Leaders of the New School- Rare Interview

Leaders of the New School- Rare Interview
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The crew was composed of Uniondale, New York, natives Charlie Brown (born Bryan Higgins on September 19, 1970) and Dinco D (born James Jackson); North Amityville, New York native Cut Monitor Milo (born Sheldon Scott); and Busta Rhymes (born Trevor Smith, Jr. on May 20, 1972), who was originally from Brooklyn, New York but later moved to Uniondale at the age of twelve. The group's big break was when they became an opening act for hip hop group Public Enemy. Public Enemy's Chuck D gave Busta Rhymes and Charlie Brown their stage names.[1]

The group made its first appearance on an Elektra Records compilation titled Rubáiyát: Elektra's 40th Anniversary, with a song called "Mt. Airy Groove". It was the only hip hop group on that album. LONS soon joined up with popular hip hop collective the Native Tongues, along with the Jungle Brothers, De La Soul, A Tribe Called Quest, and Black Sheep.[1]

In 1991, Busta Rhymes, Dinco D and Charlie Brown made a guest appearance on A Tribe Called Quest's hit single "Scenario", and LONS joined ATCQ on The Arsenio Hall Show to perform the track with that group. Their debut album A Future Without a Past was also released in 1991. It included the hits "Case of the P.T.A.", "Sobb Story", and "The International Zone Coaster". The group was praised for its light-hearted content and old-school call-and-response deliveries.

The group's second and final album was T.I.M.E. ("The Inner Mind's Eye"), released in 1993. The album was less acclaimed than the group's debut,[citation needed] but it spawned the hip hop hits "What's Next" and "Classic Material".[1]

As time passed, fans and critics began to focus less on LONS as a group, and more on Busta Rhymes as an individual. During an infamous appearance on the TV show Yo! MTV Raps, the group was seen arguing, with member Charlie Brown becoming upset over Rhymes' show-stealing. The group soon split up, with Charlie Brown, Dinco D and Milo garnering very limited success individually, while Busta Rhymes' popularity continued to increase.

The group made an appearance on Rhymes' 1996 debut album The Coming, on the track "Keep It Movin'" and was the last time they would collaborate as a group. In July 2012, the group reunited on stage during Busta Rhymes' headlining set at the Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival, to perform "Case of the P.T.A." and "Scenario" in its entirety with A Tribe Called Quest.
Far be it for anyone to claim that Leaders of the New School lacked ambition during their fascinating, far too short-lived career, which culminated on this follow-up to their exciting debut album. With T.I.M.E. the barely adult-aged members check in with their second loose concept album, this time delving into a sort of urban sci-fi mysticism. Obviously, the group doesn't entirely pull off this concept, and ther point understandably becomes murky or downright opaque. The ambition itself, however, is intriguing in practice, and the album is an endlessly interesting listen. Upon its release, many saw T.I.M.E. as a dramatic falloff from the manic, happy-go-lucky charm and vitality of the unit's first album, which had simply combusted in the hop-hop community when it was released two years earlier. In hindsight, T.I.M.E. is a much more mature work, both musically and lyrically, pushing forward into territories never hinted at in the first; as a whole, it's also arguably a more interesting album. In its own way, the production here is just as strong as that on the first album. It's far less loopy and idiosyncratic (and less novel) this time around, often just building off a dense beat and an ominous bassline, as on the hypnotic "Syntax Era," instead of pasting together all manner of samples. This approach gives the album much more sonic cohesion and intellectual heft, however. Easily, this is a much more hard-edged venture into the hip-hop underground aesthetic. The entire first half of the album is a dazzling sequence of songs, any of which, regardless of the concept, could have been brilliant singles. Songs such as "Classic Material" (with an unforgettable horn hook), "Daily Reminder," and "Connections" relentlessly pound their way into your head, and in "A Quarter to Cutthroat," L.O.N.S. comes up with a sensational, gritty New York City and hip-hop anthem. A couple of the pieces on the record's second half don't maintain the same lofty heights as the first -- the album is probably ten minutes or so too long -- occasionally sounding redundant or flat. They are never complete missteps, however, and the posse cut "Spontaneous (13 MC's Deep)" gives the album its centerpiece. Alas, Busta Rhymes, having already fully reached his distinctive style, seemed a bit confined in the group dynamic here; not long after the album's release, he broke up the group and went solo.