E-A-Ski - 1 Step Ahead Of Yall 1992

Spice 1 - Dumpin’ Em In Ditches 1993

KAM - Pull Ya Hoe Card 1995

E-A-Ski - 25 With A Mill Ticket unreleased

Oakland’s E-A-Ski & CMT are unsung heroes of West Coast production. In 1992, they assisted Master P on his “Mama’s Bad Boy” debut and helped Spice 1 diversify from the Ant Banks production of his “Let It Be Known” EP on his self-titled first full-length. By 1993, on the East Bay Gangster’s “187 He Wrote,” they had mastered their trademark melodic keyboard-fueled hardcore funk (”Runnin’ Out Da Crackhouse,” “Trigga Gots No Heart,” “RIP”). In 1994 (which was around the time they stopped working for No Limit), they contributed to Champ MC’s East-meets-West split album and would have probably been heavily involved in the Rally Ral longplayer that never materialized. Their East Coast credentials include remixes for Das EFX and Naughty By Nature. In 1995, they held it down on one of the year’s most prolific albums, the Luniz‘ “Operation Stackola” and made the Bay-to-LA connect on KAM’s second album. In 1996, they were invited to Mr. Mike’s solo venture “Wicked Wayz” and subsequently fellow Suave House rapper Crime Boss’ “Conflicts & Confusion,” adding the Gulf Coast to the list of their working places.

E-A-Ski, the vocal half of the duo, started his recording career in 1992 with the “1 Step Ahead Of Yall” EP on Richmond-based No Limit Records. In 1995 he made a second attempt at a rap career with the single “Blast If I Have To” off the highly popular “Friday” soundtrack. The later ’90s were marked by efforts to establish a record label (Infrared Music Group) and a solo career, all more or less in vain. Signings with Priority, Relativity, DreamWorks and Columbia were all ended for one reason or another. A 1997 single “Showdown” featuring Montell Jordan on Relativity was supposed to set up an album. It would have featured Dr. Dre and Ice Cube, but whether it was tentatively titled “Earthquake,” “The Black Album,” “Infrared Specialist,” or “Apply Pressure,” it never saw an official release, preventing Ski from becoming a successful rapper whose career could have solidified his and his partner’s status as producers. Neither did a Y2K deal with 75 Ark yield the full-length that would have been called “E-A-Ski presents IMG.” Nor did the follow-up to the non-existent “Earthquake,” “Aftershock,” ever drop.

Production-wise, Ski & C continued to be active on high profile but not quite convincing albums by Ice-T (”VI: Return Of The Real”), Ice Cube (”War & Peace”), and Jayo Felony (”Whatcha Gonna Do”). In the new millennium, the duo was back in the Bay, producing for instance “Quarterbackin’” for E-40 (’03), “N.E.W. Oakland” for Mistah F.A.B. (’05), “Hell Yeah!” for San Quinn (’06), “So Hood” for Bullys Wit Fullys (’06), doing several tracks on albums by The Frontline (’05) and Balance (’06), and even releasing more Ski singles, “Ride” (’03) and “My Bad” (’05).

E-A-Ski on discogs

E-A-Ski on MySpace