Unique Image, a Brooklyn duo formed by Kaseem "5ft" Reid and Ewart "DJ Evil Dee" Dewgrade, meet Kenyatta "Buckshot" Blake, backup dancer from Brownsville who joins the group to form the Brothers who Lyrically Act and Combine Kicking Music Out On Nations, Black Moon. The trio releases a single and gets a contract with Nervous Records, an independent label that mainly deals with house music: Black Moon are the first hip-hop act to sign for the label and start working on their debut album with the help of Walter "Mr. Walt" Dewgarde, brother of DJ Evil Dee with whom he'll form the production team Da Beatminerz.
The project is entirely produced by Beatminerz, DJ Evil Dee achieves a few more rhythms than Mr. Walt, but the sound is perfectly cohesive and the difference between their rhythms isn't heard. The production provided by the Dewgarde brothers recalls a funky-jazzy boom bap so bad, dirty, hard and dark, that it's fresh most of the time, represented by a skeletal, slow, tight and dusty drum machine, by a tough bass, and gloomy samples layered from jazz, soul and funk. This raw sound is the ideal landscape for the lyricism expressed by the MCs in this listening hour, with lyrics dealing with topics as braggadocio, thug, weed, guns and violence, as well as continuous threatening hardcore lines and verses that are closer to ignorance than to consciousness, in order to compose a effort that is tight, very hard and with dystopian features.
Crowning the album, there's the stunning performance of Buckshot, killing every cut and ripping the record definitively. The group is also formed by the rapper 5ft, nevertheless, the contribution of the boy is so minimal that it can easily be compared to that of any other guest: he appears in three tracks, "Son Get Wrec" is his only solo cut, which is also the only song where Buckshot isn't featured, for the rest of the time his performance doesn't differ, in terms of lyrics and execution, from that of the main rapper. The other guests on the LP are Smif-N-Wessun, Brooklyn duo at the debut, Dru Ha, employee of Nervous Records with whom Buckshot will later found Duck Down Records, here on his only appearance on a studio album, and Havoc of Mobb Deep.
Buckshot's rapping style is hardcore and powerful, energetic, smooth, angry and unstoppable. If you listen to the record several times, you almost immediately realize that, of the 14 cuts made in this album, the seventh is the weakest or one of the weakest: I didn't really understand why, until I took a look at the tracklist. Buckshot isn't there and his absence is evident, you feel it: he dominates every track, many are soloists, alright, but his performance is so smooth, crude and rough, that the beats provided by the producers feel light and crisp. At age of 18, he possesses the breath control of a veteran rapper, dope flow, hardcore style, and provides a flawless performance.
Distributed by Nervous Records via their hip-hop subsidiary Wreck Records, the CD reaches the rap record chart and releases four singles, including "Who Got da Props?", the first song made by the group, which soon became a hit in the underground circuit. Given the due proportions, like one of the KRS-One albums with Boogie Down Productions, this is practically a Buckshot solo record under the name of Black Moon. The album is of considerable importance for the East Coast scene of the time, it's a raw and hardcore document, dark and minimal, wonderfully very close to noir rap, but without the cinematic outlines and the numerous mafia references: at the end of 1993, the MC of Brownsville is ahead of everyone.
He's even too far ahead of the rest of the hip-hop scene: his record gets a good critical reception, but not the universal acclaim that the insiders will reserve for the albums that Buckshot has directly and indirectly inspired, he also gets a good commercial success, but, even in this case, it's not in the least comparable to that encountered by later artists who have listened to, embellished, modernized and improved the style, sound, and themes presented in this project. The group ends up disbanded for a short time after the release of the album and Buckshot ends up being one of the most forgotten and unfairly ignored hip-hop artists in the history of the genre. Fortunately, his work is deemed a classic in retrospect and is totally appreciated by hardcore hip-hop fans: rightfully so, it would be one of the best solo rap albums of the year!
Highlights: "Niguz Talk Shit", "Who Got da Props?", "Buck Em Down", "Black Smif-n-Wessun", "Make Munne", "I Got Cha Opin", "Shit Iz Real", "Enta da Stage", "How Many MC's".
Rating: 9/10.
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