Sid “S.I.D.” Reynolds has the distinction of being the first and only rapper to be mentored and brought into the record industry by Rakim. But after releasing just one single as part of the duo Sid & B-Tonn (1990’s RAL/Columbia release “Deathwish I” b/w “Deathwish II”), he would find his footing as a beatmaker, crafting singles like Queen Latifah’s “Just Another Day” and Freddie Foxxx’s “So Tough” as an in-house producer for the Flavor Unit. In 1996, Sid returned to Long Island to form Crimedanch Cartel, a massive crew meant to be Wyandanch’s answer to Wu-Tang. The project imploded almost as soon as it started but not before dropping two of the most impeccable slices of unknown ’90s East Coast rap I know of in the white-label rarities, “Realism” (featuring Rakim) and “Money is the Key,” with LL Cool J.

JS: Were you a rapper first, and then a producer or the other way around?
S.I.D.: Around ‘90, I was just out of high school and on the grind. Ra was somebody I always looked up to in the neighborhood—he was three years ahead of me—and he saw the grind. Next thing you know, he made a call to Lyor Cohen, and we out at Rush. Twenty minutes later we got Russell, Lyor and Rakim all on the line and it’s Sid and B-Tonn getting signed to Def Jam/RAL. That was the start of me coming in the door as an artist but that project led to me being felt as a producer. Russell and Lyor started stressing to me, “Kid, you got production talents, start focusing on that also.” They put me on my first project, Nikki D’s Daddy’s Little Girl, which went gold. Next thing I know, I was on Slick Rick projects, and when Freddie Foxxx got signed to Flavor Unit, I did his joint “So Tough.” After that, me, Q-Tip and Apache all came together and did “Gangsta Bitch.” I started working with Latifah on Black Reign, did eight joints on that album. I became a part of that whole family, working with Naughty and damn near everything that was coming through Flavor Unit. I did two songs with Rakim that didn’t come out, and LL also.

JS: You only ended up putting out one record as Sid & B-Tonn. Why?
S.I.D.: I was looking at our video on Youtube, and people are asking what happened. Everybody was saying they thought we should have came. We were a part of the Rush Associated Labels situation with JMJ’s group the Afros, No Face and Bitches with Problems. That whole structure folded when Def Jam split with Columbia, and all those groups got caught up in that. But I had a close relationship with Russell and Lyor, and they pushed me in the direction of producing. Me and Lyor was tight.

JS: Not that many people say that…
S.I.D.: Lyor took a liking to me for some reason. I used to go over his house—he gave me access other people didn’t have. I’d be at Rush, and he’d be on the phone with his big cigar, four or five phones around him and he got shit done. It was an experience being there.

JS: How come the Sid & B-Tonn record was just two versions of the same song? I liked the remix better than the single version…
S.I.D.: That was supposed to be the version that came out. But Lyor wanted that Eddie Kendricks sample. He was trying to find that balance between the street and radio with us. But everybody definitely did like the street, second version much more. We had a song called “Smiling Faces,” off the Undisputed Truth song, that was supposed to be the second single, but it got lost in the wind. We had joints.

Sid & B Tonn - Deathwish

JS: Was B-Tonn from Wyandanch as well?
S.I.D.: B-Tonn is Rakim’s wife’s brother. He’s actually my best friend since kindergarten. We were just vibing on music on the regular. When Rakim hit the scene it had such an impact on kids in the area. It was so powerful. And then when he started to coach me that made it iller. All these other cats were in line before me—his homeboys that were trying to do it—but for some reason he took to me. And I was younger. That caused a lot of tension. Eric B. never liked us because this was something Rakim was doing aside from him and he didn’t really like that. [Freddie] Foxxx was Eric B.’s artist at the same time we were Rakim’s artsts. Foxxx always felt like he wanted to be embraced by Rakim but the situation couldn’t happen.

