Jeffrey "Def Jef" Fortson was born in Manhattan, New York, but he only found success as a professional rapper when he moved to the other coast landing in Los Angeles as a young man and signed with Delicious Vinyl.
He produces his own rhythms assisted by The Dust Brothers, Mike Ross, DJ Eric Vaan and some live instrumentals, choosing a funky, minimal and frenetic set that relies heavily on the samples (James Brown, Joe Tex, Cheryl Lynn, Run-DMC, Ben E. King, Rolling Stones, Public Enemy, Treacherous Three and "UFO" by ESG, in addition to the usual "Different Strokes" by Syl Johnson) to carve their own songs, delivered with a not-too-impressing flow.
Except for "Do You Wanna Get Housed", in which he exaggerates with a sample looped too tight that easily becomes annoying combined with an equally annoying beat, minimal and too harsh, this is a quite accessible record and also the ballad ("Do It Baby") is quite decent, despite the length. "Just a Poet" closes the LP with an high note, is an excellent jazzy midtempo rhythm, nice production by Dust Brothers and Mike Ross, decent smooth delivery, good cut.
The record features Etta James and N'Dea Davenport. Supported by three singles ("Droppin Rhymes on Drums", "Black to the Future" and the title track), it's welcomed positively by critics for its socio-political connotations, which go little beyond the militant cover, because while listening to the album the kid spends most of his time boasting like almost all his competitors in the eighties, and distributed worldwide by Island Records, hitting the shelves in Canada, UK (4th & Broadway), Europe, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia and even Japan in 1990 (4th & Broadway).
After appearing on the single "We're All in the Same Gang" as part of the West Coast Rap All-Stars (1990) and appearing on the TV show "In Living Color" that same year, his next effort released a few seasons later proved to be another commercial flop, despite favorable reviews from critics, and convinced him to abandon his rapping career to focus on producing tracks that would lead him to work with some of the best hip-hop artists of the nineties.
Rating: 6/10.
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