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TheBeeShine

Psycho Les (The Beatnuts) Interview

Psycho Les is an emcee, DJ, and hip hop producer from Queens, NY. He is known internationally as a member of the group The Beatnuts. Les began producing and DJing at age 15 and later met JuJu through a mutual friend in high school. While digging for records, Les and JuJu met Afrika Bambaataa who introduced them to Native Tongues members De La Soul, A Tribe Called Quest, and the Jungle Brothers. In 1990, The Beatnuts produced their first records for Stereo MCs and Monie Love. The original group included Fashion and Al Tariq, and they later worked with Common, Pete Nice, Fat Joe, DJ Richie Rich, Kurious, and produced a full album for Chi Ali. The Beatnuts became even more popular for remixing songs by MC Lyte, Da Lench Mob, Naughty By Nature, and others. In 1993, The Beatnuts released their debut album, Intoxicated Demons, followed by Street Level in 1994. Stone Crazy was released in 1997 with the single “Off The Books”, that featured the first on-record performance by Big Punisher. In 1999, the group released A Musical Massacre, which was their most successful album and featured the single “Watch Out Now”. In 2001, they released Take It Or Squeeze It with the popular single “No Escapin’ This”. In 2007, Psycho Les released his debut solo album, Psycho Therapy, on his own label, Pit Fight Records. He joined Al Tariq and Problemz to form the group Big City and released the album The City Never Sleeps. In 2008, Pit Fight Records released U.F.O. Files, a compilation of previously unreleased Beatnuts songs. The Beatnuts have also teamed up with the Tha Alkaholiks to work on an album under the name LIKNUTS. Most recently, Psycho Les contributed a bulk of the production for Tony Touch’s album, The Piece Maker 3: Return Of The 50 MCs, featuring the top emcees in the hip hop community.

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