Somehow I missed a few that I’ve had in the collection forever. If you’re keeping track at home, place this one in between Here Come The Lords and The Swoll Package. 

By 1993 The Beatnuts definitely had a foot in hip-hop’s door. With production work for Common, Monie Love, Fat Joe, Chi-Ali and Pete Nice (just to name a few) under their belts, The Nuts were well on their way to establishing themselves as one of hip-hop’s most respected production teams. Eventually, the trio (which at the time consisted of Juju, Psycho Les and Fashion) would connect with Chris Lighty (rip) and his Violator Management team and parlayed that relationship into a record deal with Relativity, where they would release their debut project, Intoxicated Demons: The EP.

Intoxicated Demons wouldn’t be your typical hip-hop producer project, like say, Marley Marl’s In Control series, with guest emcees rapping over the producers beats. Instead, Juju, Psycho Les and Fashion would take the bull by the horn and not only handle the production side of things, but also assume microphone duties for the entire project. It’s not like they hadn’t spit bars before (well, at least Fashion had some experience, with a small cameo he made on Chi-Ali’s “Let The Horns Blow”), but were their tongues swift enough to carry an entire EP?

World’s Famous Intro – Soundbites, a simple drum beat and horns lead into the first song of the evening…

World’s Famous – The Nuts borrow a drum beat from Lou Donaldson’s “Ode To Billie Joe” and lay a slick loop from Dizzy Gillespie’s “Matrix” over it (with a touch of Cannonball Adderley’s sax sprinkled on top) to construct this enjoyable audible treat. Fashion sits this one out and VIC (whose house, according to the liner notes, is where the whole EP was programmed) joins Psycho Les and Juju on the mic, as all three spit forgettable verses. The instrumental is dope, though.

Engineer Talking – Useless interlude.

Psycho Dwarf – This is my least favorite song on the EP. I don’t care much for the instrumental, the hook is trash and Psycho Les and Juju don’t say anything that’s worth quoting.

On The 1 + 2 – Interlude…

No Equal – This is my favorite song on the EP. I’m a sucka for xylophone samples, but when they’re as nasty as the Booker Little and Booker Ervin loop used on this one, I’m surprised I don’t pre-ejaculate in my boxers every time I hear it (the Q-Tip vocal sample on the hook is pretty dope as well). Fashion makes his first microphone appearance of the evening, as he, Juju and Psycho Les each take on a verse. Juju sounds sharp and spits the best verse of the entire EP, and also manages to take a cheap shot at Das EFX (“now punk niggas wanna test me, but all that tiggdy, tiggdy tongue twisting shit don’t impress me”). Well done, fellas.

Reign Of The Tec -This was the lone single released from Intoxicated Demons. The Nuts hook up a hard backdrop and Psycho Les and Juju go from careless party animals to hardcore heartless gangsters. If you don’t take them too serious and have fun with it (which is clearly what they intended) you won’t be offended or scared to hear threats like “I’ll kill your moms if I have to”. By the way, I absolutely love the Sadat X vocal sample on the hook (“John Wayne couldn’t even stand the reign of the tec”).

Quality & The Bushmen Off The Top – This interlude has someone spittin’ a very weak freestyle over some cool jazz instrumentation.

Third Of The Trio – The Nuts hook up a dope laid back instrumental and take turns showcasing just how mediocre their flows are.

Phone Call – Short interlude: There is something extremely sexy about hearing a girl you’re bangin’ tell you not to be “getting too much pussy” while she’s out of town. Yum. This sets up the next song…

Story – Juju sits this one out and lets Psycho Les and Fashion share porn stories. The eerie backdrop complements their X-rated content, very well.

It has one too many skits (or four) and a one garbage song, but overall Intoxicated Demons: The EP is a pretty solid debut project from The Nuts. If you listen to the EP not expecting much from them lyrically, their production will be an enjoyable audible appetizer. They don’t call themselves The Beatnuts for nothing, folks.

-Deedub