Derelect Camp (spelled with a “e” instead of an “i”) was a Hip-Hop collective from Queens, New York who made some noise in the underground during the mid-nineties. Unfortunately, like many other talented groups from that time, they dropped a few impressive singles but no album. At a time when Hip-Hop was slowly becoming more and more commercialised, hardcore, lyrical, and underground groups like Derelect Camp, Camouflage Large Clique, and Now Born Click were being ignored left, right, and centre to make way for more and more inferior, radio-friendly, under-skilled MCs.

Details on the group are sketchy to say the least, there’s not much information out there so I don’t know the exact details. As far as I’m aware, late 80s Hip-Hop trio Black, Rock & Ron (Lord Black, The Ruler Master Rock, and Ron Scratch) teamed up with rappers Jakpot and M.I. aka Mizzac to form Derelect Camp along with three other members who I haven’t been able to name (if you know who all the members were let me know in the comments section). Regardless of their individual names however, the camp as a whole was very impressive with all of the members possessing lyrical skills. The group released a couple of singles on Next Plateau Entertainment in the mid-nineties and “Move It In, Move It Out” was definitely their standout track. This was one of my favourite joints back in the day, it was played on MTV a few times but was hard to find in music stores, it also featured in DJ Red Alert’s album “Kool DJ Red Alert Presents…”

Derelect Camp released the single “Hold On/Prillz” a year earlier in 1996 and it contained the potentially overground-appealing track “Hold On” but I didn’t really hear it played on any radio station…

“Prillz” was a decent record too but it too remains a vinyl-only release which is now out-of-print and hard to find…

I have fond memories of watching the music video to “Move It In, Move It Out” on Yo! MTV Raps, in fact I recorded it onto VHS but that’s now lost, thankfully someone uploaded the above video. Back in 1997 I was looking forward to a full album from Derelect Camp but sadly nothing more became of them. Like many other credible mid-to-late nineties rappers, Derelect Camp didn’t get an album deal from any major label and that’s a real shame because they obviously had skills. Yet another overlooked rap group from the 1990s.

Derelict, Disregarded, Neglected.