Sham & The Professor - Split Personalities LP

Freeze / Priority (1994)

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 wish I knew a little more about Sham & The Professor.  There's very little information about them that I'm able to find on ye olde internet, though that isn't exactly surprising as the actual informational content on the internet has been vanishing over the years.  That's a completely different, and very depressing, topic.  But all I can really find about this early 90s hip hop group is their list of releases on Discogs.

Split Personalities is the debut Sham & The Professor full length album though there were a bunch of single released leading up to and shortly thereafter its 1994 release date.  There's also a follow up that came out in 2001, but I haven't delved into that one just yet.  I don't even remember exactly how I stumbled across this album.  It may have been from those recommendations that show up at the bottom of Discogs listings, but I'm not positive.  However I found it, I'm sure glad I did as it's a great album.

1994 is that transitional year in hip hop for me.  While there's lots of great records, there's also quite a few that are moving in a direction that I don't care for.  On the production side, Sham & The Professor sit right where I want a record to be.  This is bass heavy, thick production with pounding drums and the sort of samples that take control of my neck, rendering me incapable of not nodding my head along in approval.  There's also some nice fast beats, as one of my biggest peeves about mid 90s hip hop is how slow it is.  

Lyrically, both Sham and The Professor can hold their own.  They complement each other and pass the mic back and forth with ease, reminding me of how seamlessly groups like EPMD are able to do it.  The content is serious, though they are certainly able to battle and do so on occasion.  The way that they fold their flows into the beats is super impressive and it leaves me scratching my head about how these guys slipped through the cracks for me for so many years.

It took me a minute to find a nice copy of the LP at a reasonable price, and mine was sealed before I popped it open.  The only complaint I have about any of this is that Split Personalities is one of those 90s hip hop records where the vinyl is a single LP and because of that there's not as many songs on it as there are on the CD version.  So we only have 11 of the 17 tracks on the vinyl, which bums me out.  Especially egregious is "Murder on My Hands" being missing from the vinyl.  That's a killer song.  Maybe someday one of those great reissue labels like 90s Tapes will do a fancy rerelease of this, but for now I'm just happy to have the record period.

Sham & The Professor - Split Personalities:

https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_kMXJzZEopn4aGKs1Qwud-PeyjqYXV5qTo

Nice & Smooth - Nice & Smooth 2xLP - Green & Yellow Split Vinyl

Priority Records (2017, 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 have told this story a bunch of times over the years, including on this website.  One day in 1991 I was at a Coconuts record store with my dad.  I'm not sure why I had money, but maybe it was saved up from mowing the lawn or something, but I had enough to buy three CDs.  The three I bought were Def Before Dishonor by The Hard Corps (Ended up not liking it at all, a purchase greatly influenced by my love for the PE/Anthrax version of "Bring The Noise"), Low End Theory by A Tribe Called Quest (Loved it to death and still do to this day) and Ain't A Damn Thing Changed by Nice & Smooth.

I didn't end up liking the Nice & Smooth record quite as much as I had hoped based on the strength of the videos they had on Yo! MTV Raps, but I did like it.  It was a totally solid record with a few high points that were pretty great.  I eventually got their follow up Jewel of the Nile a few years later, but wasn't really into that at all.  What I never did was work backwards and check out their first self titled record from 1989.  It wasn't until many years later that I finally gave that a listen.  I picked up this LP a few years ago, but it's been sitting in a pile of records to write about that has grown way too big.  I'm trying to get through those though.

So what to make of this record?  It's very good, certainly better than their 1994 album.  Is it as good as Ain't A Damn Thing Changed?  Not to me, but I also have 33 years of history with that record as opposed to maybe eight with this one?  But if I try to ignore emotional and nostalgic connections, it might be the actual better record.  Sure there's a few slow jam-y R&B tinged songs that are absolutely not my cup of tea, but for the most part the production is on point.  The beats have aged better than a lot of other albums that came out in 1989 with the highlights typically being the faster paced songs.

