Big Daddy Kane - Looks Like A Job For... LP

Cold Chillin' / Reprise (1993)

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.

Big Daddy Kane.  When I started listening to hip hop in 1990, Big Daddy Kane seemed really lame to me.  The albums he had out during this time were Taste of Chocolate and Prince of Darkness and when I was 13 years old I couldn't tell the difference between any of his videos and when something like Father MC came on Yo! MTV Raps.  I thought there was too much R&B influence and it seemed like everything was a love song.  In the parlance of the era, it was pretty wack.

I didn't really know anything about his earlier records where he was considered one of the elite lyricists in the early stages of the Golden Era.  There was no internet to check anything out and I wasn't about to spend my hard earned lawn mowing money on a 3 year old record that maybe was better than the stuff I was hearing.  Not to mention the pages of The Source were littered with articles taking shots at his smooth lover persona.  When Looks Like A Job For... came out in 1993, I was pretty unaware of it being any different than what I had heard previously.

I have been rereading old issues of The Source lately and came across an interview with Kane in a 93 issue talking about this record.  He pushed back hard enough on his reputation at the time that I figured I'd give it a chance.  I'm glad I did, this record is really good.  It's not as cutting edge or innovative as other records that were hitting in 1993, but it's a mighty fine, straight up hip hop record.  The production is strong, if not remarkable, all the way through and Kane can more than hold his own on the mic.  The bulk of the album is about Kane reminding folks that he's an MC that shouldn't be messed with and he does that well.

The only bad thing I can say about the album is there is one song, "Very Special," that is exactly everything I ever hated about Big Daddy Kane and the entire sub-genre of romantic rap music.  It's just the dirt worst R&B production, complete with the crooning backing oohs and ahhs.  The raps are silly and delivered at a snails pace.  It's the only song like this on an otherwise great record, but it grinds everything to a screeching halt.  Aside from that, wonderful stuff and I'm glad I was able to hunt down a copy of this in really nice condition.  It's probably a record overdue for a reissue.

Big Daddy Kane - Looks Like A Job For..:
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_kE1j_NqoraDG5yxhGL6xdy85owsjoFCRA