SINT ANDRIES MC'S

Hiphop from Antwerp, or as they say themselves from thé city.

Sint-Andries MC's (named after a city-quarter in Antwerp) consists of rapper Too Tuff and KG. Too Tuff is an alias to Tom Van Dijk, in daily life an aid to a socialist euro-MP, and the owner of a past in hiphop with Fresh Beat Productions (of whom also Ya Kid K was part, best known from the monster-hit "Pump Up The Jam" with Technotronic) and Souterrain Productions.

The group was put together for a project by Quinte of the rapgroup ABN : he was looking for acts to fill a CD "Frithop is dood" (Frithop is dead, Frithop was the nickname rap in Flemish got). Because Too Tuff had already taken part in ABN's "ABNormaal" on the song "Politie Pollutie", he was also asked to put something on it. He quickly got together with a rapper KG (who was part of Free Rhyming Projects for a while) and DJ Serious to provide the beats. All this resulted in the song "Represent 2000 Antwaarpe".

The song was immediately picked up by a number of radio stations and became - although it wasn't even available as a single - a big radiohit early 1999 ("Antwerp has an anthem now" was a title in Het Nieuwsblad). This funny rap in the Antwerp dialect with a fat beat underneath seemed to be the right song at the right time.
They don't see rapping in dialect as a gimmick : "We take it just as seriously as rapping in other languages. Ok, there have been a number of productions that weren't really up to standard, but record labels are so busy shopping these days. We certainly want to make hiphop that is up to standards with American stuff as far as skills, beats, scratches, flows and punchlines go." he said to Humo. "The scene is exploding right now, and becoming more professional. It is a competition, and only the best survive. Belgian hiphop is still underground and that is a very good thing. Rapper can still do what they want over here and haven't been recuperated by the bizz as in the States".

A few months after 'Represent", the Sint Andries MC's already had a second hit at hand, with their actual debut on the maxi-cd "Werelduniek" (world-unique). They also participated in a tour with a number of the bands from the "Frithop is dood"-cd (such as ABN, Krewcial, Vaginaal and Philly Bustaz).
A full cd (probably with a number of songs in English on it), is being planned for after the summer. Too Tuff has also taken up the job of columnist (he reports on the life and times of the people of Sint-Andries in "Metro" of De Morgen), later went to work for P-Magazine.

GroepsLeden :
- Too Tuff (aka Tom Van Dijk)
- KG
- DJ Serious (beats)

Buy CD's of this band at

Albums :
- Werelduniek (1999, Mental Recordz / Bang!)
- Hiroshima Stijl (2000, Mental Rekordz)

Websites :
- some of the pre-SAmc's history of Too Tuff at Rawbeats
- The site ofMental Recordz

Forum :
- Read the messages/questions about Sint Andries MC's
- Add your message, question, cd- or concertreview ... about Sint Andries MC's