Whooliganz – Put Your Handz Up

The Whooliganz were a 1990s hip hop music group consisting of Scott Caan and Alan Maman aka, Mad Skillz and Mudfoot. Caan and Maman met as teenagers in the wealthy neighborhood of Beverly Hills, California. The duo began performing throughout the Los Angeles area and gained widespread recognition. Maman’s childhood friend, Evidence, introduced the group to Quincy Jones III and they began work on a demo where they eventually caught the attention of B-Real of Cypress Hill. B-Real invited the teens to join the collective Soul Assassins which consisted of Cypress Hill and House of Pain. The Whooliganz toured the country with the Soul Assassins and their connection helped them land a record deal with Tommy Boy Records.

The Whooliganz recorded their debut album, Make Way for the W and the first single released was “Put Your Handz Up”, produced by DJ Lethal and released in 1993, under the Positiva record label. A second single, “Don’t Mean Nothin'” was planned but then Tommy Boy decided to drop the group and not release the album. Another song, “Whooliganz”, was released as a single in 1995 in the UK on Positiva Records but the duo had already gone their separate ways. Caan followed his father, James Caan, into a successful acting career, whilst Maman turned to making beats and became one of the most successful producers in hip hop history The Alchemist.

Juggaknots – Clear Blue Skies (Re:Release)

  The Juggaknots are a New York collective consisting of members – DJ Boo, Queen Herawin, Breeze Brewin & Buddy Slim. The album ‘Clear Blue Skies’ was officially released in 1996 during hip hop’s years of great excitement, but was released solely on the vinyl-only record label ‘Fondle-em Records’, and therefore failed to recieve any major mainstream recognition. It was re:released in 2002, with eleven new tracks added to the original album, and it will always be remembered as an underground classic.

The crew, ten years after thier first release, let fly with their second studio effort, with the 2006 ‘Use Your Confusion’. Again the album is more recognised amongst the underground fans rather than the mainstream community. The album was released under ‘Amalgam Digital’.