Kamakaze - Head On 2xLP + 7" (/750)

90s Tapes (2023) 

Every Wednesday, in honor of Ed Lover Dance Day from Yo! MTV Raps, I take a break from rock and roll to write a little bit about hip hop. In the late '80s and early '90s hip hop ruled my musical life. During this often called 'Golden Era' I discovered so much incredible music. As I am slowly replacing the CDs I've had for twenty-five plus years with vinyl copies, I'm going to talk about some albums that had a really important impact on me during some very formative years.

I still have piles of 90s Tapes reissues that I haven't been able to write about yet.  As I was going through some things, I noticed that I still hadn't gotten to Kamakaze, which had come out in late 2023.  This was the first official release for a shelved album that was supposed to have come out on Reprise back in 1995.  I'm not sure why it didn't get released back then, but if I'm being honest I probably wouldn't have heard it back then as '95 is when I was pretty checked out on what was happening in hip hop.

The production on this record was mostly handled by Marley Marl with a few tracks done by K-Def (who did one of my all time favorite beats on "Funky Child" by Lords of the Underground among others).  I think having Marley on beats mostly helps this album hold on to that sound that I prefer rather than dipping into the post 1994 style of production that I don't care for as much.  There are traces of that, as I don't like the G-Funk sounding keyboard whine on "Spread It Around" or the slowly, slinky sounds of "Da Rocks Ya'll" and "Goodlife."

But there are several songs on here that have good, hard hitting drums and an aggressive tempo that falls much more in line with the sort of early '90s hip hop that I prefer.  The tracks that are the ones that make this a record to keep on the shelves are the ones like "Snakes In The Grass," "House O' Hitz Crew," "Devastating" and the title track, "Head On." As far as lyrics and delivery goes, KL and Solo both sound great.  They've got gravelly flows that are engaging and are the type of rappers that I think would always excel if given the right beat.

For me, this isn't a top tier-untouchable lost gem of a record.  It's a really good album that is way better than a lot of records that came out in 1995 and beyond.  It's not perfect and there's a handful of songs that I don't dig all that much, but in general it's a solid album and one that I tend to enjoy more with each subsequent spin.

Kamakaze - Head On:
https://90stapes.bandcamp.com/album/head-on