This is the classic CTRAFFIK and Caliba street anthem that was inspired by the fans. Whenever we’d be out promoting on the street or performing at our shows, the crowds would chant “Tha Union is on Yo Blocc!” After a while we figured it would be a great chorus idea. On this track, the sound of people screaming “Blocc” during the hook is sampled off the film footage from one of our live shows.


The beat was produced by the Production Duo known as Street Scores. Unfortunately one of the two producers for this record passed away right after we released this single.

We recorded and mixed most of “On Yo Blocc” at the On Point Entertainment protools studio in Lil Haiti (Shouts to Buggah tha Guvnah). The track also features Balli who brings his Jamaican Dance Hall flavor to the beat.


Being that Miami is a Mix of Black, Latino and Caribbean influences, this bi-lingual hip hop track represents our city perfect and is one of my favorites to perform live.

Lyrics:
Intro (Balli):Tha Union,We’re rolling with Tha Union
Tha Union is On Yo Blocc, We’re on Yo Blocc Yeah, Yeah, Yeah


Chorus:
Tha Union Is On Yo Blocc (Blocc, Blocc, Blocc-a)
Tha Unio is On Yo Blocc, Tha Union is on Yo Blocc


Verse 1 (Caliba)
I’m the industry’s enemy but the streets love me
Cuz I don’t follow your rules but my name buzzing
Now who that is?
Caliba Caliba
Who that is?
Caliba Caliba
Who That is? Caliba Caliba Caliba Caliba Caliba Calibaaaa
And I’m Killing the Internet, I got a cyber buzz
They can call me Roger Troutman cuz I get so much Computer Love
But don’t get it twisted bra’
Not new to this business shit
I was ripping campuses when pampers you was pissing in
Me and Traffik got the blocc locked down
From Perrine to Goulds, Liberty City to Chico Town
We stay on the paper chase
I’m in to buying big weight
Then moved to Florida and made it real-er state
Cuz!


Chorus


Verse 2 (CTRAFFIK)
No me importa, no me importa un cajar-ashun
Oye mi herman-ashun,
Me cago en su madre-ashun
Es el Colombi-ashun from Little Havan-ashun
Con el encend-ashun,
Partiendote el cul-ashun
Soci-ashun!
This is for my Chicos and my Haitians
That Dade-County fire,
Live Blazing up the nation
Police come around?
No Informa-shun
Excuse me con el I’m sorry
Yo No Espik Ingl-ashun
CTRAFFIK that chico you know
I’m on the blocc with tha U.N.I.O.N. and its on
We got the street team strong
Got the rank in the zone
Any blocc and spot
That you on we on,
Because…


Chorus


Verse3 (Caliba and Ctraffik)
I’m on the Blocc like hood rat chicks and gang groupies
They cheering us on cuz we living like gangsta movies


I’m on the Blocc like EBT, Bootleg DVDs, Boycotting McD’s
Petty Thieves and robberies


Listen, I’m on the Blocc like eighths and O’s by Arab stores
Known to take your H. and O.’s, You know!


I’m on the Blocc like a dunk with the rims big as hell
I’m on the Blocc like those immigrants that just got here


I’m on the Blocc like dope holes, more dope sold
The streets is talking, that’s why my flow’s so dope, oh!


I’m on your Blocc like Crime, your Blocc like weed smoke
Not your favorite rapper he behind the VIP rope!


Chorus


Outro (Balli)
Tha Union is On Yo Blocc, We’re on Yo Blocc Yeah, Yeah, Yeah

Check out a summary of the article below:
Local love
As hip-hop’s stars hit South Florida, give a shout-out to some hometown heroes.
by Dan Sweeney

Any hip-hop head worth his chain is familiar with at least a few South Florida artists — certainly Trick Daddy, Pitbull and Uncle Luke. People who are deep in the scene likely picked up DJ Khaled’s 2006 CD, Listennn: The Album. But anyone who doesn’t follow the ebbs and flows of local hip-hop with the obsessive care of a hand-washing Howie Mandel may not know who’s hot and who’s not. So we’ve put together the following list of 10 South Florida artists who, we believe, are ready to pop. Get with them this Memorial Day weekend in Miami Beach and elsewhere, prove your love early and then, enjoy being a part of the entourage when they’re richer than God. We’ve put them in alphabetical order so as not to play favorites. That way, we can expect our invite to the champagne room from all 10.

