Mo’ Wax — Where Are They Now: Sam Sever And The Raiders Of The Lost Art (1995)
Mo’ Wax was a record label started by James Lavelle in 1992, which closed about ten years later. Initially they released 12" singles and licensed a compilation from Japan of Japanese Hip Hop, until 1994 when they began releasing albums of their artists original work. While some of these artists such as DJ Shadow, DJ Krush, and Money Mark continued releasing music after Mo’ Wax closed, others have seemingly disappeared from the music scene. In this series I will look at each artist on Mo’ Wax and try to find out where are they now…
Sam Sever, aka Sam Citrin, released his debut Mo’ Wax 12" What’s That Sound? in 1995, credited to Sam Sever And The Raiders Of The Lost Art. But this wasn’t his first release, as Sam Sever had been part of the music industry since the 1980’s as a producer and artist.
Sever purchased his first drum machine in 1984 and had his first credit in 1985, producing, co-writing, and mixing Tricky Tee’s Leave It To The Drums, before working with Run DMC, Big Audio Dynamite, and 3rd Bass. In 1989 he teamed with Bosco for Downtown Science, replacing Jonathan Hoffman who had left following Downtown Science’s 1988 debut single. The group released three 12" singles and one album on Def Jam in 1991 which All Music later called “a shamefully neglected masterwork as forceful and hard-hitting as the albums Public Enemy was making during the same period.”
DJ Shadow was a fan, as was Dan The Automator, but Downtown Science didn’t release a follow up. Sam Sever later reflected on his early career with Blues & Soul:
My approach to making music was so spontaneous back then but I do have mixed feelings about some of my work. Back then there was an art to sampling if it was done tastefully, but today I listen to some of the stuff I did and think that it sounds a little bit lazy just taking other people’s music and looping it. I loved Marley Marl back then and I also loved listening to a lot of the old funk records that were being sampled at the time. But I didn’t want my stuff to sound like what other people were doing, so I was digging into a lot of rock samples and utilising other genres of music. At the time we did that first 3rd Bass album I was just a kid who loved making beats.
In 1993 Sever released a 12" under the name Raiders Of The Lost Art. Back In The Day featured four instrumental songs co-produced by Adam Gazzola, who had previously worked with Sever on songs by 3rd Bass and Downtown Science. Back In The Day was followed by What’s That Sound? released on Mo’ Wax in 1995, with the group now known as Sam Sever And The Raiders Of The Lost Art, and Adam Gazzola credited as engineer.
What’s That Sound? has remained a favourite of Mo’ Wax fans and it appeared on several Mo’Wax compilations such as Headz 2A, but Sever later revealed he never received royalties for any of his released on Mo’ Wax. He had sent Mo’ Wax twelve songs in total, with four appearing on What’s That Sound?, and a further four appearing on a test pressing which is presumed was for a planned release in 1996. The test pressing contains the songs Zone Alarm, Lost In Space (Higher), Keep On Shining, and a dub mix of Zone Alarm, and these have since been leaked online.
Following his brief work with Mo’ Wax, Sam Sever continued remixing and producing for groups such as Beastie Boys and Public Enemy, with his remix of Beastie Boys Intergalactic seeing him team up with Downtown Science’s original member Jonathan Hoffman.
In 2005 he discussed plans to start his own label, and also announced he was working on a new project called “THE SAM SEVER PROJECT” which was intended for a 2006 release. He discussed this work in an interview with Bag Hat Vinyl, and described it as follows:
It’s a project I’m currently putting together that will feature many different artists with many different musical styles. I’ll probably do a few tunes myself as well as showcase my talent as a writer, producer and beat maker.
What happened to this, and whether it ever came out, is unknown. On his website in 2008 the Sam Sever Project is listed as part of his Discography with a release date of 2006, but no label or further details are given. In 2009 Sever’s website redirected to his MySpace page before closing completely, but he appears to have been uploading new music online around this period, though it has since also been taken down.
In 2016 Sam Sever provided a remix of The Rammellzee’s posthumous release Paint To Pave The Road, and the same year he offered the Roland TR-808 and TR-909 he had used with Run DMC and 3rd Bass for sale. He has since remained fairly quiet, having deleted his social media accounts and closed his website, though he appeared in a 2012 issue of FRANK 151 where he lists his Top 10 Rock Tunes on pages 148–149.
So where is Sam Sever now? I really don’t know.
