JVC Force

JVC Force (a.k.a. J.V.C. F.O.R.C.E.) was a hip-hop group from Long Island, New York consisting of MCs AJ Rok and B-Luv, and DJ Curt Cazal. J.V.C. F.O.R.C.E. stands for "Justified By Virtue of Creativity For Obvious Reasons Concerning Entertainment". This acronym was concocted in order to reduce the risk of legal action from the electronics firm JVC. J.V.C. F.O.R.C.E first performed as a crew at a neighborhood house party somewhere in Central Islip – the exact time and place eludes the group now – "It's been a long time". B-Luv and AJ jelled immediately in front of a crowd and became permanent rap partners. After graduating high school, B-Luv was the only member of the crew that went away to study at college. B-Boy records called while B was at school to say they L.O.V.E.D a demo the group had put together entitled "The New School." B-Boy Recs asked for a meeting and instantly wanted to sign the group to the label. "Strong Island" (their seminal and one of Hip Hop's seminal anthems) was only an idea at the time. Upon recording it they realized they had created something extraordinary. In their own words "It felt like real hip-hop". Once "Strong Island" blew up, the label allowed J.V.C. F.O.R.C.E to make the classic Doin' Damage album in 1988 with no A&R involved, a privilege and a freedom they would not enjoy again. Later in their (relatively short) recording career, the record labels they worked with 'encouraged' (F.O.R.C.E'd) the group to include faddish Hip-House tracks and House-music-leaning joints on their albums in order to pander to a more widespread audience and satisfy a primarily commercial concern. To the boys, Hip Hop had never been a 'money thing' - it was about expression, passion for the medium and a love for where they came from, Long Island and even more specifically their own working class heritage. Having worked together throughout their professional lives and having built a strong, unbreakable bond, J.V.C. F.O.R.C.E amicably decided in 1992 to disband and pull out of their record deal with Big Beat Records before the release of the band's third studio album. They all felt that they should stop the charade and listen to their consciences rather than be shaped and molded by the whims of record labels. They did as they had always done – they kept it R.E.A.L. Their O.N.L.Y regret as J.V.C .F.O.R.C.E was that their fans never got to hear what they considered to be their best works. So, like some sort of benevolent, unreleased-Hip Hop-releasing-genie, Chopped Herring Records has the utmost pleasure of announcing that the LEGENDARY J.V.C. F.O.R.C.E has graciously agreed to open up its much-guarded and much-coveted personal vaults to us here at Herring Quay. What we have for your listening delectation are 5 vocal tracks and one instrumental from their 1992-1993 unreleased archives. Always at the forefront of originality the group wanted a sound unlike anything else dropping at that time. Looking back to the Golden Era of Hip Hop that had seen them come-up they created a body of work that paid homage to those distinct mid to late 80s production values. Searching out studios with old school analogue equipment in order to record their new album, at a time when digital recording was the in-thing was something that Hip Hop fans never got to hear the full impact of back in 1992/3. Twenty years on and your well-trained Golden Era ears are going to lap these joints up like Ed Moses runnin' the 400m hurdles. Peep these [unmastered] snippets, but please, for your own safety, either hold onto something sturdy or just sit your asses down – this is some serious H.E.A.T: Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.