The last time we checked in on our New Jersey friends Artifacts was on their 1994 debut album Between A Rock And A Hard Place. The album produced three underground hits and despite its unimpressive sales numbers, received mostly positive reviews and became a backpackers’ cult classic. While I usually share the backpackers’ point of view, Between A Rock is one that I couldn’t agree with them on. The album did have a few dope joints, but too much mediocrity on it to be called classic. Nevertheless, Tame One, El Da Sensai, and DJ Kaos would return in 1997 to release their sophomore effort, simply titled That’s Them.

On Between A Rock, Artifacts leaned heavily on Buckwild and T-Ray to sculpt the album’s soundscape. For That’s Them, they’d lean on the hand of Shawn J Period to produce a large chunk of the album and received contributions from a handful of other producers, including Mr. Walt, Baby Paul, V.I.C., Lord Finesse, and Showbiz. The album spawned two singles that didn’t make much noise, as the album would perform just as well commercially as their debut.

Shortly after the release of That’s Them, Artifacts disbanded as Tame and El explored their solo careers, each releasing several projects on independent labels over the next decade. They would reunite in 2013, and twenty-five years after releasing That’s Them, they would put out new music as a group in 2022 with the Buckwild-produced album No Expiration Date. Sadly, DJ Kaos would not be a part of the project as he passed in 2019, and Tame One would transition just days after the album was released. Rest in peace to both of those gentlemen.

That’s Them is another album I bought used years ago, and this review is my first time listening to it in its entirety. Hopefully, it fairs better than their debut.

Art Of Scratch – The album begins with a smooth backdrop, coded with hovering celestial voices, while DJ Kaos introduces Artifacts via scratches, hence the song title. Daddy Rich must have played an integral part in sparking the Artifacts career, as he received a few shoutouts on Between A Rock And A Hard Place and gets a few more scratched in ones during this intro.

Art Of Facts – Shawn J Period builds this instrumental on a sturdy xylophone (esque?) sample and a loop of a drunken but soulful male voice laid over brolic drums. The duo uses the quality backdrop to exchange competent battle bars, which includes some random TMI from Tame One (apparently, he likes to fuck with his boots on. Weird, but whatever floats your boat, pal). Clever song title that I’m surprised took them two albums to use.

31 Bumrush – Artifacts keeps the battle spirit alive as they take turns spittin’ several short verses, breaking things up a couple of times during this three-and-a-half-minute rhyming affair with a semi-catchy hook. I have no idea what “31 Bumrush” means (it must be an inside thing), but I thoroughly enjoyed the rugged drums and the zany horn loop used in Shawn J’s instrumental.

To Ya Chest – Tame and El continue to engage in verbal combat, this time over a mystic and gloomy canvas. I wasn’t crazy about this one initially, but it grows on me the more I listen to it. The instrumental sounds like a third (maybe fourth?) autistic cousin to Premo’s production work on Jeru The Damaja’s “Come Clean.”

Where Yo Skillz At? – The Artifacts spit more moderately dope battle raps over bland boom bap, adding a hook that only exists out of necessity.

Collaboration Of Mics – Tame and El join forces with two Lords (Lord Jamar and Lord Finesse) for this generically titled four-man cipher session. Finesse soundtracks the affair with crispy drums and a bluesy loop that doesn’t sound spectacular, but it will still make you nod your head somewhat. All four emcees make decent contributions (I was expecting Lord Finesse to shine brighter than the other three), but overall, this collaboration sounded very vanilla.

The Ultimate – This was the second single released from That’s Them and the only record I was familiar with going into this review. Baby Paul (formerly of the Beatminerz production team) serves the duo with soulful boom bap, and the Artifacts bless the track efficiently. All these years later, this record still feels good.

It’s Gettin’ Hot – Sticking with the Beatminerz theme, Mr. Walt gets his sole production credit of the evening with this tender composition and its brittle melody. And our hosts continue to do what they’ve done for the majority of the album to this point. Moving on…

This Is Da Way – V.I.C. laces this track with an amazing, gully bass guitar loop, accompanied by rugged drums and a well-played vocal snippet from Run DMC’s “Rock The House.” I believe El and Tame rap over it, but the brilliant instrumental seems to leave me under hypnosis whenever I hear it.

