Get On Down / EastWest (2019, Reissue)
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.
In 1993, my aunt asked me what I wanted for a holiday. I assume birthday or Christmas, but I can't remember which as they are both in December and that was a long damn time ago. I told her that I wanted this album by Da Lench Mob. Instead, she got me a CD by a band called Lynch Mob that had a bunch of dudes with long glam rock hair on the cover. I remember having the feign some sort of enthusiasm while opening it and then having to explain what I had actually wanted. In retrospect, I probably shouldn't have asked anyone to buy my this album. The grownups were bound to not understand what I was after.
While I definitely saw the video for Guerillas In Tha Mist on Yo MTV Raps, what actually drew me to the group the most was that Del The Funky Homosapien had been part of Lench Mob when they were a crew with Ice Cube. In 92/93, I had no internet so I didn't really know if Del was on this album at all or not, so the only way to find out for sure was to get it. Unfortunately Del isn't a part of this, but the record is still a really fun listen, especially when it goes into extreme points of over the top ridiculousness.
Anyone who has seen the video for the title track knows what I'm talking about. Ice Cube and Da Lench Mob standing around in the woods with Predator style heat signature visual effects. They're rapping about King Kong and Godzilla and Tarzan. Then there's this part where Ice Cube loses his mind and starts going on about "With a boom ping, ping/listen to the ill shit that I bring, bring." It's all kind of insane, but it works and is helped by how great the underlying beat and production is. Shorty can also hold his own on the mic and leads the lion's share of this album.
All of the songs are solid, but I would never say this is an all time classic, must have album. It's really good and I think it holds up pretty well all things considered. There are important issues tackled in the lyrics on quite a few songs, but it is so over the top and weird at times that it's hard to take in the messages with all of off center imagery and general strangeness that takes place. That said, it is still entertaining to listen to and I was pretty psyched when the reissue came out last year.
Da Lench Mob - "Guerillas In Tha Mist":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9I9R-IMG20
Da Lench Mob - "Freedom Got An A.K."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrvKI9FfqO0
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