“Return Of The Boom Bap”……Ahhhhhhhh mannnnnn! What should I say
about this album? Aside from the fact that it’s still my favorite KRS-One album
to this day? Aside from the fact that I still have the cassette over at my
parents’ crib? Copped it thru one of those music clubs back in the day; you
know Columbia House, BMG music, etc. I actually gotta BiG uP those music clubs
because I was able to experience a whole lot of Hip Hop thru the memberships
that I had with ‘em when I was 13 & didn’t have a large grip of dough to
spend. Copped plenty of albums at reasonable prices, cassettes at first because
I hadn’t yet moved onto CDs until a bit later in the game. The only thing that
I wasn’t a fan of was when ya had to buy the required amount of CDs or tapes at
their full price because their prices were quite high especially with their
shipping costs, but that’s another story for another day. So anyway that’s how
I was able to get my hands on the “Return
Of The Boom Bap” tape amongst many others & once I slapped that tape
into my Sony Walkman I played the hell out of it thru~out my high school years!
I was feeling a little nostalgic a few weeks ago so I actually dug out the album
from one of my many boxes of CDs & decided to dust it off. While giving it
a listen thru that’s when I got to wondering why hasn’t this album been
re~released with some bonus cuts? It’s definitely worthy of such a release, so
I said fuck it & decided that I’d put together one of my web~famous HeRBaN DeLuXe VeRSioNs & this here
is what I came up with…
Originally this great gem of an album was released in 1993 thru Jive
& it included 14 tracks in total, with production handled by the likes of
DJ Premier (6 tracks), Norty Cotto (1 track), Kid Capri (2 tracks), Showbiz (1
track) & even KRS-One (5 tracks) himself. So at just under 56 minutes in
length, it left me enough room to add another 6 tracks to complete this HeRBaN DeLuXe VeRSioN (I`m Old School so
I try to keep these H.D.V`s under 80
minutes so they can still fit onto a CD if one so chooses to burn it onto a
disc). The first song that I decided to add is “Hip Hop vs. Rap”, a tune that in all honesty should`ve been on
the retail release of “Return Of The
Boom Bap” anyway. The next selection was a no~brainer really, “Outta Here [Original Demo Version]”,
definitely worth the listen for the Mr. Magic DiSS alone. It was kind of hard
to find a track to follow that almost lost piece of Hip Hop history, but I
think I made the right choice with “Sound
Of Da Police [Rmx]”. After that I hit the 12 inch singles for “Return Of The Boom Bap [Iron Lion Rmx]”
& “Mortal Thought [Kenny Parker
Rmx]” respectively. “Hip Hop
vs. Rap [Spinbad Blend]” closes out the album very nicely. Now for some
reason unbeknownst to any true Hip Hop head you haven`t heard this album
before, let me break down exactly what you`re in for…
“KRS-One Attacks” opens up things & gives the
listeners a glimpse of what to expect. KRS doesn`t actually spit anything on
this, it serves as more of an intro. The way DJ Premier cuts the various
KRS-One samples to create it is simply awesome. “Outta Here”, which I believe was the album’s first single, was
produced by DJ Premier. Over the simplistic, but very hard beat KRS-One kicks
some tales of Hip Hop History as only the teacha could. What’s DoPe about it is
how he does it in such a way that it`s pretty much first~person perspective
because…well, he was a crucial part of the history & it`s kind of awesome
to see things from that side of the fence. The self~produced “Black Cop”, which was previously
released on the “CB4 Soundtrack”,
rocks a simple yet effective enough loop for KRS to get his points across. DJ
Premier shows up once again to handle the production on “Mortal Thought” & provides a nice jazzy backdrop for
KRS-One to flex his lyrical braggadocio mic rockin’ rhymes over…
The KRS/Premier collaborating continues, but this time they both handle
the production on “I Can’t Wake Up”.
This song could be taken 2 ways; a lot of folks take it as an anti~Weed smokin’
tune, but I think that it should be interpreted as a dream that KRS-One
probably had after indulging in a few blunts himself. I mean c’mon, he’s a
blunt being passed around & smoked by a who’s~who of Hip Hop (at the time).
Either way you take it though, it’s a good concept record worth the listen so
don’t sleep! “Slap Them Up”
features a little uncredited intro by DJ Premier & some uncredited raps
from Ill Will. The beat was produced by Latin House producer Norty Cotto &
co-produced by Douglas Jones. To be honest I`m not really familiar with either
one of these producers, but they sure gave KRS a nice backin` for his rhyme
flexin`. Now the Showbiz produced “Sound
Of Da Police” should need no introduction, I mean c’mon it’s featured
in the 2016 animated “The Angry Birds
Movie” for cryin’ out loud. My son was singing the hook of this tune at
4 years old because of said movie….LoL, both Showbiz & KRS must`ve seen
some nice residuals off that song placement, anyway this was the album`s second
single. The head~nodding beat & catchy chorus will definitely hook your ear,
but it’s the lyrics that you really need to hear. I’d quote some, but honestly
you truly need to hear them over the beat to do `em justice. Trust me you won’t
be disappointed at all!!!
