Painting A New Picture

Next stop P.A.I.N.T.     ATU doesn't exist anymore in the way we knew it from before. Abstract Rude, Fat Jack and Zulu remained while DJ Drez joined in. Abstract Rude got more dominant in the group as you can see on the cover, that the group isn't stated as Abstract Tribe Unique anymore but Abstract Rude + Tribe Unique. You can also realize this fact in the album itself, it is not solely produced by Fat Jack, but also Daddy Kev, Rob The Viking and Kenny Segal. Vocally there are also a lot of features on the album of rappers that didn't belong to the Tribe, for example Awol One, the Heavyweights, Slug, G&E, Moka Only, LMNO, Busdriver, 2Mex, Xololanxinxo, Eyedea and some fine female artists. The overall sound got more clean and is probably meant to address the masses and not only the headz but maybe it was necessary to get a record deal on Battle Axe, the label of the Swollen Members who partly  serve a different audience. It is more clearer on this album than it was on the South Central Thynk Taynk, there the sound also got more clean and lost a bit of its roughness. You can say that ATU switched the station (oh what a coincidence!) to target a greater audience by reinventing themselves and painting a new picture with this album...

P.A.I.N.T.

Instrumentals

Underground Fossils

To come closer to the complete discography of ATU, I'll go back in time exactly to 1997 when this album was released. I have no clue if the tracks of this one were produced before or after the Mood Pieces album but as mentioned on the Mood Pieces post, there were two records released in 1995 on Grand Royal and one in 1997 on Big Dada containing tracks from the Mood Pieces album. The Underground Fossils album was first released on Vinyl and on tape and later on CD in 2002.  This one contains female and male background vocals like the Mood Pieces album, also from Ebony Prince. As I'm listening to it now on "Yesterday and today" I heard Abstract Rude calling out the name of Ebony Prince at around 4:12. He must have been an old member of the Tribe Unique but I think that he hasn't been on Tribe's releases since South Central Thynk Taynk. Probably he was a dancer and not on the backing vocals ordinarily.
As mentioned before I can't surely say when it was recorded but what I think is that this one and the Mood Pieces were ATU's early productions. Both sound very similar while South Central Thynk Taynk has a different sound. On the two first mentioned ones Fat Jack uses his rough snares which are typical for him. They are like the high-pitched sound of two sharp blade edges grinding on each others. He uses this type of snare and variants of it very often.

Underground Fossils

Magic Heart Genies - Cardiac Arrest

This is the Magic Heart Genies second effort. For those who never heard of the Magic Heart Genies, they are Myka 9 aka Mikah9 of the Freestyle Fellowship, J The Sarge and DJ Drez.

Cardiac Arrest

South Central Thynk Taynk

This is the second ATU album which I count to my favorite albums. The overall music is moodier than on the Mood Pieces album but it is mixed in a similar way. Unfortunately I don't have some more detailed information about this release except that the record is a treaty because of its rareness and that both records are colored differently. Wait, now I remember one think! The song Front Row was also on the "Dead Homiez" Soundtrack with a different mix and lasting 5:54 instead of 4:44 minutes. I think I also have to mention the appearance of DK Toon and of Orion South. Last but not least I can just wish you a relaxing listening experience....

South Central Thynk Taynk

Master Pieces

There are two other fine records which also belong to my personal favorites. Both albums are from Abstract Tribe Unique and the first ones name is "Mood Pieces". It was supposed to be released on the Beastie Boys label Grand Royal. Abstract Rude often used the verse"I handed a tape to Mike D from Grand Royal". To show proof of his connection I will also mention 2 records that are dated around 1995, have tracks off Mood Pieces on them and are Test Pressings from Grand Royal. Another proof is the appearance of 2 tracks from ATU on the "Grand Royal Mixed Drinks Vol II" compilation. But the Mood Pieces album wasn't released on Grand Royal and it slept until 1998 when ATU released it by themselves. On its way, two other 12 inches with tracks from the Mood Pieces were released, one on Deemo Records and one on Big Dada Records.
The album itself is well mixed, so that it can be heard in one piece. In my opinion it is ATU's best release, because everyone who worked on this one gave their best. Fat Jack created so beautiful beats! To give an example, he is able to produce bass-lines that constantly move forward and put samples on it that make you feel to move with the bass-line to a certain point and than in the opposite direction. It feels like you move away from yourself to come back to you again. I can remember when I randomly got to a Hawaiian Christian website were they wrote that ATU is dangerous for young people because ATU makes them addictive to their music and I think they were right :D Especially with the tenor voice of Abstract Rude and his flow and the beautiful background vocals this is more a master piece than a mood piece...

Mood Pieces