Sidenite: Since 1995, Duck Down Records and Boot Camp Clik have been doing their thing. And while I always knew who Black Moon, Buckshot, Smif-N-Wessun (aka Cocoa Brovaz), Heltah Skeltah (Rock and Ruck aka Sean Price), and O.G.C. were, I was never really big into any of them individually. But there was one group from Boot Camp that I was into heavy: the Fab 5.
Let me break it down for the uninformed. After dropping Dah Shinin’ in 1995, Black Moon’s Buckshot—alongside his business partner Dru Ha—left Nervous Records due to unpaid royalties and started Duck Down Records. That same year, they signed both Heltah Skeltah and O.G.C. to the new label.
In mid-’95, the whole Boot Camp Clik (credited as Black Moon & Smif-N-Wessun) landed a spot on the New Jersey Drive soundtrack with the track “Headz Ain’t Redee.” But later that year is when something special happened—Heltah Skeltah and O.G.C. came together to form The Fab 5, dropping their debut single “Blah” b/w “Leflaur Leflah Eshkoshka.”
Here’s the kicker: the B-side “Leflah” ended up being the breakout. It hit #75 on the Billboard Hot 100, making it the most successful single from anyone in Boot Camp Clik. That’s wild. Sadly, the two groups went back to their solo paths in 1996, with Heltah Skeltah dropping Nocturnal in June of that year.
I was tight that The Fab 5 never dropped a full-length album as a group. That could’ve been something major. And it’s all off the strength of “Leflaur Leflah Eshkoshka”—a gritty, catchy track that captured that raw mid-’90s New York energy. The video helped too: simple, a white backdrop, a little humor—very much in line with the style of that era.
Classic. Enjoy.
- Album: Nocturnal
- Released: June 18, 1996
- Label: Duck Down Records/Priority Records