Having ended up in prison in Rahway, New Jersey, after being involved with the Lifers Group Juvenile Awareness Program to prevent young people from pursuing a life of crime, Maxwell Melvins had the idea of creating a rap album by prison inmates, using music as a means of getting their message across to young people, while also raising funds to keep the program alive.
After pitching his idea to several labels and being rejected, Melvins finds help in David Funken Klein, president of Hollywood BASIC, a subsidiary label of the Disney Music Group. With Klein's help, within a few weeks, the Melvins and some other guys recorded an entire EP, which was produced by Doctor Jam and Phase 5, and published in 1991.
Digging into 1991 hip hop, digging badly, you might come across this album which has generously positive average ratings on the web, disproportionately. I'm not saying that it's not good and it probably also seems quite long to be an extended play with its forty minutes. But, look at the tracklist: there are practically three tracks, two repeated, three instrumentals, an interlude and another song.
It's all in the average here, the drum machine is frenetic, skinny and regular and does its job, several elements in the background liven up these few simple jazzy rhythms, while the group shoots syncopated and smooth bars interrupted by often violent bridges on the functional hook. The disc doesn't impress, not even in tracks like the opening one, despite a defined concept and an infinity of verses.
The album won several awards and one of their videos was nominated for a Grammy, which allowed the group to also release a follow-up LP with Hollywood Basic, which was published in 1993.
Rating: 6/10.
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