The Kreators

By Hank Bordowitz

Jul 11 2001

If The Kreators break out with their forthcoming album, they'll be one of those "overnight successes" that was a decade in the making. "I've been deejaying and making music since about 1989," producer rapper and deejay G-Squared says from his crib in Boston, "I played drums for 12 years before that. That's how I got into deejaying, because it's so rhythmic. Since I know how to make and analyze beats, it was a natural progression for me."

One of his first gigs was deejaying for future Kreator Jaysaun. They did club dates with another MC while G attended Northwestern University. Meanwhile, G also worked with a friend from Canada in a group called Cipher.

"We got a Canadian grant to go record music in Canada," he says. "We did an album, two videos and toured Canada for about three and a half years."

Returning to Boston in 1997, he worked with a rapper named XL. After XL and G did another Canadian tour, they ran into Jaysaun, who had started working with former Atlantic artist Big Juan.

"We all hooked up," G recalls. "We'd been practicing our craft and when we got together, there was a lot of energy."

They recorded Lost Pages, a DIY EP. Signing with Bomb Hip Hop, they released their debut album, No Contest. The video of the track "Foreign Lands" earned them a following on MTV, the Box and MuchMusic.

Their latest single, "Home," features guest rap stars from Guru to Krumbsnatcha to Ed OG. "Ed OG is heavily involved in our group," G-Squared says. "He's pretty much in the crew."

That single rose to number two on the Hits rap charts this spring. It introduced even more people to the Kreators' rap - real but not nasty, serious without getting preachy.

"We're positive, but deal with a lot of reality," G-Squared agrees. "We're trying to make some serious music and have a serious career."

One of the people helping them put together that serious career is BMI's Charlie Feldman. "He's taken us around to some labels," G-Squared notes. "He's encouraged us, given us pointers and listened to all the music. He's been in the studio with us. He's really cool and a big supporter of the group. He's helped us hone our sound into something a little more radio friendly, to really round out our picture. We don't want to be limited, by any means. He helped us do that."