Album Notes

UNDERGROUND CARTEL was put together by UK hiphop producer Kruze and is the first collaboration of what is intended to be many, involving emcees from all over the world. In this first installment, on the mic comes Orphan Fam from New Jersey, Raw Dialect from Baltimore, 8.Bliss from NYC and Crazy Ballhead from Sacramento. From Canada there's Ill Seer, Self Help, Fritz tha Cat & Mindbender, and from France, Beni from the Originaire du Sud crew.
On the vinyl version, Musik G of NYC's Underground Army has supplied a remix.

This release for the summer of 2004 celebrates collaboration & talent of global underground hiphop, with subject matter addressing media dumbing down on an international scale, hiphop being blamed for a rise in gun crime internationally & also giving positive messages of battlin thru the struggle.
Recently, 3 members from the States flew over to join Kruze on a promo visit in London where they did various radio, press & tv interviews.

The response internationally has been really positive, with promotions taking place in the US, UK, Italy, Sweden, eastern Europe, France, Germany etc.
It has been seen generally as a way forward for underground artists to break out and move forward in a spirit of co-operation.

There's been features in UK magazines like Invincible & Undercover with strong radio support in the UK & US college radio network, as well as international tv showing the film of their visit to London.

The full story is at the official site www.belles.demon.co.uk which is the label's official site and doubles as a site dedicated to supporting global underground hiphop.
There are more details about this release at the NEWS & HISTORY pages

The CARTEL will change in personnel with every release, drawing on the skillz of emcees from nu territories and pushing the boundaries for underground hiphop...this is just the beginning

see interview at www.kwoshe.co.uk/f211.html

"The Cartel joint is hot-this vinyl is like an Olympics version of hiphop" Nate Abney WKDU

"It's good to drop some flavor from overseas that rocks hard with every spin-the Cartel is goin places" Ready Cee/91.9 FM NYC

"The Cartel is part of the whole future of underground hiphop & we support them all the way" Prince Diamond, Invincible Radio UK

"Def feelin the international perspective with original beats & rhymes" The Furious, Itch FM UK