Rough House Survivers

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Member Since: 23/08/2006
Band Website: www.myspace.com/blezzbillzent
Band Members: Get Your Own! | View SlideshowWith their funky first single “Check Da Back Pack,” Rough House Survivors have become the latest crew from New Rochelle, N.Y., to storm the gates of rap stardom. This relativity Records quartet of MC Bert, JB, Kev Smooth, and DJ Swinn is following the lead of a Brand Nubian, and the groups have a sound that’s lyrically sonically similar. “ We hear that a lot,” says Kev. “All we do is laugh and smile. It’s funny to us because we grew up with them and, I guess, some things rub off”. “Check Da Back Pack” was released in early November, and is currently bulleted on Billboard’s hot Rap singles chart for the third week. The track mixes orchestral riffs with a soulful groove. Moreover, it weaves a thoughtful message into frisky verses. “We want to persuade kids to go to school-to get that knowledge and not carry guns, ‘ cause school’s not a place for violence,” says Kev. Since its debut, Rough House Survivers have gained the respect of street and underground audiences. And two weeks after “ Check Da Back Pack” bum-rushed the earholes of those listeners, the kicking, breathing album “Straight From The Soul” arrived. According to Peter Kang, Relativity director of urban A&R and marketing, 45,000 units of the title were shipped; it has been selling at the rate of 1,000 a week. “ We saw an explosion of sales in New Rochelle and nearby Mount Vernon,” he says. On the album, Rough House Survivers speak about themselves, girls, and weed. And they kick Afro-conscious science. “ But mostly we do fun-loving stuff,” says Kev, noting that Rough House Survivers bring lots of flavors to their jams. “ Some lyrics are smooth; some are hardcore; some are on the R&B/commercialized tip, and, sometimes, the reggae tip,” he adds. Expect for “Stick Da Butt Out,” supervised by Grand Puba Maxwell, who also makes a cameo, “ Straight From The Soul” was produced by Tony Dofat (Heavy D. & the Boyz, Mary J. Blige). “ We were gonna start out with Puba; he was gonna put us on” says Kev. “But he got busy and we couldn’t wait. That’s when we hooked up with Greg Troutman and started making demos with Tony Dofat [Troutman’s business partner in TD Hype Productions]. When things started happening for us, we ran into Puba. He said he wanted to do a track. So we hooked up a date and time and did it”. The group wasn’t shopped to many labels. It came to the attention of Hollis, N.Y.-based Relativity two years ago, when Troutman met the label’s national sales director, karene Anderson, on a plane ride back to New York from the Jack The Rapper meet in Atlanta. “We became very interested in working with the group, especially because of Tony Dofat’s production which was slamming,” say Kang. The flippy “ We Come To Get Wreck” features Sadat X from Brand Nubian, while one verse in the laid-back, jazzy “Can U Dig It” spotlights Pete Rock’s raapper C.L. Smooth. Other tracks are “ On A Trip,” “ On The Flex” and “So! Survivors We Can Rhyme.”
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