Thursday, 6 November 2014
Don't Sleep #4:
2 Live Crew ft JT Money 'Fuck A Gang' (1990)
It's hard to believe in 2014, but once a upon a time rappers - and not just the corny ones - made records that were specifically against drugs, drug dealing, gangs and violence. It's fair to say that the last place you'd expect you'd expect to find such a track would be on a 2 Live Crew album (which is essentially what Luke's 'Banned In The USA' LP is). Obviously the Crew's main themes were sex, with a bit of partying chucked in before having a bit more sex while Mr Mixx finished the latest volume of the Megamix to close out the album.
I get the impression alot of people might've passed on this LP back in the day but for a 13 year old me and my mates at school though, tracks like Face Down Ass Up and Strip Club were golden. There is some great rap on there that isn't aimed squarely at a juvenile sense of humour; Man Not A Myth, To Luke From The Posse and I Ain't Bullshittin part 2 were all in contention for this post but I went with Fuck A Gang. There's no outright dis on it but given it dropped at the height of NWA's popularity, and Luke would get into some beef with Dre and Snoop a couple of years later, maybe he was taking a shot at them here. Great song either way.
Check Don't Sleep #1, 2 & 3
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The best thing about growing up in the UK in the late 80s/early 90s is that we could just listen to Ice-T, Eric B & Rakim, and 2 Live Crew etc as great rap music without any kind of regional biases or stupid preconceptions about hip hop kulcha.
ReplyDeleteTrue. I didn't really have a clue about US geography when I was 12 anyway. Always bewildered at UK people who say they never checked for West Coast rap.
ReplyDeletePeople of our age who listen to rap but don't own any of the first 4 Ice-T albums are not to be trusted.
ReplyDeleteTrue. Even kids I know who didn't like Rap liked Girls LGBNAF and the like. I rediscovered 'Soul On Ice' recently and its fucking great.
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