Tried By 12
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Album Summary
East Flatbush Project, a Brooklyn-bred hip-hop outfit with something serious to say, dropped 'Tried By 12' in 1996 through Loud Records — a label that was, without question, one of the most vital homes for raw New York rap during those mid-decade years when the streets were talking and the booths were on fire. The single was forged in that classic boom-bap furnace, sample-driven and unrelenting, with production that hit like concrete and lyrics that came fast and furious, the way Brooklyn always meant for them to come. It arrived at a moment when New York hip-hop was fighting for its soul, when lyrical density and regional authenticity weren't just stylistic choices — they were matters of honor.
Reception
- The title track 'Tried By 12' earned serious rotation on New York rap radio and moved through underground hip-hop circles like a rumor that turned out to be true, building the group a reputation as a lyrical force to be reckoned with.
- Critics and tastemakers in the hip-hop community responded to the release with genuine respect, singling out the group's rapid-fire delivery and uncompromising wordplay as hallmarks of a crew that understood what East Coast rap was supposed to feel like.
- The release found its most passionate audience in underground hip-hop communities rather than mainstream charts, a distinction that, for devotees of hardcore New York rap in the mid-1990s, carried its own kind of prestige.
Significance
- The title track ascended to cult classic status within mid-1990s New York hardcore rap, serving as a proud testament to Brooklyn's tradition of street-conscious, lyrically aggressive hip-hop at a time when the borough was staking its claim loudly and unapologetically.
- The phrase embedded in the record's title — 'tried by 12 than carried by 6' — tapped into a street aphorism already etched deep into the culture, giving the release a resonance that reached well beyond the underground and connected with listeners who understood exactly what was at stake in those words.
- As a Loud Records release, 'Tried By 12' stands as a genuine artifact of one of the most important independent label stories in 1990s hip-hop, a label that worked tirelessly to get uncompromising New York rap into wider distribution without asking it to soften a single edge.
Tracklist
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A1 Tried By 12 (Radio Edit) —
2:56
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A2 Tried By 12 (Original) —
2:58
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B1 Tried By 12 (Instrumental) 89
2:57
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B2 Tried By 12 (Acapella) —
2:36
Artist Details
East Flatbush Project was a Brooklyn-based hip-hop duo comprised of Stress and Reek, who emerged from the raw, unfiltered streets of East Flatbush in the mid-1990s with a sound that hit harder than a bassline at two in the morning. Their 1996 anthem "Tried by 12" became an underground thunderclap, blending menacing production with vivid street narratives that painted their Brooklyn neighborhood in vivid, unflinching detail. They were the kind of artists who reminded you that hip-hop, at its truest core, was always about bearing witness to a life that mainstream America wasn't quite ready to look in the eye.