“Mad Crew” is a self-produced joint that’s sure to get ya`
head noddin’, Boom Bapp`N Hip Hop indeed. The simplistic beatboxin’ backdrop on
“Uh Oh” is almost the perfect backing
for KRS’s reggae~vibed storytelling, another self-produced joint. “Brown Skin Woman” is the
Blastmaster’s ode to well just that, Kid Capri provided the smooth production
on this one. “Return Of The Boom Bap”
is another joint that KRS-One produced himself. Some folks out there may
remember hearing the DJ Premier produced “P
Is Still Free” while they were listening to the “Menace II Society Soundtrack”, which was also released in
1993. Something interesting to note; if you actually take a look at that
tracklist the song’s credited to Boogie Down Productions. So does that make it
the last official BDP song? Or did someone at Jive just fuck up?? Someone out
there on the Internet knows, feel free to school me…
Kid Capri takes on double duties on the Jazzy~vibed “Stop Frontin`” as producer &
guest emcee, he handles both very well I`d have to say. “Higher Level” is some great funkdafied spiritual Hip Hop, produced
by DJ Premier. This song is the closer on the original album release &
honestly I have to say that it’s a great way to end such an awesome album.
Still as a KRS fan I can’t lie, I was always just a little disappointed in the
fact that “Hip Hop vs. Rap”,
the B-Side of the album`s first single, was never included as part of the album.
So naturally that was my first choice when it came to the songs that I chose to
add to this HeRBaN DeLuXe VeRSioN.
The song’s produced by both KRS-One & Kenny Parker, definitely something
you just need to hear on your own, my words probably wouldn’t do it enough
justice…
Next in the added bonus joints is the “Outta Here [Original Demo Version]”. Unfortunately the sound
quality isn’t that great, sounds like a cassette rip & the song itself
sounds like it was dubbed from a radio show. So maybe it’s not actually a demo,
but an alternate radio version, because the song is censored, has the same beat
pretty much, but it also contains a few Mister Magic DiSSeS that don’t appear
on the retail album version of the same song. I’m not sure of the source of the
file so I couldn’t tell you, either way though it’s definitely something worth
listening to just for the historic value of it. The “Sound Of Da Police [Rmx]” comes with a nice thumpin` beat that
Kenny Parker produced, it’s DoPe but I’m still kind of partial to the way
Showbiz rocked the original album version myself. Regardless it’s a great song
& that’s why I added it…
The “Return Of The Boom Bap
[Iron Lion Rmx]” comes from the 12 inch single released in 1994 &
features Mad Lion. It has a nice Reggae vibe to it & I believe that Mad
Lion was the one to produce the track, couldn’t find any production credit on
the track so feel free to school me if I’m wrong. The “Mortal Thought [Kenny Parker Rmx]” is another joint off that “Return Of The Boom Bap” 12 inch
single. It’s ok, but doesn’t compare to the original version, Premier just
rocked it more, my opinion of course. Still plenty of heads dig the tune, I
think the reason that I don’t dig it as much is because it’s censored &
well Premier didn’t do it….LoL, anyway “Hip
Hop vs. Rap [Spinbad Blend]” closes out things here. DJ Spinbad does a
great job blending in various beats to match KRS’s lyrics. I think this was
featured on a mixtape or something, to be completely honest I’m not sure of its
source. So there ya have it, did I do the album some justice with the added
tracks? Is there something else that should have included? Feel free to leave
some comments…
Released: 1993-2018
1. KRS-One Attacks
2. Outta Here
3. Black Cop
4. Mortal Thought
5. I Can`t Wake Up
6. Slap Them Up {ft. Ill Will}
7. Sound Of Da Police
8. Mad Crew
9. Uh Oh!
10. Brown Skin Woman
11. Return Of The Boom Bap
12. P Is Still Free
13. Stop Frontin` {ft. Kid Capri}
14. Higher Level
15. Hip Hop vs. Rap
16. Outta Here [Original Demo Version]
17. Sound Of Da Police [Rmx]
18. Return Of The Boom Bap [Iron Lion Rmx] {ft. Mad Lion}
19. Mortal Thought [Kenny Parker Rmx]
20. Hip Hop vs. Rap [Spinbad Blend]
N`JoY...
