Ashes 2 Ashes, Dust 2 Dust

“Ashes 2 Ashes, Dust 2 Dust” is a 1994 album by Tommy Wright III, released on cassette through his own Street Smart Records.

The story

Wright grew up in Whitehaven, Memphis, and followed his 1992 debut tape “Memphis Massacre” with this project while still a teenager. He recorded it in his bedroom on a four-track machine and sold copies through local stores and out of his car trunk. Mac-T-Dog appears on the opening track, and “Roll Call” shouts out contemporaries such as Project Pat, Kingpin Skinny Pimp and Lord Infamous. Street Smart reissued the album on CD in 2006.

Sound and production

Wright is credited with the production, arrangement and concept, with music credited to his Dead or Alive Productions. The sound pairs warped, mournful piano loops with distorted low end and rough, lo-fi vocals on tracks such as “Drive-By,” “Murda In Da 1st Degree,” “Meet Yo Maker” and “Hog Killin’.”

Legacy

Original copies became expensive collector’s items, and Wright began selling his catalog directly online after regaining the rights around 2009 and 2010. He is recognized as one of the earliest architects of the Memphis rap sound, and his work has been sampled by A$AP Rocky and Big Baby Tape and has influenced artists including Denzel Curry.

More from hip hop in 1994.