The Artifacts – Wrong Side of da Tracks [demo]

Back in 1993, Tame One and El da Sensei burst onto the scene with their classic ode to graf-writing, “Wrong Side of da Tracks”. The beat hit hard, the rhymes were fresh and the imagery, especially in their video, was something that rap fans hadn’t seen before. At the same time, New Jeruz (New Jersey) was entering it’s own rap Golden Age with Redman, Naughty by Nature, Lords of the Underground, half of das EFX and The Fugees. A few years ago, I got my hands on this demo version of The Artifacts’ first single, probably recorded around 1992. The delivery is a little bit different, and their rhymes lay on top of a Quincy Jones “Ironside”-based beat. Listen for yourself to hear the difference from the T-Ray-produced studio track:

The Artifacts – Wrong Side of da Tracks | demo