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.
Dredknotz were a group that were active in the mid 90s. Helped along by DJ Richie Rich of 3rd Bass fame, the tracks that comprise Under Pressure have been done and waiting for a release since 1995. It wasn't until 2025 that they finally saw the light of day, courtesy of my favorite reissue label, 90s Tapes.
1995 is usually that line in the sand for me, it's where hip hop started to move in a direction that wasn't what I wanted out of it. But as I've mentioned many, many times in the past, I have constantly found exceptions to this rule the more I dig around and I'd include Dredknotz in that list. Under Pressure is built on the back of some dark, upright bass loops, blaring horn accents, alongside of plentiful kick and snare drum rumbling. It gives the album a post-Enta Da Stage Boot Camp Clik sort of feel when it comes to the production.
Sometimes I wish the tracks were a bit faster, as slower tempos are kind of the bane of hip hop released after 1994 for me, but Dredknotz keep the energy level up with a lively, dynamic lyrical delivery. While not to the same extreme as Onyx, there are times where Dredknotz remind me of a slower, moodier version of those kings of Queens. The end result is an album that harshly rumbles along, never getting too wild, but also never slowing down to the point where I lose interest.
90s Tapes did another fantastic job with this reissue, from how great it sounds, down to the the smallest details of the art. Not being a DJ and only being a person who likes to listen to records, the release being a quadruple LP to include all of the instrumentals is probably a bit more than I need personally. Though I imagine there are plenty of folks significantly more talented than me that wouldn't have it any other way.
Dredknotz - Under Pressure:
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