JS: Were you a part of a larger crew?
S.I.D.: I used to set up my equipment in the park when I was 10 or 11. I was known as the littlest DJ around the hood. Rakim was a part of the Love Brothers with these guys Rashan, Snake and Cool Breeze and G-Stro. We was the ones right up under them who wanted to be a little like them. Me and Belal from Groove B. Chill used to do parties together. I gotta give props to Groove B Chill also because, right before I signed to RAL, they were having meetings at Warner Brothers and they brought me along. I just did a song with Chill for a Nike commercial, actually.

JS: For people that are unfamiliar with the area, can you describe the vibe in Wyandanch?
S.I.D.: It’s like a little Brooklyn. If you wasn’t nice with your hands or holding something, you couldn’t survive. The area’s so small, you would think there ain’t shit going on out there but it’s so live.

JS: Kid ‘N Play got bottles thrown at them and had to leave Wyandanch Day in ‘87. Was that a typical greeting for artists who were wack back then?
S.I.D.: Look at OJ da Juiceman getting booed [at BB King’s in New York]. The crowd wasn’t checking for it because he didn’t fit. We had Rakim kicking that futuristic shit that the world went crazy over back then. The God was just so lyrically in tune with the mind. Kid ‘N Play was rapping happy and dancing, kind of where we at now, but Rakim was like, “We gotta go a little deeper than this. We got Gods and Earths out here in Wyandanch, we got knowledge, righteousness, serious shit.” The mentality we had was you can’t come out here with no bullshit. I think with Kid ‘N Play, they were supposed to represent Queens but it was like “Nah, we on this shit out here.” I think they got a reality check. Rakim changed the whole scene. You had to be spitting something deep. Like how we be pissed off right now with the lyrical content today? It was the same then. Rakim made every rapper step up.

I brought LL to Wyandanch Day one time. He was living in Dix Hills at the time, and we stopped at a party in North Babylon and he was a little nervous. I was like, “This is supposed to be your hometown.” It’s funny, we had just come back from a conference in New Orleans, where Rakim actually made LL cry. We was down at the hotel lobby. Scrap Lover was there walking around with his dick in a pizza box opening it up to chicks, talking about you want a slice? Ra had a drink in his hand and all these cats surrounding him. L’s trying to make conversation but it was like “get outta here.” After a while L said, “Ra, let me see that drink,” and he drank some and gave it back to him. There was a little tension. L got himself a drink, and Ra took his drink from him and poured it in a plant. L got in Ra’s face and they kind of squared off. Before you knew it there was 30 dudes standing behind Ra like, “L, you want to die today?” Next thing you know, little tears was coming down his eyes.

Sid with Rakim

I remember I was playing ball with Rakim in Wyandanch, and LL and Cut Creator pulled up. This was back when L still wasn’t taking his Kangol off. You could tell he was nervous around Rakim but he wanted to be friends with him. So Rakim was like, “Watch this yo, Im gonna knock his hat off.” The whole time we playing basketball, Ra is trying to knock his hat off, L’s pulling it down tight. We cracked up. Any rapper, I don’t care who it is, all of them is on Ra’s dick, man. On Jay-Z’s last four records, he’s done give Ra a shoutout. Ain’t nobody from back then still getting props from cats today like that.

JS: So, who was your main influence as far as production?
S.I.D.: At one time it was Q-Tip.

JS: Apache’s “Gangsta Bitch” was credited to “A Tribe Called Quest” on Apache’s album but on the single there was an “LP version” credited to you, and theirs as the “Original Version.” How was that track made?
S.I.D.: I did most of the track. Q-Tip came in the studio with the sample, he laid the bass and part of the drums on it, and him and Shakim, Latifah’s partner at Flavor Unit, got into it over money. He decided he wasn’t coming back to the studio. I was in the studio at the time with Apache, Chill Rob G and Treach. Apache was like, “Sid, fix this up.” I added some chords, put the snares and kicks on it. That’s me and Chill Rob on the hook going “Gangsta boogie!” They gave me a nice little fee, and mixing credit. Same thing happened on [Queen Latifah’s] “U.N.I.T.Y.” It was me and Kay Gee together. I ended up getting paid off and taking the money.