Greg Nice and Smooth B are always great on the mic.  They compliment each other perfectly, with B's slicker, laid bad flow being a balance point to Nice's high pitched, somewhat frantic delivery style.  On their own they're both good, but together there's a PB&J type chemistry going on that elevates both.  I'm not sure why Ain't A Damn Thing Changed never got a reissue, but this colored vinyl edition of their self titled album came out in 2017.  I'm a sucker for split color vinyl too, so that's a fun bonus.

Nice & Smooth - Nice & Smooth:
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_nBpWc5eL9OffVT9zwE9olWLCADOld0S7I

WC and the Maad Circle - Ain't a Damn Thing Changed LP

Priority (1991)

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.

WC and the Maad Circle are yet another golden era act that I didn't hear back in the 90s.  If I had actually heard them in 1991, I can't imagine not have being just about as into them as I was Ice Cube.  There's a pretty good reason for that and that's because half of this album was produced by Sir Jinx, one of the masterminds behind Death Certificate.  Which unsurprisingly results in Ain't a Damn Thing Changed having an extremely similar feel, production wise, as that west coast classic.

The beats on this are great.  That heavy low end, kind of smooth sound that was poised to take over before Dre came and ruined the west with The Chronic.  Lyrically WC handles the bulk of the rhyming and he has a strong voice and descriptive, story telling flow.  He had cut his teeth in a group called Low Profile (still looking for that LP at a good price) before forming the Maad Circle.  You know who else is in the Maad Circle?  Coolio.  Yeah, that Coolio.  I have never been a fan of Coolio, but that's probably mostly due to not liking his production.  On this album, with Sir Jinx beats, he's totally fine and a nice compliment to WC.

This is an album that I'm really surprised hasn't been reissued in some form.  The only LP out there is the original from 1991, which has 18 tracks crammed onto a single LP.  It doesn't sound bad or anything, it's totally fine.  But I nice double LP reissue is absolutely something I'd add to my collection if given the chance.

WC and the Maad Circle - Ain't a Damn Thing Changed:
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_k5QYp2eKxOlkQQGSH7uUscLReKma4KsKw

Eazy-E - Eazy-Duz-It / 5150 Home 4 Tha Sick 2xLP

Priority / Ruthless (2002, 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 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.

While I have always enjoyed NWA, the various members solo work has been a mixed bag.  Of course, Ice Cube wins that contest hands down as he has three incredible LPs and a great EP.  MC Ren put out an EP that I really liked, but then I never got into any of his full lengths.  I bought The Chronic by Dr. Dre the week it came out (in a CD longbox) and while I can't say I thought it was bad, I lost interest in it very quickly and I grew to resent it as I tend to think that's the record that ended up killing the Golden Era of hip hop (it's a long story, but I have my reasons).

Eazy-E was my least favorite member of NWA, plus he ended up being the punching bag of Cube and Dre as they left the group.  I never had Eazy-Duz-It when it originally came out, but I did have the 5150 Home 4 Tha Sick EP, based on the strength of seeing the video for "Only If You Want It."  I ended up getting the CD of Eazy-Duz-It for free at some point during my tenure in the music biz.  It made the most sense to just grab this version of the vinyl as it had both in one convenient place.

That said, I have no idea how often I'll actually listen to it.  Eazy-Duz-It sounds about ten thousand years old.  It's crazy how primitive the beats sound, even compared to Straight Outta Compton.  Eazy was never the most gifted on the microphone, but luckily Ren shows up on three of the tracks to save the day.  It's still 5150 that's the real draw for me, mostly because of the production.  Apparently Naughty By Nature actually produced "Only If You Want It," which is something I didn't realize back then and it's the best non-NWA song Eazy ever did.  It takes advantage of his cadence better than most songs, but even then, it can come close to being annoying by the end of the song.

