Jigmastas

by Dan LeRoyA Brooklyn-based act that took plenty of time to make an official album debut, hip-hop duo Jigmastas were nevertheless fairly well-known by the time they released their first full-length outing early in 2001. That was partly due to the pair's much-hyped appearances in their native Big Apple, and owed even more to the production work of DJ Spinna, who was renowned throughout the '90s for his cut creating and remixing abilities, and had the hot client list (Mary J. Blige, Eminem, Mos Def, De La Soul, Les Nubians, and a host of others) to prove it. Spinna had been friends with MC Kriminul since the mid-'80s, and the two struck up an official partnership a decade later in between Spinna's outside jobs. Jigmastas debuted on wax with the single "Beyond Real" in 1996; besides becoming an underground hip-hop hit, it also provided the name for the duo's newly formed record label. However, it would still be half a decade before an album appeared, as the duo tried to appease their growing fan base with singles like "Last Will and Testimony" (released on the Tommy Boy Black Label) and the EP Grass Roots: Lyrical Fluctuations in 2000. Finally, the long-awaited Infectious saw the light of day in May of the following year, containing several textbook examples of Spinna's cut-and-paste wizardry, as well as cameos from ex-Living Colour guitarist Vernon Reid (on the police brutality-themed "Hollar") and Brand Nubian's Sadat X, who lent his voice to "Don't Get It Twisted."