Deric "D.O.P." Angelettie and Ron "Noble Ahmen-Ra" Lawrence come together to form the Two Kings in a Cipher, an Afrocentric duo that releases a single album full of party and braggadocio tracks. The two future members of Puff Daddy's production team The Hitmen met at Howard University and formed the group.
Like other guys of the time, Deric Angelettie and Ronald Lawrence are rappers before becoming producers, reaching a little fame with Puff Daddy's Bad Boy later. Noble Ahmen-Ra is the producer of the whole tape, D.O.P. is credited as co-producer. Larry Seals plays the sax in a couple of songs. Here they build some decent tunes, but their style is generic, syncopated, very similar to the other players of the early nineties and their lackluster production doesn't help the album to run properly: in the midst of these skinny, simple and slow beats, there they are excellent classic samples and some well-chosen bridges, but nothing more.
For fans of jazz rap there is "This is for the Brothers", a piece that comes towards the end, instrumental, with a thin and tight rhythm and solo of sax. The tape is released by RCA Records sub-label Bahia Entertainment and distributed by BMG, without managing to garner any particular acclaim from the public or critics. The cover is interesting, it screams "1984" at the top of its lungs, even though the album was released in 1991.
Rating: 5/10.
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