“Make Way for the W” – The Whooliganz (Proposed Album 1993) [Mitch Nick Pick’s]

I want to stay in the same era as last week and share something I am sure not a lot of people have heard of. We all know The Alchemist and the massive amount of high-quality work he has done in hip-hop throughout the years. But, did you know that The Alchemist was also once known as Mudfoot in a group called The Whooliganz? This group also consisted of Scott Caan, known as Mad Skillz. They met as teenagers in Beverly Hills and were active together between the years of 1991 and 1994. I think their story is pretty unique because of how young they were when they started. They were only about 14-15 years old when they started making music and, after impressing B-Real of Cypress Hill while freestyling at a party in LA, they quickly ended up touring under the Soul Assassins collective, which included House of Pain and Funkdoobiest – all as two high school kids.

Ultimately, they got picked up by Tommy Boy Records and recorded their single “Put Your Handz Up” which got airtime on the radio. If you were around at this time you very may well have heard it. Unfortunately, even with some decent reception, their proposed album called “Make Way for the W”, recorded in 1993, was shelved by Tommy Boy Records. The Alchemist later said that they just kept postponing the release quarter after quarter which turned to year after year. The duo never formally broke up but the mounting frustration pushed Scott Caan to pursue an acting career and Alan Maman to double down on music leading to him becoming The Alchemist.

There is a leak of the album on YouTube which was posted in 2015 and has less than 50,000 views. I don’t know by what sorcery it was uploaded but I am thankful it’s there. The beats are solid with that iconic boom-bap sound throughout the whole album with production by T-Ray, DJ Lethal and The Baka Boyz. The album starts off with “It’s the Whoolies” which in my opinion is a banger. The beat hits and I love what they did with the chorus. It really sets a tone for the rest of the album. Scott Caan and The Alchemist both rhyme very well throughout the whole album and demonstrate exceptional flow which is especially cool considering how old they were at the time. Personally, I cannot fathom creating what they did at the same age. There are also multiple features from Soul Assassin members sprinkled throughout the album which is cool in and of itself given the fact that it came out so long ago.

This one and only “proposed” album The Whooliganz is absolutely worth a listen and if you like old school hip-hop there are probably few tracks you would dislike on this project. This is certainly not something you stumble on every day. I have also included a useful track list left by someone in the comments on YouTube. I’d recommend downloading it too in case the link ever disappears. Enjoy!

00:00 It’s The Whoolies (Produced by T-Ray) 04:12 Get a Grip feat. B Real (Produced by T-Ray) 07:56 Time Goes On feat. B Real (Produced by T-Ray) 11:51 Put Your Hands Up (Produced by DJ Lethal) 15:41 Hit The Deck feat. Everlast (Produced by The Baka Boyz) 18:58 Back Off Me Yo (Produced by T-Ray) 23:31 Crackin’ Da Cranium (Produced by DJ Lethal) 27:35 Keep On (Produced by T-Ray) 31:12 Don’t Mean Nothing (Produced by DJ Lethal) 35:00 I Get Mine (Produced by T-Ray) 38:57 On The Reel (Produced by The Baka Boyz) 42:20 Fat One (Produced by The Baka Boyz) 45:43 Whooliganz (Produced by The Baka Boyz)