Duck Down and Smiff n Wessun:

Shooting from the Hip (Hop)

By: Chris Faraone

Seven years ago Smif-N-Wessun slipped off the rap map. After scoring a hit single, "Get Up," with Talib Kweli in 2001, the Brooklyn duo seemed to disappear.

But when Tek and Steele shoot into Harpers Ferry on Friday night, Smif-N-Wessun will be promoting "The Album," their second release since 2005. Go ahead and call it a comeback.

"Everything is on level 10 right now," Tek said by phone from New York. "Every one of us is cranked up."

By "every one of us," Tek is referring to his Boot Camp Clik, a rap collective that includes the groups Black Moon, O.G.C. and Heltah Skeltah as well as Smif-N-Wessun. Though they never received as much credit as Nas and Biggie for revitalizing East Coast boom bap, Tek and his comrades rate as some of hip-hop’s most respected MCs among die-hard heads and artists.

"People say our first album (1995's "Dah Shinin' ") is a golden-era classic," Tek said. "But while that's great and all, the only thing we think about now is the future."

But Boot Camp's future didn't look so bright at the dawn of the 21st century. The collective's Duck Down Records lost its distribution deal with Priority Records in 2000 and the Boot Camp groups struggled to get their music to the masses, including Smiff-N-Wessun, who at the time had changed their name to Cocoa Brovaz after getting sued by the Smith and Wesson firearms company.

"I wouldn't say our morale was low since we've always been a group that stepped out on the ledge," Tek said. "We just looked at it like it was taking people a little longer to embrace us again.

In 2005, Duck Down secured a deal with Navarre Corp. to relaunch and get its artists back on store shelves. That year Boot Camp put out three albums-- including a reborn Smif-N-Wessun's "Reloaded"-- and landed back on top of the independent hip-hop scene.

"Everybody's happy about the moves being made and the records that are being put out," Tek said. "We're also thinking bigger. It’s more than just Boot Camp now that's on Duck Down."

Other successful Duck Down artists now include Buckshot, Little Brother producer 9th Wonder and Sean Price. Last year Duck Down co-owner Dru Ha released "Stereotypez," the debut CD from Boston rap squad Special Teamz, which opens for Smif-N-Wessun on Friday.

In more recent news, Duck Down has signed deals with Bronx rap deity KRS-One and the University of Pennsylvania-schooled group Kidz in the Hall, an Ivy League duo that recently won headlines with its Barack Obama anthem "Work To Do."

"This is how you get things to move forward," Tek said. "We have kids who are in junior high school, who are just getting introduced to Boot Camp, coming out to shows."

For Tek, there's no better career safety net than a crop of young enthusiastic fans.

"People are giving the energy right back to us again," he said. "Crowd surfing is my thing these days."