Robert Lee Green Jr. is a rapper from Hayward, California, under the moniker Spice 1, acronym for Sex, Pistol, Indo, Cash & Entertainment. Born in Texas, the boy divides his time between music and the streets, until he realizes that he has the opportunity to earn more with music and with less risk. In early nineties, Spice 1 signs with San Leandro, California label Triad Records and releases this extended play composed by seven tracks produced by Ant Banks and co-produced by himself, with live guitar executed by Stan Keith, Milton Lynch and Shorty B. MC Ant is the unique guest of the CD.
Spice 1 makes his debut in 1991 with an EP: he doesn't start badly, on the contrary, it brings out two honest and solid cuts, performing with a smoothness and energetic delivery on beats aided by calm jazzy vibes, but then after ten minutes the quality level drops drastically and boredom rises.
Ant Banks' production is consistent with the West Coast scene of the period: he uses a lean and poor drum machine to provide tight and minimal boom baps to the rapper, who often delivers syncopated, slow, laid-back on these simple rhythms. Neither the hooks nor the soul samples manage to ferry these tunes (later taken up on his debut album) towards the harbor of sufficiency. This gangster rap effort enters rnb album chart, starting the career of one of the pioneers for the whole San Francisco Bay Area hip-hop circuit. 5/10.
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