Blending traditional music elements with modern hip-hop music is one of the most interesting sides of new hip-hop duo Too Phat.

The fusion of traditional and modern sounds is evident in one of their tracks, bo-M.O.-h, which features a clever mixture of ulek mayang melody and hip-hop rhythms plus a dikir barat segment. The track is available in Too Phat's debut album, Whutthadilly?

Joe Flizzow, 20, and Malique, 22, the duo who make up Too Phat's are not your ordinary kind of guys. They are very talented and have a natural inclination towards hip-hop music.

"We did the album for the love of music. We hope that hip-hop will be accepted in this country just like other music genres," says Joe.

Joe adds they've included traditional music elements in the song not because they want to spoil the Malay music but to preserve it.

Malique says bo-M.O.-h is about not letting fame go to one's head and keeping one's feet on the ground. He assures fans that they will at least love one song from the album.

Too Phat's debut album Whutthadilly? is a collage of hip-hop styles, from ol'skool hip-hop to smooth R&B-tinged rap. The album not only showcases Too Phat's excellent rapping but also features a whole slew of who in the local R&B and hip-hop scene.

Rhythm & Blues quartet Innuendo is featured on Jezzebelle, a utopian mix of R&B and hip-hop, while Lady D from Emberz of Soul performes elegently on bo-M.O.-h. Other labelmates from Positive Tone who also perform on this album are Reefa, Naughtius Maximus, Ruffedge, Soulstreet, First Borne Troopz, DJ T-Bone and G from Da Joint.

The duo also did two cover versions My, My, My, a remake of the Johnny Gill clasic and Too Phat Baby, which chorus has an interpolation of Too Hot originally sung by Kool & The Gang. The former showcases Haze and Same of Innuendo on vocals while the latter, their first single and features the R&B group Ruffedge.

Malique and Joe met through the Internet in early 1998. They found out that they had similar interests in making hip-hop music and soon began challenging each other's ability to rap and rhyme on the Net itself. Eventually the two got together and produced a demo which landed them performing gigs in the underground hip-hop scene.

One year and more than one hundred performances later, they have ammassed an incredible following. Such is the demand for Too Phat that unmastered studio mix of the track Lil' Fingaz became Hitz FM's Most Wanted hit at the end of November last year.

It was lter followed by its first single, Too Phat Baby which was released by the end of December 1999. The song made such an impact that it was "Hitz FM's Showdown Champion" throughout the Millennium weekend. Too Phat's album also went to number five on the Tower Records Charts.

Malique says Too Phat is more lyrical than typrical. "We are more into the lyrics than the hard side of hip-hop," he adds. This is proven in many of the album tracks. The lyrics are clever, witty and laced with sarcasm. Highlights of these lyrical and street slang mastery can be found in I Like You Now and Bla, Bla to name a few.

On the group's name, Malique says Too Phat means "cool" while the album's title is derived from the phrase Whats The Deal?

The story of Too Phat got signed to Positive Tone is a classic one. One of Too Phat's producers Illegal, just happened to play one of the tracks to Positive Tone's managing director Ahmad Izham, who wa working in Playtime Studios.

Izham was excited with the song saying, "I've never heard hip-hop like this," and demanded to see Too Phat right away. A meeting was quickly set up between Too Phat and Izham and Paul Moss, Positive Tone's Artiste and Repertoire director and a deal was quickly concluded.

The 15-track album is indeed an exciting album. Also included in the album are cleverly used samples of the "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" TV theme song and Sharifah Aini and Broery Marantika's Seiring Jalan.

The album was recorded at Playtime Studios and Haze World Studios and mastered at Mastereing One.

It looks like Wutthadilly? is getting a lot of attention from hip-hop fans. although it was released two weeks ago, it has already sold 5,000 copies.

At a Press conference recently, Izham says Whutthadilly? is different, original and marketable.

"The music has turned us on. We hope to market this album the same way we did with OAG's albums which means it will be availabe internationally."

"We plan to sell this album everywhre that is possible and we're confident of doing this since we have good ties with EMI International and Indie label abroad."

an extensive promotional campaign is already in the pipeline for Too Phat. Internet promotions are also being planned.

Besides several "live" promotions around Malaysia in the next few months, Too Phat's second single Jezzebelle will be released simultaneously with the music video this month.