Mobb Deep - Juvenile Hell LP - Red Vinyl

 

Island / Universal / Urban Legends (2018, 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.

People in hip hop love Mobb Deep.  I mean, they really love Mobb Deep in a way that I was keen to try to understand.  They made there bones starting in 1995 with the release of their nearly universally acclaimed sophomore album The Infamous...  That's after my prime time of hop hop fandom, so I wasn't around for that when it originally came out.  That means it's time to backtrack and while that album probably is the place that most people would start considering its reputation, I had to start with their debut, Juvenile Hell.  Part of that is because it's their debut and why not start at the beginning, but the other part for me is that it came out in 1993, right in that sweet spot of hip hop production that I love.

And the production is really solid.  It tends to be on the slower side of things, which is something that I don't always have the most patience for, but the tempos vary enough and the sample selection is strong enough that the beats really do sit in that sweet spot I mentioned earlier.  Lyrically, I completely understand where Mobb Deep get their reputation of being storytellers of the highest order.  The tales they tell veer towards the complex, telling stories of the neighborhood mixed with some other tracks that are a bit lighter, content wise.  They keep the lyrics tight and tidy, able to effortlessly string together rhyme schemes without it feeling like they're shoehorning in a word just to make the rhyme work, every syllable serves the story they're trying to tell.

It's also an album teetering on the line between confidence and arrogance as Prodigy and Havoc were still in their late teens when they recorded this debut.  They have the sort of swagger and poise of much older MCs and listening to it in hindsight it's really interesting to me that the album didn't seem to make much noise in 93 (to be fair, I never heard of it back then and I couldn't have been more obsessed with hip hop at the time) and the group was subsequently dropped.  They came back a couple of years later with The Infamous.. and their trajectory changed massively.  But I'd be lying if I didn't say that the charm of their debut might actually connect with me a bit more.  The production is more in my wheelhouse and these guys are no slouches on the mic.

Mobb Deep - Juvenile Hell:

https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_lnXqjsBtsxvPfQciHOAmVZ4EsthX7gw_s

Daddy-O - You Can Be A Daddy But Never Daddy-O LP

Island (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 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.

Daddy-O is likely best known for being part of the hugely influential hip hop group Stetasonic.  They split up after their 1991 album Blood, Sweat & No Tears and the next time we would hear from Daddy-O was on this album, his 1993 debut You Can Be A Daddy But Never Daddy-O.  I don't think it made much of a splash when it was released, I certainly don't remember hearing about it at the time.  1993 was a pivotal year in hip hop as the genre was moving at an alarmingly fast bace, changing weekly.  A new album released by someone whose group's heyday was in the 80s probably wasn't as exciting to the tastemakers at the time.

It wasn't until many, many years later that I stumbled across this record and decided to check it out.  I would not go so far as to proclaim it a 'lost classic' or anything that grandiose, but it's a very strong record that I think would have made a bit more noise had it not come out during such a crowded time in hip hop.  

More than anything, I really enjoy the production on the album.  It's a hard hitting, east coast flavor that fits in nicely with the sound of the era.  There's a ton of head nodders in here and while not necessarily treading any new ground, it's a fun listen.  Lyrically, Daddy-O knows what he's doing.  He's got a steady flow that works with his scratchy vocal delivery.  I think perhaps he could have spent a bit less time talking about how much he likes other rappers, as it's a topic that certainly comes up more than once, but it's not that I'm in any way opposed to a good old fashion shout out.  

Again, there's nothing earth shattering here, but the steady vocals mixed with better than average production makes it an album worth checking out.  Unfortunately, the only vinyl version that exists is this 'clean' promo version.  Daddy-O isn't swearing all over the place, so it being clean doesn't bother me that much.  But the bigger issue is that the LP only has 12 of the 16 songs that the CD does.  It's even missing the single that it advertises on the hype sticker, "Brooklyn Bounce."  I'm not sure how much demand there is for a nice reissue of this album, but I'd certainly buy one.

Daddy-O - You Can Be A Daddy But Never Daddy-O:
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_mYGZawQKOZxaUL48KJjycB6z7Aitr5dPo

Positive K - The Skills Dat Pay Da Bills LP

Island (1992) 

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.

Like everyone on the planet, I could not escape the song "I Got A Man" when it came out in 1992.  It started bubbling on Yo! MTV Raps and then just became an omnipresent track, played in malls and anywhere else current music was played publicly.  And while I will always admit to have liked that song (despite not knowing what it meant to "Get Raggamuffin") I was never inspired to pick up the full album or try to find out more about Positive K.  In my head, he was a Young MC type pop rapper and I just moved on as the song faded from the Yo1 playlist.

Since then, I have learned two things about Positive K.  The first is that he also did the female character's raps on "I Got a Man" by pitch shifting his voice during the recording process.  I literally had no idea that was him playing both sides of the conversation.  The second thing that I discovered was that Positive K was not a one hit wonder pop rapper.  He was quite respected in the hip hop community and his only full length album is pretty great top to bottom.

I'm a sucker for the hip hop production on the late 80s and early 90s and The Skills Dat Pay Da Bills delivers exactly what I'm looking for.  Boom bap drums and funky basslines make up the foundation of the album.  Once you add in K's rapid fire lyrical delivery, it's impossible for me to not love this.  My biggest regret is having ignored the album for such a long time.  I should have bought it in 1992 and if I had I'm pretty sure every lyric would be lodged in my head like so many others of that era.

Positive K never released another album after this one.  I'm not sure why as this one was obviously a hit.  He has a bunch of singles, but as far as a full length, this is it.  But it's a hell of a record and one that shouldn't be overlooked.

Positive K - The Skills Dat Pay Da Bills:
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_lwFxd3PZWp9vuwbBV2zSSyY3qCHSpDYXM

Showbiz & A.G. - Runaway Slave LP

Island / UMe (2018, 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 25+ 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.

When this Showbiz & A.G. album came out back in 1992, I never heard it.  I'm not sure if it didn't get enough support from Yo MTV Raps or if I just zoned out for some reason.  I certainly knew the name Showbiz & A.G. from shoutouts on other albums and in the thank you notes of all of the liner notes I used to pour through looking for new groups to listen to.  For whatever reason, these guys slipped through the cracks and it was only very recently that I listened to them first time.

What I can say conclusively is that I would have absolutely loved Showbiz & A.G. in 1992.  In 2020, I think they're pretty great as well.  They have a really welcoming familiar vibe to their music.  It fits in with the sort of hip hop that I like to listen to, but still manages to stay very unique.  If there's an act I think would be a solid comparison, it would be to Black Sheep, and that's not just because Dres from Black Sheep guests on "Bounce Ta This.".  While Showbiz & A.G. don't have a smash hit on their hands like "The Choice Is Yours," the album as a whole is more consistent and there are more highs.

While I typically have been using Wednesdays as an opportunity to write about records I've been listening to twenty five plus years, I've also been checking out some other records from the era that I may have missed the first time around.  Runaway Slave is one of the best of these that I've heard and if anyone else didn't catch these guys the first time around, this is definitely an album worth revisiting.

Showbiz & A.G. - Runaway Slave (Youtube full album playlist):
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_nyDHDEBB1sRrk_gDewwCVSO2SDjmnFXO0