You Rate It: Brooklyn Rap Great Chip Fu Hits Us With “Tear Gas”

Words by Jesse Serwer—

Chip Fu, hip-hop heads over 30 may recall, was the featured MC in Fu-Schnickens, the Brooklyn trio known for lighthearted rap tunes like “La Schmoove” (with A Tribe Called Quest’s Phife) and “What’s Up Doc,” the MC debut of one Shaquille O’ Neal.

With a super speedy rhyme style just as influenced by the fast chat of U.K. dancehall as by, say, Big Daddy Kane, the one-time Guinness world record holder was one of the MCs at the forefront of melding reggae and hip-hop, on tracks like the Fu-Schnickens version of “Ring the Alarm.” It’s not surprising then that the MC has returned from the realm of “where are they now” with a full-on reggae alias, named Jungle Rock Jr.

Both Chip (who recently visited us as a guest on the LargeUp Sessions radio show) and Jungle Rock show up on Stop Playin Vol. 2, a new mixtape you can download from our most recent edition of Mixtape Mondays. From that mixtape, a preview of the East Flatbush native’s upcoming solo debut, War Paint, comes “Tear Gas,” which meets reggae and rap halfway with some tuff (and, of course, fast) deejaying over a triumphant, drum-and-horns driven hip-hop beat. Watch the video below, tell us what you think in the comments section and look out for our upcoming LargeUp TV episode with Chip.