Loud Records has reportedly ditched The Beatnuts, according to a source with the company. Loud will apparently still release the band's Best Of... album, which is due out in February 2002, but will not release any more new material.

The Queens duo of Psycho Les and Juju burst onto the scene in '93 with their Intoxicated Demons EP. Their first Loud LP, titled The Beatnuts remains a hip-hop classic. The nuts also released Stone Crazy, A Musical Massacre and Take it or Squeeze it with the label.

The boys are first and foremost producers, but handle all the mic work themselves, with occasional guest spots by the likes of Big Pun and Greg Nice. Also, rumour has it that originalBeatnut Fashion (now known as Al Tariq) is talking about re-joining Les and Big Ju.