Mitchell "Paperboy" Johnson was born in San Diego and later moved to Oakland. After signing with Next Plateau, between 1991 and 1992 he began recording his first CD.
At the end of 1992, the album was launched by the promotional single "Ditty", which becomes a great commercial success: constituted almost like a stereotype of a rap track, it's a bravado track bathed in sexual lines, lyrically stopped at 1984 and the beat is crafted around Zapp and James Brown samples and wrapped in a g-funk canvas. The song flies up the charts to the top ten of the Hot 100, is certified platinum by the RIAA and is nominated for a Grammy for Best Rap Solo Performance, losing to Dr. Dre in 1994.
In the wake of the success of "Ditty", the album is released in January 1993, recorded between New York and David Cochrane's Los Angeles studio, which helps with some live instrumentation. The title track is the most accessible choice on the disk, the rest doesn't sound good, although the album's sole producer Rhythm D is trying hard and he manages to launch his career with that lucky single, later working with some heavyweights such as Eazy-E, MC Ren, Bone Thugs-n-Harmony and Snoop Dogg. The album achieves a comfortable return in terms of sales and is certified gold by the RIAA in a few months. Paperboy fails to land another memorable song and becomes one of the many one-hit wonders in rap. "Zooted" and "Bumpin'" might sound better than usual on some days yes, in any case it's not an essential album for the casual listener.
Rating: 4/10.
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