Wild Pitch (1991)
Every Wednesday, in honor of Ed Lover Dance Day from Yo MTV Raps, I take a break from rock and roll to write a little bit about hip hop. In the late 80s and early 90s hip hop ruled my musical life. During this often called 'Golden Era' I discovered so much incredible music. As I am slowly replacing the CDs I've had for 25+ years with vinyl copies, I'm going to talk about some albums that had a really important impact on me during some very formative years.
This album stands out from some of the others that I have written about over the past few weeks. I didn't have any UMC's records back in the 90s. I heard them for the first time in the last few years. Like I've done with many rock and roll bands, I have spend some time going backwards and checking out records and groups that either I never heard during their heyday or that I just didn't like for one reason or another. In the case of The UMC's, I'm not sure I ever listened to them in the 90s. I think a lot of that was because of their name. As I was already a fan of Ultramagnetic MCs, I didn't like that The UMC's name was so similar. I get that this is a dumb reason, but I was a teenager at the time.
Unfortunately, I was missing out on some excellent records for twenty plus years. On Fruits of Nature, UMC's are hitting that exact style that I loved back then. Catchy beats that lean on jazz and soul samples, uptempo rhythms and lyrical flows that are a little left of center. Whenever a hip hop act of the 90s was taking chances, that's when I tended to jump up and take notice. Why it took me so many years to finally notice UMC's is something I can't quite explain or rationalize.
I will say this, Fruits of Nature will slide into your record collection very neatly next to your Souls Of Mischief, Tribe Called Quest and Pharcyde records. If you are into that sort of laid back style, this is an album you need to add to your piles. I've also picked up the second UMCs record, Unleashed. It's different from Fruits of Nature, but is also excellent in its own way. I'll write a bit about that one in the next few months.
The UMC's - "Blue Cheese":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLV_Vl9ttoc
The UMC's - "Swing It To The Area":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1-LgEQ7xxo
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