When John “J Def” Mason thinks back to his youth in San Francisco in the early ‘90s, he remembers hip-hop not merely as an interest, but as a way of life. His enthusiasm was shared by Charles Oswald, aka Rhymskeme, and together the duo recorded their debut album Fogville on a four-track recorder, operating under the name Eyedlmode. Few can claim to have the original tape—there are maybe 20 legitimate copies in existence. But now, 30 years later, Key System Recordings has given this obscure gem an overdue reissue, breathing new life into a record that captures a hazy yet sincere vision of pre-tech boom San Francisco in the ‘90s—a moment that can only be revisited through lucid storytelling.
Mason began as a mobile DJ in high school, working under the name J Def Da Monk of Funk, and moving in the same circles as the West Coast contingent of Rock Steady DJs like DJ Q-Bert, DJ Apollo, and Mix Master Mike, before they became Invisibl Skratch Piklz. Making the transition to production was inevitable among the DJ community. Mason’s peers got Casio keyboards before the arrival of the Ensoniq SQ-1 allowed them to make “Depeche Mode and Detroit-type of beats.” After convincing his mom to get him an Ensoniq EPS sampler, J Def got serious about producing, using the hardware he would later use to create his first record.
By the time he started college, J Def had a radio show on KCSF 90.9 FM. “KCSF was like a clubhouse,” he says. “Everybody just realizing we could make this or make that. That’s when I met Rhymskeme. When we did Eyedlmode, it wasn’t a group we planned to put together. It was an extension of the work Charles had done before. We were just putting more in.”
San Francisco, California…