As I write this, I'm trying to figure out why I bought it.  I think it was mostly just because I had the CD and wanted to replace it with the vinyl.  These releases haven't aged that well, but I still think it's better to have the vinyl than a promo CD from twenty years ago.

Eazy-E

Eazy-Duz-It: 

https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_njH2ZYth0IslcKXXYFG3bXrx7HPkfaP2E

5150 Home 4 Tha Sick:
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_mngg7-H53TKleIfIIPvqKku4D6Knv9PgA

Ice Cube - The Predator 2xLP

Capitol/Priority (2003, 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 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.

It took me a while to find a reasonably priced copy of this, the third Ice Cube album.  This version came out in 2003 and is a double LP that comes with a few bonus tracks and remixes.  It's been out of print for ages, so the cost had gotten prohibitive.  Now, I did pay a decent price for this, but nowhere near the $200-$300 range I've been seeing it in lately.

I wasn't even sure I wanted this record again until recently.  I had the CD back in 1992 and enjoyed it quite a bit.  But over the years the album as a whole was overshadowed by its biggest single "It Was A good Day."  I never liked that song.  I thought it was too slow and the lyrics were kind of goofy.  So the record fell into the rearview and eventually at some point I sold the CD during one of my purges over the years.  The Predator was never in the same league as Amerikkka's Most Wanted or Death Certificate and in my brain I just sort of forgot about it.

For whatever reason, I decided to revisit it within the last eight months or so.  I was surprised by how many of the songs were instantly remembered by my brain, despite not having heard them in ions.  I have sorely overlooked this record and it holds up way better than I had expected.  I still don't like "It Was A Good Day" all that much, though I probably can tolerate it better now than I did in '92.  But the rest of the album is remarkably good.

The "We Will Rock You" drum sample in "When Will They Shoot?" kind of sets the stage for the entire record.  Hard beats with Cube's fiery lyrical delivery.  It's one of several truly great songs like "Wicked," "Now I Gotta Wet 'Cha" and "Check Yo Self."  "Check Yo Self" in particular was one I didn't remember being as great as it is.  I think part of that was due to the over saturation of its remix that basically took the lyrics and dumped it on top of the instrumental of "The Message."  That version still kind of sucks, but the LP version is great.

So, I didn't evaluate this album properly.  I thought Death Certificate was Cube's last stand, but in fact the bulk of The Predator is just about as good.  There's a few tracks that musically have a little bit more G/P-Funk than I typically prefer, but as a whole, a great listen.  I also checked out the 4th Ice Cube record Lethal Injection, to see if I wasn't giving that one the credit it deserved.  But I can assure you, I didn't overlook that one.  It's still pretty not good, so I won't be adding that one to the collection.

Ice Cube - The Predator:
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_mU33wL0ZQ2R7j4I9DLZZ0eoyMgc5oz6cI

N.W.A - Straight Outta Compton - 20th Anniversary 2xLP

Ruthless / Priority (2007, 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 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.

You are correct, I did write about picking up a version of this record on vinyl a few months ago, but my main experience with this album was always on CD.  The regular pressing of the vinyl didn't reflect the same tracklist as the CD version and that irked me a little while listening to it.  Yes, I know I'm aggrevated by very trivial things.

This 2xLP version has the same tracklist and song order as the CD I've had for ten thousand years.  It feels more comfortable to me this way.  That tracklist takes up three sides of this double album.  The fourth side is other hip hop groups covering N.W.A songs.  You've got Snoop Doggy Dogg, Bone Thugs N Harmony, WC and Mack 10.  I haven't listened to this side.  I don't know that I'll ever listen to it.  Who could possibly care about listening to N.W.A covers when you've got the real thing right in front of you?

N.W.A - Straight Outta Compton:

https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_n7tQZHCeKZKGghMCNVcHQp51maARM_9xY

EPMD - Strictly Business 2xLP

Priority (2017, 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 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.

