Ase Man - Step Into The A.M. 3xLP

90s Tapes (2025, Reissue)

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 thirty 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 can't say that I was familiar with Ase Man when I got his record along with the two Southpaw releases that 90s Tapes put out a few months ago.  Step Into The A.M. originally came out in 1997, which puts it deeper into the 90s than I typically prefer, though indie releases tend to age better for me than what was happening on the majors during that time.  

It's typically the production that lets me down in the late 90s, but Ase Man avoids this pitfall and has an album with robust production with those loud drums that I think is so important to hip hop.  As a whole the album is slower tempo than a lot of my favorites, and that's another part of the latter half of the 1990s that bugs me - slower songs, but Ase Man doesnt sacrifice enthusiasm and energy on these lower bpm tracks.

Lyrically, Ase Man carries this record just fine.  He's not top tier or the sort of MC that will reveal himself to be a forgotten revelation or anything like that.  But he's very good, has a strong voice and can keep track of rhymes that serve the stories he's telling.  His cadence reminds me a bit of Akinyele, but without that strange guttural noise that Akinyele randomly throws into his verses, which is a massive improvement.  All in all, a very good record by a new-to-me rapper that I'm happy to add into the collection.  90s Tapes strikes again.

Ase Man - Step Into The A.M.:
https://90stapes.bandcamp.com/album/step-into-the-a-m