UMC's - Unleashed LP

Wild Pitch (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 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.

As I had mentioned when I wrote about the first UMC's album a ways back, I didn't listen to this group during their heyday.  Years later, when I was looking for something new to listen to from that era I decided to give them a chance.  And I really dug what I heard.  What I also learned was that apparently there was some backlash against Fruits of Nature, with claims that it wasn't 'hard' enough.  I don't agree with those criticisms and I actually really enjoyed the upbeat nature of those songs.  But that backlash definitely played a part in the sound of their follow up, Unleashed.

Unleashed is much more aggressive than Fruits of Nature ever was.  There's harsher language, subject matter that is a bit more risqué and beats that are a bit grungier.  I do still like it quite a bit and it reminds me of Das EFX somewhat.  Less cartoony as far as the lyrics go and there's no 'diggety' style flow, but the way Haas G and Kool Kim trade verses back and forth and the feel of the production is reminiscent of Das EFX.

It seems that this new sound didn't do much to placate the critics of the first UMC's album, as this time the band was accused of being disingenuous and changing their sound too much to try to fit in.  I'm not sure if I prefer Unleashed or Fruits of Nature, but every criticism I read of either album seems totally off base to me.  I enjoy both quite a bit, but they are very different from each other.  I would recommend either to anyone that digs hip hop from that golden era of 1990-1994 and missed out on these guys the first time around like I did.

UMC's - Unleashed (YouTube full album playlist):

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrbFUdbfepXU82M2S7TFF8hYJfgGDlrcV

The UMC's - Fruits Of Nature LP

Wild Pitch (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 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.

This album stands out from some of the others that I have written about over the past few weeks.  I didn't have any UMC's records back in the 90s.  I heard them for the first time in the last few years.  Like I've done with many rock and roll bands, I have spend some time going backwards and checking out records and groups that either I never heard during their heyday or that I just didn't like for one reason or another.  In the case of The UMC's, I'm not sure I ever listened to them in the 90s.  I think a lot of that was because of their name.  As I was already a fan of Ultramagnetic MCs, I didn't like that The UMC's name was so similar.  I get that this is a dumb reason, but I was a teenager at the time.

Unfortunately, I was missing out on some excellent records for twenty plus years.  On Fruits of Nature, UMC's are hitting that exact style that I loved back then.  Catchy beats that lean on jazz and soul samples, uptempo rhythms and lyrical flows that are a little left of center.  Whenever a hip hop act of the 90s was taking chances, that's when I tended to jump up and take notice.  Why it took me so many years to finally notice UMC's is something I can't quite explain or rationalize.

I will say this, Fruits of Nature will slide into your record collection very neatly next to your Souls Of Mischief, Tribe Called Quest and Pharcyde records.  If you are into that sort of laid back style, this is an album you need to add to your piles.  I've also picked up the second UMCs record, Unleashed.  It's different from Fruits of Nature, but is also excellent in its own way.  I'll write a bit about that one in the next few months.

The UMC's - "Blue Cheese":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLV_Vl9ttoc

The UMC's - "Swing It To The Area":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1-LgEQ7xxo