Part two!
![]("<a)
http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/drf500/f534/f53424co2nz.jpg">
Livin’ Like Hustlers – Above The Law (1990 on Ruthless Records)
Though these guys shared a record label with NWA, they shared little of their gimmicky gangsta personas. As the title suggests, ATL is a group of hustlers. As a result, the beats and rhymes are suitably pimped out, with the exception of the Bomb Squad-like Murder Rap (which samples Chuck D on the hook). The credits suggest that Dr Dre had a hand in the production on this album, but legend has it that the good doctor spent most of his time watching a young Cold 187um (MC & producer) crank out the tunes. I can believe it, too, because there’s little here that resembles Dre’s work with NWA, Eazy-E or The DOC. Lyrically strong and well produced, this album is an excellent tome of West Coast style before the gangsta-rap rush.
http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/drc400/c433/c433738d7uh.jpg">
No One Can Do It Better – The DOC (1989 on Ruthless Records)
This is another Ruthless Record which sounds nothing like the output of NWA, except for the exceptional production of Dr Dre. And I do mean exceptional, because Snoop Doggy Dogg and MC Ren aside, no other MC has sounded this tight over the good doctor’s medicine. The DOC is actually a Texan, who momentarily relocated to LA to work as a ghostwriter on albums by NWA and Eazy-E. And you can see why he was asked to make other MC´s shit tighter, as there isn´t a wack lyric on the album. Like Rakim, The DOC doesn’t rely on punchlines, instead he spits every word with purpose and employs a full range of vocal tones and flows. Unfortunately, he damaged his voice box in a motor vehicle accident soon after the album’s release, and his voice never fully recovered.
Still, No One Can Do It Better remains one of the most masterful, though unheralded, rap releases of the late 1980s and it’s an important entry in the production discography of the diggy-diggy Dr Dre.
http://us.f1.yahoofs.com/shopping/136045/amg1927018360_1940.jpg?rm_____D1DXXRbUB">
Girls, I Got ‘Em Locked – Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud (1989 on DNA Records)
I have to admit that I hadn’t discovered this album until recently. If you consider its year of release, you may understand why it was overshadowed by its contemporaries 3 Feet High & Rising by De La Soul, Paul’s Boutique by The Beastie Boys and Big Daddy Kane’s It’s A Big Daddy Thing. Still, this album has (golden) aged well. You get lots of juicy James Brown loops, some nice chops, and Cee and Rud rapping like it is, well, 1989. They don’t venture much beyond sucker MCs and sweethearts, but they do rhyme with a great deal of finesse. Album collectors will want to pick this up, even if only for the fact that legendary, but unsung producer Paul C* contributed two tracks.
* Paul C is credited with introducing Large Professor to the SP-1200 and helping him hone his production chops.
I hope this satisfies any cravings you might have had for late 80s, early 90s material. Enjoy!
PEACE
Supafly
