S.A.S. (rap duo)
S.A.S. (formerly Strictly About Stacking changed in 2006 to Streets All Salute) is a rap duo consisting of brothers Sean Mega Williams And Melvin Mayhem Williams.
History
S.A.S came to the mainstream after they performed a freestyle rap on Hot 97 FM, the freestyle is featured on their mixtape 'Coming To America'. S.A.S is affiliated with New York-based group, The Diplomats. The group was born in the United Kingdom, North London in East Finchley but came to the United States in 1998. Mayhem is the older brother and Mega is the younger. Despite having come to the United States, the group is based out of and lives in the United Kingdom. They were signed to the label Diplomat Records in 2003. They were originally known as Dipset Europe and this name can still be seen on their official website. They are commonly referred to as S.A.S. or Eurogang. Eurogang refers to a group they formed in the U.K.. The producer from the group, Rephan, continues to produce songs for the duo.
They have however struggled to get support from music fans from their homeland, with many believing they do not 'rep' their birth country, United Kingdom. However they are found to have 'repped' London and the U.K in many of their songs. The U.K popular urban music scene (Not Underground scene) is dominated by grime music acts such as Dizzee Rascal, Wiley, Lethal Bizzle and more underground artists such as, JME, Skepta, Young Dot, etc. This left little room for general hip hop acts such as S.A.S. At times S.A.S have shown their willingness to integrate in the U.K music scene collaborating with artists such as Bigz, Sincere, JME, Baby Blu and Ghetto. However they have shown their frustration in not receiving the same amount of attention as major artists such as Dizzee Rascal and Wiley on numerous tracks of theirs including the Streets All Salute album tracks, Can You Feel Me and The Story Of Us. Their lack of attention in the U.K has led the brothers to mostly focus on winning the mainstream attention of American audiences as of late 2006 onwards. S.A.S still collaborate and make cameo appearances with many U.K artists including Haze (Eurogang member and long time friend) Sincere and Bigz (new member of Eurogang). Their appearances with London female rapper Baby Blu have seemed to decrease over the past couple of months for unknown reasons even though Baby Blu has previously defended the U.K rap duo's credibility in interviews.
Many urban music fans tend to feel that S.A.S 'put on American accents'. The rap duo have denied this on numerous occasions in magazine interviews and DVDs. Mega (of S.A.S) has stated that they simply use American slang words, as hip hop is American and Americans also use U.K and Jamaican slang words in their rap songs. This is a big debating point within the U.K urban scene as many feel that the brothers do not rap how they speak, and many feel that they do rap in English accents but add American as well as other national slang to their rap. American fans and rappers have been seen and heard to say that S.A.S are very and sometimes too English. Rappers such as Busta Rhymes had a video on Youtube praising S.A.S for rapping in English accents, and that it adds something different to hip hop. However many American audiences have said that they like S.A.S but do not understand their tracks because of their English accents. This debate proves to be the biggest obstacle for the rap duo, as they find it hard to win on both sides of the debate.
Whilst in the U.K Mega of S.A.S became involved in a feud with the grime group Nasty Crew leader Marcus Nasty. Mega made a 'diss' track to the leader and the whole Nasty Crew stating that nobody in the industry likes them as well as issuing threats. Jack Nasty of the Nasty Crew also made a return track stating that nobody in the U.K likes S.A.S or Eurogang; that they act and talk like Yanks and insulting Damon Dash for signing them. This feud seemed to end after the two tracks. Before this feud they have been previously embroiled in feuds and disagreements with Face of So Solid Crew and American rapper Rhymefest.
The rap duo are seen to have closer relations with Jim Jones and Juelz Santana and also use their image of a 'Rap Rockstar'. They seem to dress in a similar style to Jim Jones and Juelz Santana as well as setting many trends themselves.
Since arriving back in the U.S late 2006 after being banned, the duo have been seen with Jim Jones in his Emotionless video shoot. They have also been seen in pictures with the late Stack Bundles and Juelz Santana on their MySpace. Many believed that they were not official Diplomats but they have recently been added to their official site (dipsetmixtapes.com) confirming they are leading members of the rap group. They have also been seen on the video of Juelz Santana and Lil Wayne Black Republican video. It is not known when they plan to release their second album but they are currently making a lot of tracks, mixtapes and appearances.
Albums
- Who Dares Wins (2004/Mixtape)
- Streets All Salute (2006/mixtape Album)
- Coming To America (2006/Mixtape)
- The Gang's All Here (2006/Mixtape)
- The Gang's All Here Part 2 (2007/Mixtape)
- Powerful Music Vol. 4 (2007/Mixtape)
- Where Is S.A.S. (december 20th 2007/mixtape)
- The blitz (1st studio album)