239. Boogie Down Productions, "Criminal Minded"

 


One of the downsides of never getting much into hip-hop in the 80's was that I totally missed some records that are now widely regarded as classics, like this one.  In fact, before yesterday, not only had I never heard this album, which is not entirely uncommon in doing this project, but I'm not sure I'd ever heard even a single song from it, which is.

It is very 80's sounding hip-hop, all sparse production and James Brown samples and horn blasts and that shouty kind of rapping.  I liked "South Bronx," which had to have been, and probably still is, a neighborhood anthem.  "9mm Goes Bang" has singsongy "La la la la" backing vocals, incongruously set against a tale of urban violence.  It seems especially poignant knowing that group member DJ Scott La Rock would be killed in a shooting months after the release of this album.  "Remix for P Is Free" really shows off the dancehall influence that BDP was known for.

So I can appreciate this album on its merits (and while I did appreciate it, it's not especially My Thing) but I guess I have a hard time evaluating it in context, since my knowledge about this era of hip-hop, as I said, is not great.  I'm told this was an album formative in the gangsta rap genre and that seems right.  I know that after La Rock's death, founding member KRS-One made a conscious decision to stop glorifying violence and to instead urge its end.  This project met with mixed results.

Does this album deserve to be in the Top 500? I guess so, but again, I'm the wrong person to ask this time.

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