Jigmastas

A Brooklyn-based act that took plenty of time to make an official album debut (and even longer to follow it up), 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, but owed even more to the production work of <a href="spotify:artist:44E0JWHttieVoD6vUHWoa2">DJ Spinna</a>. Renowned throughout the '90s for his cut-creating and remixing abilities, he worked with <a href="spotify:artist:1XkoF8ryArs86LZvFOkbyr">Mary J. Blige</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:0Mz5XE0kb1GBnbLQm2VbcO">Mos Def</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:1Z8ODXyhEBi3WynYw0Rya6">De La Soul</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:55PeYSS1g71a1BZLeIr0Sd">Les Nubians</a>, and a host of others. <a href="spotify:artist:44E0JWHttieVoD6vUHWoa2">Spinna</a> had been friends with MC Kriminul since the mid-'80s, and the two struck up an official partnership a decade later in between <a href="spotify:artist:44E0JWHttieVoD6vUHWoa2">Spinna</a>'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 <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Tommy+Boy+Black+Label%22">Tommy Boy Black Label</a>) 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 <a href="spotify:artist:44E0JWHttieVoD6vUHWoa2">Spinna</a>'s cut-and-paste wizardry, as well as cameos from ex-<a href="spotify:artist:6Uhp7WA6sjm5ZL6Xz561de">Living Colour</a> guitarist <a href="spotify:artist:1nCiDbYWnN9G4VQ4LxeyxD">Vernon Reid</a> (on the police brutality-themed "Hollar") and <a href="spotify:artist:3YyZFf9ZN2YbkqeZia8zHX">Brand Nubian</a>'s <a href="spotify:artist:7fDLDq2weBagiAFD2j17Al">Sadat X</a>, who lent his voice to "Don't Get It Twisted." After this auspicious start, however, the duo largely disappeared for the next 15 years before unexpectedly making a return in 2014 with the single "Resurge." Expertly updating their classic sound, it felt like they'd never been away, with Kriminul spitting laid-back, old-school flows over <a href="spotify:artist:44E0JWHttieVoD6vUHWoa2">Spinna</a>'s smooth, lush jazz-funk backing and trademark speaker-shaking bass. The single landed on Resurgence, a 2016, <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Barely+Breakin%27+Even%22">Barely Breakin' Even</a> release that compiled stray tracks, including some that dated back to 2003. ~ Dan LeRoy, Rovi