Urban Thermo Dynamics twelves (1994-5)

I actually know very little about UTD (beyond Google), as I didn't catch these records until the late 90's, after Mos Def had already blown up. If you're completely unaware, UTD consisted of Mos Def and his brother and sister. When Mos Def later blew up on Rawkus, Medina Green (i.e. the rest of UTD plus more family) also dropped a record on Rawkus, "Crosstown Beef", which was solid but unspectacular. Which is how I'd ultimately describe UTD. If anything, some of these beats are really tight. I mean, they managed to get material from Salaam Remi, J-Swift, and Diamond D...not bad at all for a group that never really came out. Diamond fans will definately notice his beat as the one used in the intro for "Stunts, Blunts and Hip-hop". I always felt like that beat deserved MC's; now you can decide that for yourself:


UTD "My Kung Fu" 12"

01 Radio Edit
02 Original Version
03 Original Instrumental
04 Salaam's Remix Clean
05 Salaam's Remix
06 Salaam's Remix Instrumental



UTD "Manifest Destiny" 12"

01 Diamond's Clean Edit
02 Diamond's Dirty Version
03 Diamond's Instrumental
04 J-Swift's Clean Edit
05 J-Swift's Dirty Version
06 J-Swift's Instrumental