Craig "Craig G" Curry began his career in the recording industry as a child prodigy alongside Marley Marl, releasing his first single "Shout" in 1985 at the age of 12, an electro rap track produced by Marley Marl and released on Pop Art Records under the pseudonym M.C. Craig "G". This was followed by "Transformer" (1985) produced by Marley Marl and an appearance as a human beatbox in the song "Oh! Veronica" (1986) by Glamour Girls (a female rap group also composed of Sweet Tee and Glamorous, one of the female rappers of the Juice Crew All Stars along with Debbie D and Roxanne Shanté), produced by Tony D.
Having joined the Juice Crew, in 1988 Marley Marl released the single "Droppin' Science" for his debut album "In Control, Volume 1", Craig G is the main rapper on the song, which is published by Cold Chillin' Records and Warner Bros. Records. That same year, Craig G was featured on the single "The Symphony", recorded with Masta Ace, Big Daddy Kane and Kool G Rap, produced by Marley Marl, and became a major hit for the Juice Crew (#20 among rap singles), considered one of the pivotal moments in the history of hardcore rap according to specialized critics, one of the best hip-hop songs of the decade and the first great posse cut in rap.
Following these numerous successes with the Juice Crew, Craig G is signed by the major Atlantic Records and at the age of 16 he debuts with his own solo studio album. He's on the launch pad, he can't go wrong. Unfortunately, the album isn't exactly what I would expect from a major member of the Juice Crew, it's almost the exact opposite. The production, mixing and every instrumental is provided by Marley Marl. TJ Swan is the only guest on the album on "Why'd You Have to Go?". The cover features the author playing pool on a black and white background, his name is in the top right in white between two crowns, the bottom one is upside down, on the left the rack triangle of the pool includes the album title, almost imperceptible.
The album is a colossal disaster. Serious candidate for worst album of 1989 and worst album of the eighties. Craig G (Juice Crew All Stars) doesn't seem to know what to do and almost shouts for fifty minutes over this obscene and domineering music, hard and meaningless, lyrically he says little, very little. Musically, the rapper is obscured all the time by house... hip house rhythms? Realized by Marley Marl, why? In theory, it'd also be interesting as a production, but here the rhythms really suck from track 1 to track 11 ("Blues" is without beat, but sucks the same): simplistic, heavy and obscene production, trivial hooks, and rare samples make up one of the worst productions in Marley Marl's career, if not his worst ever.
Released by Atlantic, the label doesn't promote it, it's a Juice Crew album so it'll sell itself, right? Well, not exactly. The best online hip-hop magazine RapReviews gives it a score of 1/10, considering it one of the worst albums of the 80s, and deservedly so. Not recommended. But if you've unfortunately arrived here, I recommend instead of going over the Matt Jost review of this album.
A couple of years later, Craig G released a sophomore with Atlantic, then left the scene. Best remembered as a prominent freestyle battle rapper who battled the famous Supernatural on several occasions, in the early 2000s the emcee wrote and coordinated the battle verses used by Eminem and other performers in the movie "8 Mile" (2002). Then, he wrote the character Dangerous' lyrics in the film "Get Rich or Die Tryin'" (2003), featuring 50 Cent.
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