Crazy C
November 27th, 2006 by bse
Goodie Mob - Soul Food (Crazyhouze Remix Feat. 8Ball & MJG) 1996
Above The Law - 100 Spokes (Fresh On D’s Remix) 1996
Houston’s Crazy C came to peoples’ attentions producing for Rap-A-Lot artists in the early 90s. Scarface, Too Much Trouble, Willie D, all the good ones. As with any RAL producers it’s hard to tell which tracks he produced himself as the albums generally credited all the producers for the album rather than individual tracks. One thing’s for sure though, by the time he struck out on his own with production and remix work for established national acts in the mid 90s, he epitomised the Texas sound.
His remixes were very much regional mixes. Translating the alien sounds of Outkast or the Wu-Tang into fluent Houston using church keys and hard snares. Not slowing the music’s speed like the later Screw phenomenon but rather taking the top down and letting the sun’s rays cast a different light on it.
The distance between Atlanta and Houston was greater in 96 than it is now and Crazy C’s remixes for Outkast and Goodie Mob were part of a greater southern unity appearing in the mid-to-late 90s. He even reached out west to Pomona’s Above The Law and north-east to Naughty By Nature (”Craziest” Crazy C Remix) and the Wu-tang (”Method Man” Crazy C’s Suthun Fried Mix).
Houston, like the Bay area, is no longer a local-only scene. The rest of the world no longer considers them “just the Geto Boys” or “just Too Short and that’s due to ambassadors like Crazy C and his Crazyhouze studio creating those links between cities back in the mid 90s.
My favourite Crazy C beat that I’ve heard, and there’s a lot of underground Houston shit I’ve never heard, is Above The Law’s “100 Spokes” remix. It’s one big tip of the hat to old school West Coast rap, with electro percussion, coldhearted synths and simple rhythmic scratching. It’s exactly what you’d want someone from Houston to do if you asked them to remix a classic Cali rap act, the beat still sounds Texas but it’s got cousins in Carson.
Crazy C now runs his label Soul Muzick Recordings with an aim to promote local Christian rap and RnB after Crazy C’s conversion in the late 90s.
I couldn’t find him on MySpace but I’m sure he’s there somewhere.
Further reading: Crazy C on Discogs
Posted on November 27th, 2006 by bse 
Here’s a comment!
Glad this bitch is back in business. Though that empty front page was peaceful. Sometimes I used to click to your site just to stare into the emptiness and imagine it was a John Cage remix.
And now there’s already a second entry. Fabolous. I see you’re In Full Gear for the aught-Bond.
November 30th, 2006 at 5:27 amI feel you on that Crazy C. That nigga was one of the first out of the south to bring it on a national scale. He didn’t get the props he deserves. I hope he comes back to the hiphop scene. He is the fresh air that it needs right now..
December 26th, 2006 at 6:33 pm