PAN to Reissue 1998 Hip-Hop Mixtape from Spectre
The obscure collection of illbient tracks will serve as the first release from Bill Kouligas' label in 2015.
Originally released in 1998 as an extremely limited cassette, WordSound label founder Skiz Fernando Jr.’s (a.k.a. Spectre) Ruff Kutz mixtape will serve as the first release from Bill Kouligas’ PAN label in 2015. A 90-minute affair, the mixtape is said to feature “hits and remixes, previously unreleased tracks, and dub-plate specials featuring Sensational, Mr Dead, Bill Laswell, Jungle Brothers, Kevin Martin/Techno Animal, and many more.” The collection in many ways serves as a snapshot of the kind of hip-hop experimentation which was taking place in Brooklyn at the time, with Spectre’s WordSound label leading the way for the “illbient” scene which combined elements of dub, hip-hop, and ambient together into a unique brand of foggy boom-bap.
PAN’s reissue of the Ruff Kutz mixtape will be available as a double-140g vinyl pack, as well as in digital form, beginning March 9. At this time, no audio previews have been made available for the upcoming release.