Arturo "Kid Frost" Molina Jr. was born and raised in Windsor, California, later moved to Los Angeles, California, and occasionally lived in Guam and Germany. Passionate about hip-hop, he began his music career as a tribute to his rival Ice-T. In the mid-eighties, Kid Frost releases singles on Los Angeles-based labels Electrobeat and Baja. DJ Yella is credited for the scratches in his single "Rough Cut" (1984). At the end of the eighties, the emcee signs with Virgin Records and drops a couple of singles, among which his signature song "La Raza", that became an East Los Angeles anthem and leads the boy to make his debut studio album.
Tony G produces half the record, the other beatmakers are Kid Frost, The Baker Boyz, Will Roc and Julio G. The disk starts immediately strong with the Kid Frost classic that deserved the sensational airplay on Radio Los Santos: fantastic smooth jazz bridge on the simple chorus, smooth delivery of the rapper who, like Mellow Man Ace the year before, mixes English and Spanish. Simple, essential, light funky rhythm invented by Tony G, calm delivery, excellent relaxing cut for "La Raza".
There are no extraordinary lyrics in this Chicano rap first album, which is a bit weak, devoid of other strong or fresh cuts like that one. "Hold Your Own" has a simple and minimal raw beat produced by Tony G and The Baker Boyz, with dark bridge on the hook and fast and regular delivery of Kid Frost. "Straight to the Bank" follows, where someone in production — The Baker Boyz, Tony G is credited as co-producer — has made a mistake in the rhythm that comes out annoying and unbearable thanks to some extravagant sound in the background, simple and minimal rhythm, decent delivery, but it's difficult to go on, you can skip it.
"Come Together" is a sort of ballad with simple beat courtesy of Will Roc, skinny and heavy drum machine, intro, then decent delivery and functional chorus; there's a nice guitar solo in the finale, but the rest is forgettable. "Smoke" is slightly better: simple and minimal musical carpet provided by Frost and Tony G, the rhythm isn't good, while the rapping is decent and there is an absurd bridge done badly, lackluster. Kid Frost doesn't stop his delivery, but doesn't save the cut.
"Ya Estuvo" is another rare successful track, sufficient, has a minimal and decent rhythm by Kid Frost and Tony G, is a cheerful beat with a lively bridge and good delivery in Spanish (then also in English): here Frost is strong and syncopated and raps fluently. The next tune is weak due to simple minimal and funky production created by Julio G and Tony G, banal hook and decent delivery of the Latin rapper.
The title track is decent: minimal, hard, skeletal and funky soundscape realized by The Baker Boyz and Will Roc, functional chorus scratched with dark bridge and aggressive, smooth and effective delivery of Frost. "In the City" is the last true song, simple, minimal and funky rhythm invented by Will Roc, decent sound on which the MC delivers syncopated. The tenth and final track is a remix of the opening tune. And it's not a good remix: simple musical carpet, same jazzy bridge on the hook, there are really few variations compared to the original, this is practically a copy of the same track with a more accentuated drum machine.
Released by Virgin in all continents, the disk is ignored by critics and embraced by public, entering the Billboard 200 and launching the emcee's artistic career in the industry. I recommend listening to "La Raza", it's a really good cut. 4/10.
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