Rough House Survivers

Rough House Survivors released one album, Straight From the Soul, in 1992. DJ Swinn and MCs Dread One, Kev, and Roberto made up the quartet, who were lucky enough to deliver their rhymes on top of some of Tony Dofat's (Mary J. Blige's What's the 411, Monifah's Mo'hogany, Heavy D's Blue Funk) best production work. Although its stature was bolstered somewhat with appearances from Brand Nubian's Grand Puba and Sadat X, as well as C.L. Smooth -- not to mention singles like "Check da Back Pack" and "You Got It" -- Straight From the Soul slipped through the cracks and never went beyond cult status as a great golden-age-era album. ~ Andy Kellman