Main Source : Hip Hop Classic That Broke Out Nas

wwetvsports21
Aug 16, 2016
3 min read

When people think of hip hop classics or legends from Canada the usual suspects are mentioned such as Maestro Fresh Wes or Michie Mee. However, there is one group who helped changed Toronto and hip hop history in Main Source.

This past July K-Cut (Kevin Mckenzie), the hip hop producer celebrated his birthday and also the 25th anniversary of Main Source's "Breaking Atoms". K-Cut along with his brother Sir Scratch made up the trio of Main Source with Large Professor from New York. A quarter century ago on July 23rd 1991 was historic for this simple reason as stated by K-Cut in an interview with Toronto Star.

“A lot of people were hitting me up and thanking me and the group for 25 years for Breaking Atoms,” K-Cut said recently in Toronto. “What I always get is: ‘This is a classic record. This is Nas’s first appearance on your record. You guys made history.’”

“Live at the Barbeque,” is now known as the song that made Nas famous in his debut on record when he lashed out the lyrics : “Verbal assassin, my architect pleases/ When I was 12, I went to hell for snuffing Jesus.”

“Nas was just always around us,” K-Cut said.

That’s just one head-spinning anecdote of hip-hop hobnobbing. For instance, K-Cut taught DJ Premier some sampling tricks, Gang Starr’s Guru and Eric B. popped up in the video for “Watch Roger Do His Thing,” and Eric B. and Rakim used to give the group their studio downtime.

There’s more. Large Professor tutored Busta Rhymes and Mobb Deep on beat-making, and Main Source regularly rocked the live circuit with A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul and Brand Nubian.

“It was like a New York clique,” recalled K-Cut, who moved to Toronto in the ’90s. “These groups were always mingling, hanging out and doing shows together.”

READ MORE OF THE INTERVIEW HERE

So, why doesn’t Breaking Atoms have the same profile as landmark LPs from those peers?

K-Cut points out that the group was signed to the indie Wild Pitch, which lacked the resources of labels like Jive. And it couldn’t help that Large Professor split before the group’s second and final album (which featured the Lox’s debut), even dissing them on Tribe’s “Keep it Rolling.” (Everyone’s now on good terms, K-Cut says.)

In Canada, the record isn’t always mentioned with the other pillars of the nascent Toronto rap scene.

“I didn’t know about the Canadian connection until much later, which seems strange,” said Shad, host of CBC Radio’s Q.

“My mind goes mainly to Maestro and Dream Warriors and Michie Mee when I think of that era in Canada, but that record really made a mark and brought Nas to the world . . . I wonder if it just wasn’t played as much on Canadian TV/radio?”

Large Professor went on to a decorated production career, while still in-demand K-Cut produced for Maestro, Big Pun and Queen Latifah. Currently, he’s the touring DJ for Kiki Rowe.

And as long as titans like Nas and Premier are still nodding to Breaking Atoms, he says he’s content.

He recalls the day he came up with the name Main Source; he was 16 and working at an Odd Lot discount store when it hit him.

“I thought Main Source was dope because everything comes from some source, and that would be us; the whole sampling, the funk beats, the looping.

“We would be that group. Everybody would have to check for us.”

You can find out more about the history of Toronto Hip Hop with "Before The 6: Now or Never Toronto Rappers & Hip Hop Documentary".