The first four EPMD records are stone cold classics and in my opinion are pretty mandatory records to have in any respectable hip hop collection.  I'm on record many times stating that my favorite of the bunch is their fourth, Business Never Personal, but each of them has something unique to offer.  For their debut, Strictly Business, from 1988 the most revelatory piece is how full and forward thinking their production was.

This was back when sampling was still the wild west and at times it feels like EPMD managed to cram their entire record collection into the beats on this album.  Of any hip hop record that came out in 1988 or earlier, I think you could make a really strong case for Strictly Business having the best beats.  Maybe you give the edge to It Takes A Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, but EPMD is neck and neck on the production side.

For me, where this album falls short is the actual rapping.  While Erick Sermon and Parrish Smith would very quickly grow into incredible MCs with a dynamic back and forth style, on their first outing they sound pretty subdued.  The rhymes themselves are strong, but the delivery is so lackadaisical they almost sound bored at times.  Now, this was the early days and the album itself is so forward thinking that I definitely don't detract for the vocals too much, but that's the main reason this is probably my least favorite of the four key EPMD records.

Things improved dramatically on the next record Unfinished Business and by the time they hit with Business as Usual, it was pretty clear that they were among the very best of the golden era.

EPMD - Strictly Business:
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_kmU0aLupGiFv8JiTXv_2cZEbdi-0b8wno

N.W.A. - Straight Outta Compton LP

Priority / Ruthless / UMe (2013, 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 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'm not entirely positive that the version I have is the 2013 reissue.  There have been others since that one came out, though the barcode and matrix etchings match.  Not that it really matters to me, but I know some folks care about those types of specifics.  It's my best guess anyway.

I really like Straight Outta Compton.  It's a classic at this point and in particular really shows just how incredible Ice Cube was when he first started out.  Every time he picks up the mic, it's magic.  Though, if I'm being honest, I'm actually more familiar with the N.W.A. follow up, Efil4zaggin.  That's the one I had when I was in high school.  I didn't pick up Straight Outta Compton until later and I didn't add the vinyl to my collection until pretty recently.

I'm pretty sure the first time I heard N.W.A. was the song "Express Yourself."  I had that one because a version of it was on a Yo! MTV Raps compilation CD I had (Along with a really long, excellent version of BDP's "My Philosophy").  But when the video for "Always Into Something" came out, that's what inspired me to finally buy an N.W.A. album.  Completely backwards to most people, I know, but I've always fallen into bands the wrong way.

Anyway, this record still sounds important and dangerous.  Like many hip hop albums from the late 80s and early 90s there are aspects that do not age well.  But as a time capsule of 1988, this was pretty darn innovative and influential.  Though some of that influence would later on end up what drove me away from hip hop (See: The Chronic & the ten million soundalikes it spawned).

N.W.A. - Straight Outta Compton (YouTube Music full album playlist):
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_n7tQZHCeKZKGghMCNVcHQp51maARM_9xY

Ice Cube - Amerikkkas Most Wanted LP

Priority (1990)

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.

This seemed like a somewhat appropriate record with all of the insane bullshit going on right now, though maybe it isn't and I'm being completely tone deaf.  Apologies if that's the case.  I'm not going to pretend that I have anything enlightening or profoundly deep to say, but I can say that it's a really depressing time to be in America right now.  One of the things that really jumps out at me about this record is that it came out in 1990, which is thirty years ago.  How things haven't gotten better is a real downer.

Ice Cube's debut is one of the more celebrated debuts in the history of hip hop.  Even if he never put out another record after the equally excellent Death Certificate, that album and this one would have been plenty to cement Cube's legacy.  Lyrically, not everything has aged well, though you could say that about plenty of albums from the 80s and 90s, but when Ice Cube gets political and tells stories about day to day living, he paints a hell of a picture.

