Lords of the Underground — Here Come the Lords

Debut album for the Lords of the Underground, hip-hop group from Newark, New Jersey, originally from Raleigh, North Carolina, composed by Al'Terik "Mr. Funke" Wardrick, Dupré "DoItAll" Kelly and Bruce "DJ Lord Jazz "Colston.

The production is done entirely by Marley Marl and K-Def, the record is recorded in Marl's House of Hits, while as guests, the trio calls a couple of friends on some track. From the point of view of the lyrics, Mr. Funky, Doitall and Lord Jazz perform songs almost exclusively braggadocio, delivering their bars with an excellent rapping, energetic, smooth, dope. The three MCs manage to make every cut gritty and powerful, without changing the subject, and offer simple functional hooks. If from a lyrical point of view, the album cannot make many steps forward, the production created by Marley Marl & K-Def is one of the best of the year. At the beginning of the nineties, Marl is now given up, according to fans and critics he has already given his best in his previous works, and the last sound carpet worthy of his name was the one in the comeback album by LL Cool J in 1990. Here, the historic producer who lost the Bridge Wars, makes everyone change their mind with a high quality soundscape: fresh, raw and energetic funky boom baps, hard and pounding drums, smooth and velvety bass lines, splendid jazzy samples, he creates a practically perfect, flawless underground production.

The group is always fit with the rhythms and makes excellent cuts, taking the album up to 64 minutes with 15 long tracks, almost all over 4 minutes. Lords of the Underground are the first hip-hop artists to release records with Pendulum and the second hip-hop act to release an album with the label after Digable Planets: Pendulum is a subsidiary of Elektra, and in September 1993 is partially taken over by EMI, nevertheless the group obtains an Elektra / Warner distribution. The CD doesn't get a warm welcome from critics and, driven by five singles, it carves a spot on the Billboard charts, reaching the top 15 in the rap records: among the singles, to note "Funky Child" and "Chief Rocka", respectively in second and first place in Hot Rap. Consistent, energetic, lively and fresh album, in the year of the East Coast boom bap, it sets a standard that should be the quintessential one for underground hip-hop records.

Highlights: "Here Come the Lords", "Funky Child", "Madd Skillz", "Chief Rocka", "Sleep for Dinner (Remix)", "L.O.T.U.G. (Lords of the Underground)", "Lord Jazz Hit Me One Time ("Make It Funky").

Rating: 8.8/10.