In 1987, South Bronx hip-hop group Boogie Down Productions released their debut album, "Criminal Minded", which achieved good commercial success and was praised by critics, selling hundreds of thousands of copies. Despite the positive results in sales, the label they were signed to, B-Boy Records, struggled to pay royalties to the group and this caused a breakdown in the relationship between the group and the label, leading to a lawsuit that was settled out of court. The boys left B-Boy Records and signed with Warner Bros. Records through the mediation of Ice-T.
In the summer of 1987, KRS-One and Scott La Rock had a contract with Warner Bros, when on August 27, Scott La Rock dies after being shot while with friends, including BDP member D-Nice. After Scott La Rock's murder, Warner Bros. cancels the deal with KRS, however, the boy decides to continue his recording activity, recruiting new members: KRS's new wife Ms. Melodie and his brother Kenny Parker, with whom he had just reunited, join Boogie Down Productions, while the original member of the group and main co-producer of the first CD Lee Smith is abandoned by KRS-One in order to look for a label.
In 1988, the boys released the album "Man & His Music" in memory of Scott La Rock, a 75-minute effort that also features a song by D-Nice, the artist Scott La Rock was helping when he died, released by B-Boy and Sweet Heart. Around the same time, the group signed with Jive / RCA and completed their second studio album. The murder of his friend greatly influenced KRS-One, who chose to distance himself from the violent themes that had characterized his previous record and began to direct his lyrics towards more socio-conscious and political topics, also changing his moniker from The Blastmaster to The Teacher. The title and cover of the effort reference Malcolm X.
One of the best efforts of KRS, probably his best socio-political album and one of the first of this subgenre. The production is simple and rough, even too minimal trying to bring back the sound of Scott La Rock (the few low points in production are corroborated by the lyricism of the MC), while KRS drops versatile good lyrics that range between socially conscious hip hop documents ("My Philosophy"), massive political cuts ("Stop the Violence", "Necessary"), on the drug trade ("Illegal Business"), on AIDS ("Jimmy"), and lighter ones, with a hard and clever braggadocio ("Ya Slippin'", "Part Time Suckers", "T'Cha-T'Cha"), to the props to their own crew ("Nervous"), to some dissing more or less understood ("I'm Still #1").
Distributed by RCA under BMG, it obtains a comforting response in sales and was welcomed positively by specialized reviewers, obtaining the gold record almost two years after its release and being considered one of the best projects of the decade in retrospect. KRS-One creates, basically alone, a classic album. A second classic album. Consecutive. Signed Boogie Down Productions. He starts a solo career that will consecrate him as one of the cardinal figures of the whole genre, however, except for the excellent new-debut, he'll not be able to return to the excellent lyrical levels expressed in his first two efforts in the late eighties. Like "Criminal Minded", this is an essential record for any hip hop heads.
Highlights: "My Philosophy", "Stop the Violence", "Illegal Business", "I'm Still #1", "Necessary".
Rating: 8.5/10.
No comments:
Post a Comment