FORT KNOX FIVE: 10 Years Of Fort Knox Five (2013)

Has it really been ten years of Fort Knox Five? I had to dig out my 12″ of Radio Free DC (which features on this) to see how old it was and even that’s eight years old. So, yes a decade since the spy funk breaks of The Big Score. If another record company had signed the four of them (yes, I know) back in 2003 you can imagine they might have been posed the question “So – where do you see yourselves in ten years?” It’s the sort of annoying enquiry that warrants a flippant reply like, “Oh – you know – as globally respected, seasoned producers of hip-hop, funk, latin and dancehall-flavoured breaks or something.” But since they set up Fort Knox Recordings to release their own shit they managed to avoid some suited prick asking them precisely that. Though that didn’t stop it coming true.

10 Years Of Fort Knox Five is fifteen tracks cherry-picked from the production team’s back catalogue and fully representational of the funky, latin, hip-hop, reggae milieu within which they work as well as demonstrating the quality of the collaborators with whom they have worked over the years. Which itself says quite a lot about how highly regarded they are for these boys have rubbed shoulders with the likes of rapper Asheru (of Unspoken Heard and Boondocks-theme fame), Zeebo from Thievery Corporation, Akil Dasan of Us3, King Kamonzi from the Zulu Nation and indeed Zulu Nation’s founder, the mighty Afrika Bambaataa, among others.

Naturally it’s all highlights but the highlights of the highlights are funky hip-hop collabos Insight (with Asheru) and a digitally remastered version of Radio Free DC (with Afrika Bambaataa and King Kamonzi), the bhangrafied bounce of What Make Ya Dance (feat. Roots), the raggafied bounce of Killa Soundboy featuring Sleepy Wonder and Zeebo or latin funky instro Stand Up.

So there you go – something for everyone and if you’ve not previously had the pleasure – getting into Fort Knox has never been so easy…
(Out now on Fort Knox Recordings)

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