With the #5 pick on my top 20 MC's EVER list is the Blastmaster KRS One. I really can't explain how much I LOVED Boogie Down Production's debut album "Criminal Minded." I copped this album from Beat Street in Brooklyn while I was staying there and I literally listening to this album EVERY SINGLE DAY ALL summer! "Criminal Minded" is one of the few albums that I don't have a favorite song because my favorite song can change as quickly as the weather. One day my favorite song is "Poetry." Another day it could be "The P is Free." Then the next day it's "Super Hoe." This album was literally one of the few soundtracks to my life and it still is. When I heard that Scott LaRock was shot and killed I was devastated. Like no joke...REALLY devastated. I mean, I LOVED BDP so much you couldn't tell me I wasn't part of the crew. It was so bad that I remember not liking D Nice for years cause I was blaming him for Scott's death. I remember thinking after Scott's death, was that gonna be it for BDP? Then one day my dude Ron got at me and showed me the 12" for "My Philosophy" and I damn near lost my mind seeing that BDP had something new out and when I heard it?!?!?! Maaaaaaan..."My Philosophy" may be one of my top 10 hip hop songs EVER! I can remember asking my dad, "what does a philosopher do?" And him asking me why and me saying cause I wanna be one cause of KRS. It's wild cause 20 years later, one of my students told me he wanted to be a pimp and when I asked why, he told me cause of 50 Cent. That was just one of the many things that let me know that the culture I love more then damn near anything was taking a change for the worse.
I was relieved that even without Scott, that Kris still had it cause with "By Any Means Necessary" Kris not only had his 2nd classic under his belt but another album that would get endless play from me over the next 20+ years. But I can't front with Kris' 3rd album "Ghetto Music" I kinda stop feeling dude. And I don't mean for that one album, I mean I stopped feeling him for his next 3 albums. ("Ghetto Music", "Edutainment" and "Sex and Violence") Now don't get it twisted, there were songs on all 3 of these releases that I messed with but similar to Kane, this is KRS we're talking about! I don't want a dope songs here and there...I want CLASSICS! And to be honest, it wasn't the rhymes I didn't mess with but the beats. It's always been rumored that Scott made the beats to "Criminal Minded" and then I read in an interview with Ced Gee from Ultramag saying he made the beats. I even heard an interview with Marley saying someone from the BDP crew got their hands on some of Marley's discs so in his mind HE help produce "Criminal Minded." THEN I read that KRS did all of the beats! Needless to say, I don't know who REALLY made the beats for "Criminal Minded" but I know that person didn't go on to produce the next 4 BDP albums. (I've never known how much of the production for "By Any Means..." was done before Scott died) ALL of that to say that I wasn't feeling the beats on those 3 BDP albums.
But as soon I heard in '93 that KRS was linking up with Primo that I would get the "Criminal Minded/"By Any Mean" KRS back that I'd been waiting 5 years for and that's EXACTLY what I got with "Return if the Boom Bap" AND his next album "KRS One." Between those 2 albums we got "Outta Here", "Sound of the Police", "Black Cop", "Sound of Da Police", "Rappaz R N Danja", "MC's Act Like They Don't Know" and "Wannabeemceez" with a RACK of other bangers that more than made up for those last 4 BDP albums. Now Kris has gone onto release 11 more albums but truth be told I haven't been paying any attention to 'em but similar to Kane, even 11 blah albums can't mess up what KRS has meant AND done for the game. Salute.
My Favorite KRS One Verse:
I'll play the nine
And you play the target
You all know my name so I guess I'll just start it
Or should I say, start this
I am an artist
Styles and new concepts at their hardest
Yo, cause I'm a teacher
And Scot is a scholar
It ain't about money
Cause we all make dollars
That's why
I walk with my head up
When I hear wack rhymes
I get fed up
Rap is like a set-up
A lot of games
A lot of suckas with colorful names
I'm so-and-so
I'm this, I'm that
But they all just wick, wick, wack
I'm not white or red or black
I'm brown
From the Boogie Down
Productions
Of course
Our music be thumpin'
Others say their bad
But they're buggin
Let me tell you somethin' now
About hip hop
About D-Nice, Melodie, and Scot La Rock
I'll get a pen, a pencil, a marker
Mainly what I write is for the average New Yorker
Some mc's be talkin' and talkin'
Tryin' to show how black people are walkin
But I don't walk this way to portray, or reinforce
Stereotypes of today
Like all my brothas, eat chicken and watermelon
Talk broken english and drug sellin'
See I'm tellin'
And teaching real facts
The way some act in rap, is kind of wack
And it lacks, creativity and intelligence
But they don't care, cause the company is sellin' it
It's my philosophy
On the industry
Don't bother dissin' me
Or even wish that we'd
Soften, dilute,
Or commercialize all our lyrics
Cause it's about time, one of y'all hear it
And hear it first hand
From an intelligent brown man
A vegetarian, no goat or ham
Or chicken or turkey or hamburger
Cause to me that's suicide, self-murder
Now let us get back to what we call hip hop
And what it meant to DJ Scot La Rock"
"My Philosophy" - Boogie Down Productions
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