THROWBACK CD REVIEWS- part 1

From time to time I will post a few throwback reviews

to some of my favorite jointz, just because.

For some it will be a flashback to the classics

for some younger readers, it may serve as a hip hop history lesson

either way, holla back and let me know what ya think.

My two throwback reviews this week are Biggies debut disc, Ready To Die

and NWA's Straight Outta Compton

holla back with ya feedback and tell me what these albums meant to you

and what you were doin when you first heard them...

Notorious B.I.G./ Ready To Die/ Bad Boy Entertainment/ September 1994

During the Reagan era of “all-for-me” economics, emcees like Kane and G Rap painted pictures of silky rap gangsterism, inspired by movies like ‘The Mack’ and ‘Superfly.’ Out of the post-Reagan rubble came B.I.G.’s inaugural opus, a hustler reality-trip. The Black Frank White still rhymes about jewels, champagne, and the ladies, he also reveals the casualties on the road from struggler to hustler to player. “Juicy” sets up Biggie’s rags-to-riches story, but then the curtain gets pulled back, with unapologetic, hardcore tracks like “Gimme the Loot” and “Machine Gun Funk.”
The N-o-t-o-r-i-o-u-s one set the tone for years to come in the world of rap for rappers like Tony Yayo, and put New York back on the map in a time when West Coast gangsta rap was just straight-jackin’ the top of the charts. Hood tales told so vivid you felt you were actually there to see it happen. None could do it with such lyrical grace like Biggie. Many still try unsuccessfully to this day. Biggie represented the rappers of the new hip-hop generation, but possessed the aura of an old-school emcee at a block party. While I am a self-confessed B.I.G. fan, he may not have been the greatest lyricist as other proclaimed after his death, but few could deny he had the craziest flow and could ride a beat better than most.
Ready To die is more than just a mere rap album, it’s a classical testimony of a man who went from a hustler to recording artist to rap phenomenon. Even though Big went from rags to riches, this never over shadowed his dark outlook on life, and that’s what made this album so real. Along with his dark themes, Premier, Lord Finesse, and Mo Bee brought madd flava on the production tip to make Biggie’s tales even rawer. While others fight for the throne of King Of New York, the true king lyrically reigns supreme forever.

– A. J. Woodson

NWA/ Straight Outta Compton/ Priority Records/ October 25, 1990

Originally released on Easy E’s Ruthless Records and sold outta the trunk in 1988, this is probably by far the first classic Gangsta Rap CD from beginning to end. In the opening seconds, Dr. Dre’s voice sneers “You are about to witness the strength of street knowledge,” and with that warning the greatest-ever gangsta album begins. From the anti-police brutality anthem “F__k Tha Police,” to the angry, unflinching realism of “Gangsta Gangsta,” to the pro-free speech “Express Yourself,” Straight Outta Compton was both slammin’ and ruthless.
Schoolly D might have been one of the first gangsta rappers and Melle Mel may have been the first rapper to talk about street life with commercial success, but NWA amplified it. Without tracks like “Straight Outta Compton” a classic gangsta rap track with really dope bass and beat production by Dr. Dre, gangsta rap, and much of the hardcore hip hop we know today, wouldn't exist.
While “EFIL4ZAGGIN,” may be the bigger seller and more known, it also wouldn’t exist with this release which came before Cube’s defection and introduced the world to the D.O.C. on “Parental Discretion Iz Advised,” who followed with a classic of his own a year later.
This was an era when artists put out albums not compilations and almost every track could have been a single. Other than the D.O.C. the only other guest appearance was by Arabian Prince on “Something 2 Dance 2.” This is a must have for gangsta rap headz and a blueprint on how it should be done. NWA gave the world a driveby view of life in Anyhood, USA and was the emergence of the West Coast rap style so many of us came to love.

- A. J. Woodson