Soul Intent (group)

Soul Intent was an American hip hop group, and consisted of Eminem, Proof, Chaos Kid, Manix and DJ Butter Fingers.^[1] They were previously Bassmint Productions between 1989 and 1992.^[2]

Early years : Bassmint Productions

Bassmint Productions was a hybrid of members of two separate hip-hop groups that existed simultaneously, each including one of two twin brothers:

• Hype-n-Effect, fronted by producer/MC Manix (Michael Ruby) and DJ Stezo (Steve Mackiewicz)
• New Jacks, fronted by MC Double M (Marshall Bruce Mathers lll) and DJ Butter Fingers (Mathew Ruby)^[3]

Both groups only lasted from 1988 to 1989.

In late Fall 1989, both groups dissolved to form Bassmint Productions, which was dually-fronted by Double M (who became M&M and later Eminem), Chaos Kid, Manix and DJ Butter Fingers. Stezo remained a sort of auxiliary member, with the addition of another skilled emcee in his own right, Vitamin C (Jason Fields). They released a few homemade/handmade demo tapes, including Steppin' onto the Scene, and two solo EPs by Chaos Kid and M&M, respectively. Bassmint became regular favorites of Lisa Lisa's open mic night on 96.3 WHYT almost every Friday night for three years. During this time, another member was added, an emcee named Maximum (DeShaun Holton). Shortly afterward, in early Winter 1992, Soul Intent was formed.

From 1992 : Soul Intent

Recording enough songs for an album between 1992 and Fall 1994, the group had to settle on only releasing two songs from those sessions because of a lack of funds and hard times for three of the members. As such, they were only able to scrape enough money together to put out a maxi-cassette, the self-titled Soul Intent, the two songs being "F#@ing Backstabber" and "Biterphobia". Chaos Kid is not on either song. He was pursuing his own solo project, though still very much an equal and integral member. The only other emcee on that single is Proof (formerly Maximum).

On April 11, 2006, Proof was shot and killed during an altercation at the CCC nightclub in Detroit.^[4] On October 5, 2011, Chaos Kid committed suicide.^[5][6]

Manix and Butter Fingers are still active in producing music and currently reside in Metro Detroit.^[7]

Discography

The following albums have been released by Soul Intent / Bassmint Productions :^[8]

Steppin' On To The Scene (1990)

Steppin' On To The Scene cover

Released in cassette format in 1990. Side A is called The M&M Side. Side B is called The Chaos Side.^[9]

Track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Performer(s)	Length
1.	"Steppin' On To The Scene"	Bassmint Sly Stone	Eminem	2:24
2.	"Fattest Skinny Kid Alive"	Bassmint Blind Faith	Eminem	3:55
3.	"Under New Management"	Bassmint Wlodek Gulgowski War	Eminem
4.	"Style-O-Maniac"	Bassmint Jimi Hendrix Osibisa	Chaos Kid	5:52
5.	"Enuff Is Enuff" (featuring Delirious D.)	Bassmint Art Of Noise	Chaos Kid	7:03
6.	"Lord Have Mercy"	Bassmint Black Nerd The Beatles	Chaos Kid

Still in the Bassmint (1992)

Still in the Bassmint cover

Released on October 14, 1992, this EP contains two sets of tracks: The Soul Side (track n° 1 & 2) and The Intent Side (track n° 3, 4 & 5). Only released on cassette tape, the EP was never released commercially, and its content has become very rare.^[1][10] In summer of 2009, Chaos Kid set up a MySpace page with tracks 1, 2 and 4 available for free download. They have since been removed from MySpace, but remain on YouTube. The live version of the fifth track, "Soul Intent", can be viewed on YouTube, often mistaken as "What Colour is Soul?". Chaos Kid confirmed the correct song title in a letter he wrote to Eminem, quoting the lyrics.^[11] Currently, the track remains unreleased besides the live version.

Track listing

No.	Title	Performer(s)	Length
1.	"Unrealistically Graphic"	Eminem & Chaos Kid	3:39
2.	"The Day It Dawned"	Chaos Kid	5:28
3.	"One-Handed Juggler"	Eminem	4:12
4.	"Conceptual Corrections"	Chaos Kid	4:38
5.	"Soul Intent"	Soul Intent	5:02

Soul Intent EP (1995)

Soul Intent (EP) cover

Self-titled maxi-single released by the group. Released only on cassette tape on February 25, 1995 via Mashin' Duck Records. At the time of its release, Eminem was still known under his original stage name of "M&M". A year after the release of Soul Intent EP, Eminem released his debut solo album, Infinite.^[12][13] "Biterphobia" contains samples of Jesus Christ Superstar's song "Heaven on Their Minds".^[14]

Track listing

No.	Title	Performer(s)	Length
1.	"Fuckin' Backstabber (skit)"		1:20
2.	"Fuckin' Backstabber"	Eminem, Proof, DJ Butter Fingers	3:24
3.	"Biterphobia"	Eminem	3:39
4.	"F%#@!n' Backstabber (clean radio version)"	Eminem, Proof, DJ Butter Fingers	3:24
5.	"Biterphobia (clean radio version)"	Eminem	3:39

References