Debut album of one of the many forgotten rappers of the eighties. The unknown Robert "Chill Rob G" Frazier arrives from Jersey City, New Jersey, and delivers a pretty solid and coherent album, which should be considered as worthy of the '89 underdog hip-hop products.
Chill Rob G is an original member of The Flavor Unit, in 1987 he signs with Wild Pitch Records and releases his debut single "Dope Rhymes" the next year. In 1989, the emcee releases this effort, entirely produced by The 45 King. Prince Paul, Pasemaster Mase aka Maseo of De La Soul and Nephie Centeno are also credited behind the keys. Instrumental music is made by Les July (bass guitar) and Jack Bashkow (flute and sax), scratches are courtesy of Crazy O.
His LP is the second to be published by Wild Pitch after the debut of Gang Starr, "No More Mr. Nice Guy". The music made by The 45 King is enviable: extraordinarily varied rhythms, ranging from simple and minimal funky to crackling and lively beats, to other eccentric and jazzy ones, always fresh composed of excellent samples (James Brown, The Police, Maceo & the Macks, The Real Roxanne, Kool & the Gang). This performer offers good lyrics, solid tracks and confident rapping delivered smoothly and clearly with Five Percenters influences. "Ride the Rhythm" is chosen in 1998 by The Source as one of 100 Best Rap Albums. Overall, it's a nice accessible and flowing record, the quality of the songs never drops below a certain level.
Released by Wild Pitch Records, the album peaks #60 among the rnb records leaded by four singles, among which stands out "The Power". Vibrant production by Nephie Centeno, abrasives breaks, the sweet voice of the uncredited backing singer Kim Davis to lighten and at the same time launch the piece, Chill Rob G flies with his rapping over this very particular, lively, cheerful, youthful soundscape.
The song is a natural hit and the dance producers soon noticed it. The German Eurodance group Snap! releases the track with the same name and with samples from Jocelyn Brown, Mantronix and "Let the Words Flow" by Chill Rob G, all these samples are unauthorized, nevertheless their song becomes a banger in Germany, Europe and United States.
The former owner of Wild Pitch Records, Stu Fine, wants to release the hit in US market, Chill Rob G consented, banking on the fact that the royalties of the Snap!'s song would guarantee him a secure career as a rapper, at the very least. Instead, Stu Fine creates a mess, yet another, but only one of the first, in the history of the tormented yet talented catalogue of Wild Pitch Records: he publishes the single "The Power" crediting it under the name Power Jam (former name of the Snap!) instead of Snap!, according to what for him is a reconstruction of a reconstruction of a The 45 King production, as he literally writes on the CD of the piece.
Arista Records, tied with Logic Records, the label of Snap! (Michael Münzing aka Benito Benites and Luca Anzilotti aka John "Virgo" Garrett III) has a deal with Stu Fine in Germany, but hasn't a deal in United States, where Arista wants to release Snap!'s hit. Unable to release the same single, Arista decided to re-record the song with other artists, hiring newcomer rapper Turbo G, formerly Human Beatbox at the live shows for the Fat Boys, and Penny Ford as the singer instead of using the Jocelyn Brown sample (or Kim Davis, in the original Chill Rob G track), clearing all the samples, releasing the song in the United States under the group name Snap! and giving birth to one of the most successful songs in the history of dance music and what would be the most listened song of the year.
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