A book shouldn't be judged by the cover. Not even an album should be judged by the cover. But here I invite you to make an effort, because from this cover you can immediately understand a couple of things.
First of all, it's not an inspired record: I mean, how long does it take to think such this cover, two nanoseconds? "All centered, name at the top in small divided by the point instead of the dash, and the album's title in the center; all caps, we do write duck-yellow on a black background, 'cuz I write this in the dark". And what does it want say? That you were in the dark inside the recording studio? This would explain a lot, but hell homie, what are you doing and why are you doing it, for whom, huh? Come on!
Second of all, it's easily understood that it's a minimal LP, you can see immediately from the cover that the production is dated, probably a generic funky minimal set... and unfortunately instead it's the skinny-n-raw beat of ten years ago, with dusty drum machine that comes out from the high shelves of the basement always cold, rough and skeletal... Grandmaster Flash, that is, one of the first pioneers, sure, but also a dude that in '79 was an avant-garde MC, three years later he dropped an immortal classic 12", the following year yet another classic 12", and in '84 he was out of his time.
In 1990, he's no longer in following the game, he's now sitting on the bench waiting for the bus to go home forever. Yet, here Flash provides the rhythms. I don't say they're bad, but wow, you should copy from others at this point, rather than doing a job that leads listeners to rinse their ears with the latest album of 2 Live Crew, you should copy from the best ones! Or sample something decent, instead Flash falls on clichés like ESG's "UFO" ("Get Into Something", rare almost decent cut) and Syl Johnson's "Different Strokes" ("Tell It Like It Is"; I allow myself this little thing: this is one of the worst samples of this track I've ever listened to, and I've heard it on at least 70 different hip hop albums), and sampling the Beastie Boys.
I don't know what to say, really. The record is published by Fresh Records, but it's one of the "oldest" albums of the season. The cover doesn't deceive you and promises endless lame hooks, a delivery between the almost decent and the annoying wet, also it'll be impossible to face the songs beyond the four minutes, yes, that's right. Maybe it's the end, and you haven't started the album yet. You can legitimately laugh at the title, 4/10.
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