Tha Union: Caliba and Ctraffik each put out solo albums a couple of years ago, Xperience and The BumRush respectively. The duo’s recent pairing, the single “On Yo Blocc,” has sold out online and created regional buzz. Visit Thaunion.com.

This was the lead track from the Block Politics Mixtape hosted by DJ Epps. It was an official warning shot that Tha Union would no longer promote the “Ready 2 Strike” mixtape series. That particular DJ who was using the title pretty much stopped using it as well right after this track came out in 2005. This was a typical battle rap / lyrical track over a crazy beat to set the tone for the whole mixtape. Yes, DJ Choppa Jones is still up next, look out for a collabo mixtape with him soon enough.

This song is from the Block Politics mixtape featuring DJ Epps and it marks a turning point in my political philosopy. It was recorded and released in late 2005 when I was still a HARDCORE Democrat, trying to promote the idea of using the 2006 midterm elections as a last chance to remove the Bush Crime Family from office. Little did I know that the Democrats WOULD win that election, take control of congress and then let that asshole Bush and his fucking buddies walk off without a scratch. No impeachment! Back then I was naive enough to believe that the Democrats actually stood for the Constitution, the rule of law, justice, (yadda, yadda, etc and a bag of cookies). We now know that the Democrats are a bunch of coward ass motherfuckers and that the Republicans are still assholes. Fuck them both!

Recently when George Carlin died I was watching a bunch of his videos on YouTube and heard him say that he too abandoned the Democratic Party early on in his life, probably for similar reasons. If you want to know where I stand politically these days then listen to Common Sense. Peace!

The infamous Tha Union Logo T-shirt that our Street Team has been sporting since 2003 is on sale now - Order it online (click here). You can also order Merchandise such as coffee mugs, stickers, jackets, magnets, thongs and more with Tha Union Logo on it. Send us a photo of yourself with any merchandise and we’ll send you a FREE CD and other prizes.

About:
This was recorded in 2003 back when I was recording at Song/The Lab Studios with Caliba, Twizzo and the other artists in the video. This is obviously before the creation of Tha Union and from the looks of the video you would have imagined that we had enough rappers and producers in that room to kick out albums and videos for years. But that projected ended in early 2003 after the release of the Songo Sampler then in that summer Tha Union was born and before the year was up the first Union Sampler was released. These were all freestyles – you can find more music from Twizzo at his MySpace page.

About:
This compilation of clips is of shows byt Tha Union (CTRAFFIK & Caliba) featuring DJ Self Born. The clips are from 2005-2006 and this first one was a live show down in Florida City. The second clip is from a show in South Beach. Personally, I always love doing shows in Florida City because those crowds are among the most hype and most fun to entertain because they WANT to be entertained.

About:
This song was written and recorded back in 2003 for one of the first mixtapes by Tha Union. Caliba came up with the structure of the hook but we collaborated on the names of the rap groups we included and the final product. Funny enough, the rappers that I was talking about in my verse (sounding like Jay-Z and Juvenile) both hardly exist anymore. Remember that in 2003 Jay-Z was at the top of his game and had not yet dropped some of his later classics (like the Black Album) so for me to predict that those Jay-Z-sounding wannabe rappers would fade out along with Jay’s popularity was damn near prophetic (I should play the lotto). We had fun performing this song at many shows in South Florida especially when we had to take the stage right AFTER some wannabe rap jokes who took offense to this track! You had to see the mean mugging looks on their faces, but we didn’t care because the crowd loved it anyways.

About:
This song was originally written and recorded in the Little Havana recording studio / apartment that I like to call Abuelita’s Duplex Studios sometime around 2004. This one became one of our biggest underground hits so far (and it still gets us lots of positive feedback) and it even ended up being DJ Epps‘ Saturday Night Radio show intro on 103.5 The BEAT. Caliba and I took turns writing our verses so that we made sure the first line of our verse would match the last line of the previous one. Listen to it an you’ll see what I’m talking about. It was written and recorded in one evening but it’s staying power is timeless! There will be a video for this, I’ll make sure of it!
This song was included in Rushed Again.

http://www.browardpalmbeach.com/2004-07-08/music/earache

Earache
Tha Union organizes against the fakers and haters of hip-hop
By Audra Schroeder
Published on July 08, 2004


