A2 albums, Milk D EP + 1 vinyl rip I made recently + Awesome Foursome jams. 

Full rips will be available one here in few hours after publishing this post:

• T1 (MP3 320): LINK
• T2 (FLAC I):  LINK
• T3 (FLAC II): LINK

J (Olas un Bekons)