I’m in the middle of a glorious
four day weekend, where I’m mixing in liberal amounts of hanging with friends, chilling
at home, and enjoying some of my favourite hobbies (including listening to a
lot of music).
I’ve also been doing a lot of
music purchasing, and yesterday I may have overdone it. First, I bought three albums at local record stores (new releases by P.O.S. and Mother Mother, plus
an album from 1999 called Western Wall by Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris).
Then, still not sated and emboldened by some Christmas money sent from my mom, I ordered another 11 albums online.
These are now winging their way to me through the magic of the internet. They
are:
- Courtney Marie
Andrews “Honest Life”
- Birds of
Chicago’s self-titled debut and also their latest, “Real Midnight”
- The Handsome
Family’s “Singing Bones” and “Unseen”
- Conor Oberst’s
“Ruminations”
- The Stray
Birds self-titled debut and their latest,
“Magic Fire”
- Three Warren
Zevon albums: “The Envoy”, “Mr. Bad Example” and “Mutineer”
If you don’t know these albums, do
yourself a favour and check them out. Alternatively, you can wait however many years it will
be until I’ve randomly rolled and reviewed each one.
Disc 969 is…Rhyme Pays
Artist: Ice-T
Year of Release: 1987
What’s up with the Cover? Ice-T and his buddy appear to be
taking that nice girl to the beach.
This
convertible looks a lot like the one from the cover of the Thompson Twins album
I reviewed back at Disc 963. I like to think it was an eighties car share
and each time the other group picked it up they were horrified to discover what
had been left in the tape deck.
How I Came To Know It: I’ve known Ice-T for a while,
originally through my friend Chris. “Rhyme Pays” was hard to find, and very
expensive to buy online. For that reason I was pretty happy when it showed up
used at my local record store at a more reasonable price a few months ago.
How It Stacks Up: I have four Ice-T albums and I like them all,
but I must reluctantly put “Rhyme Pays” as my least favourite so…fourth.
Ratings: 3 stars
Some
albums are just better because of their place in music history, and “Rhyme Pays”
is one of those.
While this
is the weakest of the four Ice-T albums I have, it is the beginning of a sound
that was a major inspiration for whole new directions in rap music. Songs like “6 ‘N the Morning” tell stories of actual
people committing actual crimes, making it one of the earliest occurrences of
Gangsta Rap. There is a lot of bad music in that genre, but you can’t blame
Ice-T for that; his work here has stood the test of time.
Yes, the
beats are basic on this record (it was 1987, after all) but that stark approach
is the perfect fit for Ice’s on-the-beat, machine gun staccato rap style. Ice-T
is a natural storyteller and he injects large doses of fury into his delivery
style, restraining himself just enough to show while his style is aggressive,
it is equally thoughtful.
The
samples are inspired, “Make It Funky”
samples from the James Brown song of the same name, but my favourite is the use
of the classic doom-filled guitar riff from Black Sabbath’s “War Pigs” on the title track. Later
Ice-T would fully commit to blending rap and metal on his side project Body
Count (reviewed back at Disc 665). Here the concept is still in its
infancy, but Ice instinctively knows how to use it to increase the danger and
ominous undertones to his rap.
Ice-T is
at his best on this record when he is singing about the gangster life style
like on the now classic “6 ‘N the Morning”,
or just talking about the most traditional early rap topic; rapping better than
his challengers. When he tries to be a bit ‘romantic’ (and I use this term
loosely) on “I Love Ladies” and “Sex” I found myself wishing for some LL
Cool J instead.
The CD
version of the album has two problems. First, the bonus tracks take the record
from 9 to 13 tracks, and add about 20 minutes of music. For the most part these
bonus tracks are just remixes of songs you’ve already heard. While they might
be welcome on a party mix, I didn’t think they added much and make the album
feel too long.
The
second problem is that late eighties CD production, where no matter how loud
you turn the volume you can’t seem to get any depth of sound. It is like the
songs are being playing in another room; out walking around with headphones I would
miss lyrics if the wind blew a little too hard.
If you
want a better appreciation of classic Ice-T rap albums like “Power” or “O.G.
Original Gangster” then “Rhyme Pays” is an album that will open your eyes to
how Ice-T found his sound. Even if you aren’t a music historian, this is a
record with enough strong and memorable tracks that it is worth checking out purely
for its own merits.
Best
tracks: Rhyme
Pays, 6 ‘N the Morning, Squeeze the Trigger
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