Buckwild - Back To School
School's in session as the legendary beatmaster serves up all types of underground bangers.
“Time’s Up.” “Fast Life.” “I Got A Story To Tell.” “Whoa.” These are just a few examples of classic rap songs produced by Buckwild. But before Buck was crafting beats behind the boards for the best MCs in the Big Apple, he was catching wreck on the turntables and dropping fire mixtapes for the streets.
So as we drop new school year flavor this week for our 50 TAPES series, we present to you Buckwild’s infamous Back To School tape from 1993. Right off the bat, Buck flexes his original production skills early as Lord Finesse starts off the tape with a freestyle filled with clever jabs at the Lords Of The Underground, who he clearly was not happy with for jacking part of his name.
Finesse makes it known who he’s going at and doesn’t hold back in the slightest as he raps, “I’m out to make rough figures, y’all claim you’re ‘Chief Rockas,’ well chief rock these fuckin’ nuts nigga/There ain’t nothing you can gain from me, you bit my name Sonny, and that’s a motherfuckin’ shame money…” And that’s just four bars, there’s a shitload more and they’re all scathing. Here’s Buckwild from our Do Remember! interview on producing the intro, which marked the genesis of his budding career as a producer, and the inspiration for other DJs with production aspirations to do the same:
Buckwild: It was a very popular tape. And everybody was like, “Oh, you got that tape with Finesse and Lords of the Underground?” I made the beat, put it on the 4-track, and that was that. It wasn’t a record, it was just something we did for the tape. It was my introduction to production.
When I did that, I was like, “I can really make beats.” People were like, “Yo, where’d this beat come from? This beat is hot.” I was like, “I just put it on the 4-track.” But we didn’t know it would be the pathway for the people now.
Buckwild would soon transition to focus solely on production, but it’s clear that he could have made a career out of being a DJ, as he concocts a perfect selection of underground music on Back To School. From Redman and Leaders of the New School remixes to exclusive Snoop and Dogg Pound joints to lesser-known gems by local unsung artists, Buckwild brings it all together with a timeless tape that still sounds dope as fuck thirty years later.
So as you get back to the school year grind, peep this banging Buckwild cassette—it’s a true gem by a man who would go on to become one of the greatest hip-hop producers of all-time.
Stream Back To School below, and stay tuned for more 50 TAPES posts as we make our way toward the release of Do Remember! The Golden Era of NYC Hip-Hop Mixtapes, out October 3rd via Rizzoli.
Buckwild - Back To School (SIDE A)
Buckwild - Back To School (SIDE B)