The Interview – The song title had me believing Tame and El were going to use V.I.C.’s creamy instrumental (that sounds like something The Ummah could have produced) to rap out an interview, but they don’t. They give us more of the same, but they sound sharper than normal, rapping over what might be my favorite instrumental on the album.

Break It Down – Deceitful chimes and a grumpy bass line meet solid bars, culminating in quality filler.

Skwad Training – Based on the song’s intro, where some dude gives a tutorial on “Boom Skwad Blunt Rolling Technique, 314,” I thought this would be a record about smoking weed (which was almost mandatory for a hip-hop album in the nineties). But just like they did with “The Interview,” the Artifacts completely abandon the topic at hand, continuing with their barrage of battle raps. At least the random dude from the intro stays on task between Tame and El’s verses.

Ingredients To Time Travel – Another great song title. El Da Sensai sits this one out, and Tame One opens the record with what are probably my favorite bars on the entire album: “If I had it my way, every wack emcee would die Friday, makin’ Saturday a better day, Sunday wouldn’t start your week off ‘til Monday, one day tunes I wrote yesterday, will be tomorrow’s scriptures for today.” Tame and someone with the alias of Gruff Rhino (who shares a few closing words as the song ends) match his off-kilter bars with an oddball bassy instrumental that meets somewhere between lackadaisical and heavenly. Dope record and the inclusion of Redman’s “Funky Uncles” in the track was both hilarious and genius.

Return To Da Wrongside – Like “Wrong Side Of Da Track” from their debut album, Artifacts dedicates this one to the art of tagging (aka graffiti). Shawn J backs the rhymes with a twangy guitar riff and a sample that reminds me of some Inspector Gadget-type shit as the duo discusses their love for tagging and get into some of the politics surrounding the art form. I like this one, and it was refreshing to hear them venture away from their battle raps for a moment.

Who’s This? – Shawn J cooks up what is probably his strongest instrumental of the evening, combining chill drums, a gully horn loop, and a somber guitar riff for our hosts to talk their shit and tell you who they be. I’ll double down and say this backdrop is absolutely irresistible. The track ends with a clip of Artifacts performing “The Ultimate” live, setting up the final song of the night.

The Ultimate (Showbiz Remix) – I like it when a remix not only has a different instrumental than the original mix but also comes with new rhymes. Showbiz gives the song a complete musical makeover with a minuscule melody and a dark, stripped-down feel, while Tame and El’s new bars match the lyrical level of the original. I prefer the lively, soulful groove of the original mix, but this remix is still solid.

By 1997, the materialistic movement in hip-hop was in full motion. A large portion of rappers were spittin’ luxurious lyrics to describe their lavished lifestyle, though, for most, that way of living was a figment of their imaginations. On That’s Them, the Artifacts go against the materialistic grain and carry on a few cornerstone traditions of emceeing: boasting and battling. The duo makes a commendable effort, but they forget one key point: it’s not what you say, it’s how you say it.

During my write-up of Between A Rock, I mentioned how El Da Sensai and Tame One have almost identical dry vocal tones. While their wordplay sounds sharper on this album, the dryness persists, and on several occasions, I couldn’t tell who was on the mic. With no variation in subject matter and matching voices that lack personality or charisma, Tame and El’s rhymes get a little monotonous over the length of fourteen tracks. Shawn J Period and company pick up the slack and provide a consistent diet of quality boom-bap, built around soulful and jazzy loops that capture the essence of nineties East Coast hip-hop. A period and sound that I will forever hold dear to my heart.

On the final verse of “Art Of Facts,” El Da Sensai raps, “What the men say in the back? Thinking that we can’t battle rap and combat, cease that.” That rhyme sums up the running theme of That’s Them. El Da Sensai and Tame One rap with a chip on their shoulders, spending most of the album spewing battle raps to prove their naysayers wrong. But in doing so, they forget about two other important objectives of an emcee: connecting with the listener and entertaining. Thankfully, the producers remembered.

-Deedub

Follow me on Instagram @damontimeisillmatic