"Ah, And We Do It Like This" is the debut single by American hip hop group

Onyx Onyx primarily refers to the parallel banded variety of chalcedony, a silicate mineral. Agate and onyx are both varieties of layered chalcedony that differ only in the form of the bands: agate has curved bands and onyx has parallel bands. The c ...

. It was released on April 30, 1990 by

Profile Records Profile Records was one of the earliest hip hop labels. As well as hip-hop they released disco, dance, and electro records. History In 1980, Cory Robbins, who was 23 at the time and had worked briefly for MCA, wanted to start a record label. H ...

. In February 2012, "Ah, And We Do It Like This" was remastered and included in

Arista Records Arista Records () is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. The label was previously handled by BMG Entertainmen ...

' compilation album ''Giant Single: The Profile Records Rap Anthology''.

Background

In 1989,

signed Jeffrey Harris as their manager, who helped them secure a single deal with the label

. In 1990, at York Studio in Brooklyn, they recorded their first single, "Ah, And We Do It Like This", which was released to low sales on April 30, 1990 on Profile. The song was produced by Onyx's first producer B-Wiz, who later despite the reproaches from Fredro sold his drum machine

SP-12 E-mu SP-12 12 also known as the “sampling drum computer” was designed in 1985 and widely released in 1986 by E-mu Systems. Although the SP-12 was quickly superseded by the more powerful SP-1200, the SP-12 is often regarded as the first commerci ...

and went to

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to sell crack, and eventually he was killed there.

"''...That very first record was produced by a producer named B-Wiz. B-Wiz was the first producer of that record. He produced “Ah, And We Do It Like This,” and a lot of the original shit in like ’89, ’87, and ’88 for Onyx.''"

The single didn't have enough promotion. Nothing happened.

"''...A lot of it was because we weren't being heard", says Suavé. "There was no marketing or promotion behind it. We made it to wax, yeah, but it was a project that wasn't complete because the record company wasn't behind us.''"

Production

In Brian Coleman's book '' Check the Technique'',

Fredro Starr Fred Lee Scruggs Jr. (born April 18, 1971), better known by his stage name Fredro Starr, is an American rapper and actor best known as a member of the hardcore rap group Onyx. Fredro Starr was discovered by the late hip hop star Jam Master Jay of ...

describes the song as made in a country style:

"''...I went down south every summer to visit my grandmother and I kind of picked up a southern accent from my time down there. So when I got back to New York I was rhyming like I was from the south, country style. It was a whole different style. Smoother, and with the country thing. It was about partying, girls in the club, having fun with it.''"

WEFUNK Radio ''WEFUNK'' is a weekly radio show held on Montreal's CKUT 90.3, McGill University's radio station since 1996 and online since 1999.The show is usually very light on talk as both DJs Professor Groove and DJ Static play a symbiotic mix of Funk, Sou ...

has marked the song as very jazz influenced, much unlike their later work.

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's resident B-1 describes the song as popular in clubs at the time: ''They first song was “Ahh, And We Do It Like This” on Profile Records. They used to have a different type of style, but that was the style back then. The whole club style.'' In Andrew J. Rausch's book ''I Am Hip-Hop: Conversations on the Music and Culture'', Sticky Fingaz said that with this single Onyx is ahead of their time:

"''...It wasn't the Onyx sound that we know today, but actually I think they were ahead of their time. They were kind of singing, and that's where hip-hop is at right this second. So they were like 20 years ahead of their time.''"

According to Fredro,

Kool DJ Red Alert Frederick Crute (born November 27, 1956), known professionally as Kool DJ Red Alert, is an American disc jockey who rose to fame on WRKS 98.7 Kiss FM in New York City and is recognized as one of the founding fathers of hip hop music and cultur ...

played on the radio only instrumental from this single. When Fredro met Red Alert at the club, he asked him why he only played the instrumental, to which Red honestly told him that he just didn't like the lyrics in this song.

Single track listing

A-Side

#"Ah, And We Do It Like This" - 5:05 #"Ah, And We Do It Like This" (Dub Club) - 5:05

B-Side

#"Ah, And We Do It Like This" (Dub Vocal) - 5:16 #"Ah, And We Do It Like This" (Instrumental) - 5:12

Personnel

* Onyx - performer, vocals * Fredro Starr - performer, vocals * Suave - performer, vocals * Big DS - performer, vocals * Jeffrey Harris - manager, producer * B-Wiz - producer * Salah - engineer

References

{{authority control 1990 debut singles Onyx (group) songs 1990 songs Profile Records singles