The beats were primarily done by the Bomb Squad, mostly known for their work with Public Enemy.  They captured the perfect blend of hard hitting east coast beats to complement Ice Cube's west coast delivery.  It bridged a gap and you could argue that it was one of the only albums of the era that couldn't easily be pinned down to the geographic region of the artist.

I'm not entirely sure what version of this LP I bought.  Per Discogs, the catalog number, barcode and all that matches the original 1990 pressing, but it's in way too good condition to actually be that old.  There must have been a repress at some point that wasn't tied into the Respect The Classics series and I assume this is one of those, but I'm not entirely positive.

Ice Cube - Amerikka's Most Wanted LP (YouTube full album playlist):
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_mw1wDF2C9nSXalVkOUSctNOtsUC91Ikuk

Ice Cube - Kill At Will 12"

Priority (1990)

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.

I can't be positive, but I think the first time I ever heard Ice Cube was from one of the videos released from this EP.  If it wasn't from that, it was probably his guest appearance on the Public Enemy song "Burn Hollywood Burn."  The song from this EP that I remember super vividly from the Yo MTV Raps era was "Jackin' For Beats."

The fist thing that caught my ears was that the song starts off using the same music as the D-Nice song "Call Me D-Nice."  It then moves through beats of other songs of the era including sections that include Public Enemy, Digital Underground and others.  It wasn't a concept that made a ton of sense to me as a kid, but it made for a hell of a song and I really liked it even if I didn't totally understand what Cube was up to.  It holds up extremely well all of these years later and it really makes me think that D-Nice probably doesn't get as much credit as he deserves for his first album.

The rest of this EP is a mixed bag.  There's some interesting remixes of a couple of tracks from Ice Cube's debut album. There's a track of nothing but shout outs and a thirty second skit.  The next most famous song from this LP is "Dead Homiez."  It's a serious track, that is slower than a lot of what Cube was doing at the time.  It's not one that I ever really gravitated to.  Lyrically it's pretty powerful, but the delivery is so laid back that I think it loses some impact.  The other standout to me on this album is "The Product."  It's fast and Ice Cube is fierce on the mic.

To me, the best era of Ice Cube is Amerikka's Most Wanted, this EP and Death Certificate. There's a few good moments after that, but his first three releases are pretty untouchable.  The Kill At Will EP is definitely part of that really important era and I still would probably say "Jackin' for Beats" is my favorite Ice Cube song (at worst, it's a very close second to "Steady Mobbin").

Ice Cube - Kill At Will (Youtube full EP playlist):
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_mdGm78GJnGjZFMJy4qBI8lA6NTibPX6So

EMPD - Unfinished Business 2xLP

Priority / UMe (2017, 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.

1992's Business Never Personal is my EPMD record.  It's the first one I heard and is one of my favorite hip hop records of all time.  When it came out while I was in high school, I was pretty obsessed with it.  But EPMD broke up shortly thereafter and I didn't really explore their back catalog at the time.  It wasn't until the early 2000s that I decided to backtrack a little bit and try out some of the others.

While many point to their debut, Strictly Business as a classic, in my mind it was on Unfinished Business where I see EPMD first stand out as something really special.  The production is light years ahead of their debut and both Erick Sermon and Parish Smith are significantly more comfortable on the microphone.  Their flows hit a little harder and you can feel a growing energy that wasn't as present on the laid back delivery of Strictly Business.

EPMD is one of those groups that I think just got better and better as they progressed (at least until their first break up, their reunion albums after that have never really hit me the same as the first four).  Their third album, Business As Usual, is even better than this one (I'm still looking for a nice copy of that record on vinyl as it isn't one that's been reissued in the last few years) and their fourth album is my favorite of the bunch.  Still, all of them are worth checking out as they are integral building blocks of the golden era of hip hop.

EMPD - Unfinished Business (Full album YouTube playlist):
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_mqfR-WJUbJyCctO5zclBGZUi-gj6m_iHE