A La Carte

Side Effect is one of the dopest MC’s you never heard. But why is that? I guess sometimes when there are so many rappers out there vying for your attention, the really good ones sometimes get lost in the mix. But Side Effect is a rare breed of MC that will slowly but surely rise to the top. Side Effect first started rhyming in the mid to late 80’s after his father brought home the movie Beat Street. That movie sparked his interest in addition to being exposed to Hip Hop radio shows such as “The Rap Digest” on WDAS, and “Street Beat” on Power 99. In 1990, Side Effect teamed up with his neighborhood friend J.Smoove and formed the group II Scandalous. The group recorded many demo tapes and performed their songs throughout the Philly underground circuit and gained a nice following. Soon after Side Effect went solo, bought himself an MPC, and focused on making beats and becoming a better song writer. In 2002, Side reemerged on the Philly Hip Hop scene after networking with other artists on the now defunct website phillyhiphop.com. Through interacting on those message boards, Side networked with artists such as Happ G, Subhoodz, Adlib, Cimer Amor, Planetary, Reef the Lost Cauze, and Viro the Virus. He then started giving out CD’s of his music, and started getting shows in the local tri-state area. Quickly gaining a reputation as a dope lyricist and animated performer, Side Effect produced and self-released his first Album “Underground Concoction” in 2003. He then hooked up with Stress the White Boy and Havok from Subhoodz in 2004 to release his second album “Rocking Chair Theory” on Krush Unit Recordings. In 2006, Side self-released his third album “Dirt Hustlin” which featured Rasco from Cali Agents and many other talented producers from the Philly scene. To hold fans over until his next album, Side Effect released his first mixtape, “Grown Man Grizzly” in 2007 which featured many unreleased songs and freestyles. Then in 2008, Side Effect linked up with German-based producers the Snowgoons, and contributed the classic song “Knockatomi Plaza” to their second album “Black Snow”, and the bonus track “Foreign Banguage”. Side Effect and the Krush Unit crew hooked back up with the Snowgoons again in 2009 to record the song “Krush University” on their “Trojan Horse” album. 2010 proved to be an even busier year. Side Effect teamed up with Snowgoons for a third time to record the song “Who’s Side” for their fourth album Kraftwerk. He also teamed up with Philly producer Happ G and released the full length album “Cabin Fever” on Karma Response Unit Records. Side Effect also collaborated with another Philly artist C. Raine, and released the classic mixtape “Hip Hop Hoarders: Buried Alive”. With all of those accomplishments in hand, Side Effect shows no signs of slowing down. Projects with Cimer Amor, Haj from Dumhi, Stress the White Boy, and Krush Unit vs. Snowgoons are on the horizon in addition to many features and collaborations. Side Effect believes in creating a brand for himself and understands that the key to his success and longevity is releasing consistent quality music. Some may sit back and watch it happen before their eyes, while others will sit back and listen to it happen before their ears. What will you do?