Alibi & Leo - The Don


Alibi & Leo - The Don (Foundation Records, 1998)

I know almost nothing about who was behind this release but remember it getting quite a bit of play on London pirates such as Rude FM back in '97. According to Discogs, Alibi & Leo were Anton Bate and Leo Prince and Foundation Records put out seven releases between 1998 and 2000 and appears to have been based in Milton Keynes. I remember 'The Don' being a favourite of Nicky Blackmarket and Leo also had a couple of releases on his Kartoons label. I rather coveted this tune back then and eventually found a copy on a record shopping trip to Camden sometime late in 1998.

'The Don' starts off with a looped saxophone sample before bringing in a punchy two-step beat. The "Westside, Eastside... Hit me with your best one... Take it from The Don" vocals are from Ice Cube and appear on 'Men Of Steel', a Shaquille O'Neal track also featuring KRS-One, B-Real and Peter Gunz which appeared on the soundtrack to O'Neal's appalling 'Steel' movie. The track has a nice squelchy bassline and while not being the most refined of tracks it was certainly capable of moving the dancefloor back when it was released, although to my ears it hasn't aged all that well.

Update 12/03/20: Leo is now known as DSP, with forthcoming releases on Foundation X, Rupture LDN and Skeleton Recordings among others - check his Soundcloud. He has commented on the discogs page for this tune with the following info:
"We made this above Vibe Records in bletchley... Akai S950, Korg M1R, Cubase V1 PC, Soundforge, Soundcraft folio desk, Alesis compressor and a Midiverb"
He also replies to a comment revealing: "looking back its not so great but for me at the time as an 18 year old with his first release it was amazing to get so much play"

Discogs link

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