First group of DJ Muggs (Cypress Hill) who neither produces anything nor offers rap here, maybe just a few scattered scratches. Despite being from LA, the group sound East Coast because they're originally from NY. Production's almost entirely created by Joe "The Butcher" Nicolo, while a couple of cuts are offered by Daddy-O.
The title track is the musical work of Hank Shocklee, Keith Shocklee and Eric "Vietnam" Sadler. The group, formed by the brothers Brett "Brett B" and Sean "Sean B" Bouldin, in addition to the aforementioned Larry "Muggs" Muggerud, offers a decent rapping, nothing to note, I don't distinguish them sincerely, nor am I equally interested in doing so. This duo is insipid, without energy, presence and personality, it puts down generic, decent texts, nothing more. Brett B would later teach other artists, including B-Real, how to write lyrics.
It's the production that makes this record very close to a possible replay value (which I want to clarify immediately, by the way, it does not have), Nicolo creates a quite accessible and varied soundscape despite being in possession of a few and skinny instruments, making the best use of the drum machine in order to achieve much of its potential: skeletal and minimal to create simple, skinny, and funky rhythms ("Drums of Steel"), essential, polite ("That's How We're Livin'"), dirty and botched roughly in order to return a syncopated and rusty sound in an extravagant tune with dark bridge and various scratches ("Everybody Get Loose"): this cut has its potential, a shame that the performers aren't exactly up to the rhythms proposed by Nicolo.
The beatmaker, MVP of this tape, gives continuous variations to the simplistic beats, creating different and accessible rhythms aided by instrumentation live, despite the delivery of the duo is flowing but gray, tasteless. The peak's in the penultimate choice, when even the harsh-n-raw beat isn't inspired and the drum machine refuses to work; there's a pause of over half a minute on the hook, then the two performers return to spit something bleakly.
After starting out with the seminal Macola Records, the boys got a contract with Geffen, with whom they released this album distributed by the major Warner Bros.: the effort was welcomed positively by the public, but lukewarmly by the critics, some singles found space in the charts (the title track and "Drums of Steel"), others ended up in the movie soundtracks, "Mad, Mad World" ended up in "Colors" (1988), while "Take You Back" entered that of "Rocky V" (1990). This is the unique LP of the guys, then the group is dissolved.
Music: 7/10.
Lyrics: 5.5/10.
Vibes: 4/10.
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