Debut studio album by Kevin "Brotha Lynch Hung" Mann, rapper from Sacramento, California. The album is dedicated to Q-Ball, cousin of the author who's killed around the recording period of the project and to whom the interpreter dedicates a track on the disc, "Liquor Sicc". Hip-hop passionate from an early age, Mann began rapping in his teens, at a time when he ties up with street gangs, joining the Crips and getting shot in an attempt to break up a fight between Crips and Bloods. In '94 he records the album and the following year he publishes it. Production is done by Brotha Lynch Hung, guests are his half-brother Sicx, Zigg Zagg, Mr. Doctor, Zoe, Hyst, Ron Foster and Babe Reg.
Brotha Lynch Hung takes the lyrics where they need to be taken, that is, to the edge of the limit, beyond the limit, in the end it's still a horrorcore record. It's the tape that leads him to be defined as one of the pioneers, if not the pioneer, of horrorcore, despite the fact that before him dozens of artists have published similar material from every region of the Country. The production assists him competently, without adding anything memorable to the shocking lyricism offered by the rapper: Brotha Lynch Hung chooses dark funky rhythms that are supported by shrill and lethal g-funk synths, minimal bass lines, dry and gaunt downtempo drums, sometimes disturbing tones, almost completely giving up the use of sampling. His delivery style is dynamic, fluid, velvety, inspired by the brightest East Coast MCs, he runs in a powerful way and with an unstoppable flow on beats that sound very functional to his rap.
The MC of Sacramento announces in the intro that the record isn't an easy listening, it is not. Sold as one of the most impressive moments in the horrorcore scene, the album is a kind of slow, raw, grimey, bloody b-movie splatter / slasher, with blood shrinking on walls and floors. Brotha Lynch Hung could easily be your generic rapper, if he chose to do a gangsta LP like almost everyone else apparently did in the mid-nineties, however, by delving into the obscurity of this sub-genre, the interpreter manages to carve out a very large place in the horrorcore side, dropping a series of disturbing texts worthy of the darkest psychopaths. MC moves from crying relatives to eating babies, dismembering bodies, ganging up with friends, comparing himself to Dahmer, revealing alternative methods to abortion, and eating other people.
Published by Black Market Records, distributed by Priority, the album boasts a good commercial success, enters the pop chart, reaches the top 30 of rap records, in a short time becomes a cult album and is one of the best sellers of the season. Brotha Lynch Hung opens his career, failing to replicate the success of this debut in his later works. Composed of 18 tracks including 7 skits (plus thanks) that continuously interrupt the flow of the album and make it more cumbersome than necessary, it's harsh, brutal and tight rap, it's Robert Rodriguez rap more than Romero rap. Not one of my favorites, a must for horrorcore fans. 7.5/10.
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