DJ Kutaculous

D.V.S. Mindz’ 2000 debut, Million Dolla Broke Niggaz, offered a sonic timeline of the Topeka rap outfit’s storied history, with tracks dating back to its 1994 origins. DJ Kutaculous, the group’s greenest recruit, appeared on a handful of tracks, mostly augmenting the atmosphere with fluid turntablism. While Kutt’s DJ skills are well known around Top City, his reputation as a music maker has grown steadily since going into full-time production. In the past eighteen months or so, Kutt has produced an astonishing 1,500 tracks, working 24-7 from his cramped home studio. Just about every underground MC and/or producer within a 100-mile radius has cut a track at ‘Tac’s house, and a number of them crop up on G-Coffee, a compilation of session highlights.

Kutt’s strategy is simple and effective: let the beats and rhymes do the talking, and stay the hell out of the way. Kutt’s sparse backdrops strip the songs to their bone marrow, never hogging the spotlight from the MCs’ verbal viscosity. Members of D.V.S. also make numerous appearances — DL, D.O.P.E. and Killa the Hun each turn in smoking solo joints. The Dante-esque drama of DL’s “Four Devils” finds the MC sparring with his demons, referencing Poltergeist (Come to the light, Carol Anne) for good measure. Hun throws a barrage of chin-checking puns, ribald one-liners and inside jokes on “Killa!!!” (Best line: I got rappers out here quittin’ like they names was Andrew Golota.) But Kutt reserves some of the most savory selections for the end, including Fat Cat’s self-produced “Life in the Storm,” which juxtaposes the rapper’s gritty tales of tribulation with a buttercream bass line. Kutaculous and the D.V.S. crew have been maligned for everything from thin beats to thick bravado over the years, but the Coffee compilation offers ample evidence that the haters weren’t paying enough attention.