Friday, November 12, 2010

Artist: Ghetto Concept, Album: E-Z On Tha Motion Single, Song: E-Z On Tha Motion

"What's the name of the runaway train..."  Ghetto Concept were a Toronto hip hop group formed in 1989 by Kwajo Cinqo and Dolo.  E-Z On Tha Motion was their second major single released in 1994.  The band was a three piece for this recording, having added rapper Infinite to the fold.  Infinite would later split from the band and resurface as a solo artist a couple of years later.  This song earned the group a Juno award.  They were signed to the independent Groove A Lot label and had a distribution deal with Quality Records.  The song got some good video play on Much Music and if you were in to Hip Hop in the nineties, you were well aware of this band.  They were definitely grittier and more street than a lot of their peers.  The video for this song was very graphic in it's depiction of the neighbourhoods the band was from in Toronto.  You didn't see a lot of that in Canadian Hip Hop videos up until this point.  These guys were also supremely talented lyricists and the production by Toronto duo, Da Grassroots, really put this song on the level with what was coming up from the US at the time.  The group would go on to release a self-titled full length in 1998 but I don't believe this track was ever included on it.  I have only ever seen a single of this particular song.  They would also carry on as a duo and form 7 Bills Entertainment and later, G7 Records.  Both labels focusing on emerging talent from the neighbourhoods they came from.  There are a couple of places to follow the band.  http://www.myspace.com/ghettoconcept or http://www.myspace.com/gcunplugged.  At the time of this blog, there were vinyl copies of the song, E-Z On Tha Motion, available on Ebay and Discogs between $1 and $30.  You can watch the video for the song, E-Z On Tha Motion, on You Tube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wol_hLlwDdg).  As always, you can hear this song as well as others that I blog about on Live 365 (http://www.live365.com/stations/raisedoncndnradio).  Thanks for reading and enjoy!