Twelve tracks plus three remixes make up the first studio album by Ricky Murdock aka Askari X, an Oakland boy who grew up amid family abuse and stormy teenage experiences.
He approaches the Oakland hip-hop scene in his teens and founds the Righteous Black Guerillas (RBG) group, before joining the Uhuru Movement, which is quite numerous in Oakland. In 1991, at the age of sixteen, he's ready to release his debut album, but ends up in prison. The album is postponed to 1992, when it comes out published by the local label Righteous Records, produced entirely by Gino Blacknell, co-produced by Ansar Tracy and entirely performed by Askari X, who is still behind bars when he decides to release the album.
On a simple, minimal, lo-fi and very cheap production, with a tight, sparse and syncopated drum machine, Askari X delivers lyrics concerning mainly pro-black and militant themes, against police brutality and with references to Islam. His rapping style is slow, flowing and hardcore, it deserves a better musical carpet than the one provided by Blacknell. He later became one of the sources of inspiration for the hip-hop dead prez group, which will pay homage to him several times on their records.
Rating: 6/10.
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