Last Friday night at Ohm nightclub in West Palm Beach, I learned a few things: (1) Hardly anyone drinks beer at a hip-hop show. It’s all about Hypnotiq, Grey Goose, and good ol’ Hennessy with lime. (2) Hats are in. It doesn’t matter if it’s one of those annoying mesh trucker caps, a fedora, a fez, or a beret. As long as you have the appropriate amount of self-confidence, you can pull off just about anything. (3) A DJ’s flow is crucial if the dance party is to continue. At Ohm, DJ 2nen threw out a mixture of old and new jams and a remix of Black Sheep’s “The Choice Is Yours” that dropped so much bass, I ended up smacking my own ass on the dance floor. Ain’t no shame, ladies. (4) Substance in hip-hop may be watered down in the mainstream, but the flavor was full and robust that night in West Palm. Why was I bumping and grinding with a bunch of strangers and trying to down a glass of Hennessey with a straight face?


It was only fitting that Tha Union, an independent, South Florida-based hip-hop promotion and production company, was throwing a show for Independence Day. Twenty-two-year-old Julio Linares is the company’s co-founder and does the graphic design and studio engineering at his makeshift studio in Miami for all of the recordings and mix tapes under his No Espik Inglis imprint. Currently on the roster is Linares himself (who goes by the name Ctraffik and just dropped his debut The Bum Rush), Caliba (who just put out his latest LP, Xperience), and DJ 2nen, who has released various mix tapes. The three met in a recording studio in early 2003, and by the summer, Tha Union was formed.


“It’s a three-man operation with a street team of supporters to back us up in the streets from Key West to Tallahassee to Colombia all the way to California,” Linares explains. “I pitch in for all the expenses from my paycheck, as do Caliba and 2nen. And my car’s in the best shape, so I do most of the driving.”


Linares, who’s been influenced by Manu Chao, Redman, Ol’ Dirty Bastard, Black Moon, Gang Starr, and Dean Martin, also has some critical words for the current status of hip-hop.


“Hip-hop has gone to the dogs,” he says. “You have rappers like Chingy, J-Kwon, Young Gunz, and Cassidy touring and headlining shows. All rappers are sounding and looking the same these days. There is no innovation, no purpose other than to feed watered-down product to an already saturated market. The stylists tell them how to dress, the producers and label execs tell them how to sound, and there are no more artists. Mos Def, Talib Kweli, and Kanye West are bringing it back, but only time will tell if substance in hip-hop will return to the forefront.”


So last Friday night, I trucked on up to Ohm to see whether there was any substance to Tha Union’s Hip-Hop Xplosion. The show was scheduled to feature Miami rapper Rick Ross, Caliba, Ctraffik, and SoFla Kingz and was in honor of DJ 2nen and Rick Ross’ new mix-tape release, The Future of the South. Tha Union’s reliance on word of mouth certainly paid off, because by midnight, the club was bumpin’ like something out of House Party, despite the city’s recent under-21 ban. DJ 2nen was spinning a funktabulous mix of breaks and crunk to an audience doing the freak nasty (girls were dancing half-naked in cages and on the bar as a sign of their, uh, independence from clothes). In a small, white room (with fluffy white fur walls and white couches) to the side of the main dance floor, several men and women with meticulously coifed hair mixed carafes of cranberry and orange juice with chilled bottles of some sort of liquor, the name of which I couldn’t see. When asked what everyone was drinking, a short, gold-toothed fella by the name of Li’l Dirty replied, “That over there is the party.” I took that to mean it is the shit. Dirty winked and concurred. My Heineken looked pathetic in comparison.


It was about 2 in the morning before anyone took the stage. And by that time, I was stuck in the white fur room, straining to see the small stage over a sea of hands in the air, people wavin’ like they just didn’t care. The distant strains of Caliba’s infectious jam “Walk It Off” bounced off the kitty-pelt walls as girls did body shots for wide-eyed guys. Feeling claustrophobia set in, I declared my own independence and made a beeline for the club’s side door. Outside, Linares was grinning. “The owner’s happy,” he said. “He’s never seen this many people here on a Friday.”


As long as Tha Union doesn’t try to market its own energy drink, reppin’ South Florida hip-hop may be its game.

This interview took place around the end of the year in 2006. The camera guy was Isnel who I know from back in the day but I have no idea what he was pointing the camera at (the clouds painted on the wall?) I also need to remind him how to spell my name… sometimes to find me on YouTube you gotta search for “Tha Union” or “Caliba” instead… but in time people will know “See-tee-are-ay-double-F-I-kay”.