The Def Squad is team of long time
friends Redman, Keith Murray and Erick Sermon, who separately
have each had success as rap artists. Erick Sermon may sound
familiar to you because he scored hit after hit for Def
Jam as one-half of EPMD, and then later took Redman under
his guidance and made him a star. The three first teamed
up in 1997 on the memorable cover of the Sugar Hill Gangs
"Rappers Delight." The video for Def Squads
version of "Rappers Delight" received heavy
airplay on MTV and put the trio on the map. Spurred on by
the success of their hit single, they issued their debut
LP El Nino in 1998 on Def Jam. This is period where
it is presumed that Erick Sermon teamed up with the Beastie
Boys to record the "Body Movin Def Squad remix."
Perhaps the two groups bumped into each other at the Masterdisk
studio in New York as the final mixes were being completed
on their albums.
Unlike most Beastie Boys remixes, the Erick Sermons
Def Squad remix of "Body Movin" added more
than just beats. The Def Squad team actually replaced the
original vocals with their own, leaving very little of the
Beastie Boys initial contribution intact. It is perhaps
for this reason that the track was not officially released.
The "Body Movin Def Squad remix" has been
available since 1998 though, thanks to MP3 file sharing
systems like AudioGalaxy, Napster, and LimeWire.
The history of the "Def Squad
Body Movin Remix" is somewhat unclear. One story
that has been told states that Erick Sermon actually did
several completed songs with the Beastie Boys around the
time of Hello
Nasty. None of these tracks were officially released,
and since Sermon had already been compensated for his efforts
the Grand Royal team figured that they might as well release
Def Squad version of "Body Movin" so the
sessions would not be a total misadventure. The track is
actually listed on the label of the "Body Movin"
twelve-inch record which was released in the United Kingdom
back in 1998. The record itself does not feature the song,
instead it was replaced with the Kut
Masta Kurt "Body Movin Remix".
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