Lords of the Underground - Here Come The Lords 2xLP

Music On Vinyl / Universal (2018)

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.

I actually didn't think that Lords of the Underground were the sort of band that would warrant a Music On Vinyl reissue of their albums.  I just sort of thought they were one of those great groups from the early 90s that were destined to be forgotten.  Not necessarily for any justifiable reason, it's just that the sands of time don't always treat everyone kindly.  I'm very happy to be wrong and the ability to pick up a slick, high quality version of this album on wax is great news.

Like just about all 90s golden era hip hop, I discovered Lords of the Underground from Yo MTV Raps.  Specifically the song "Funky Child."  While I don't remember seeing it played frequently, I saw it enough times that the main horn riff sample (from James Brown's "My Thang") was lodged in my head pretty quickly.  It's still my favorite Lords song all of these years later, but they were not a one hit wonder, the entire album is really strong, particularly when looking back on it with twenty five plus years of hindsight.

This is a group that did a tremendous job on the production of their songs.  The beats are always full sounding and hard hitting.  When combined with the fast paced lyrical flow, it creates songs that are head nodders, but are also really fun.  The lyrics are dynamic and it really sounds like the band had a good time making this record.  I have to say that I am not as familiar with the band's second album, Keepers of the Funk, but I think I should probably give that one another chance as Here Come the Lords holds up really well.

Lords of the Underground - Here Come the Lords (Youtube full album playlist):
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_lHp2W0CI7hqyr2Oz7X-_xznAEWTExtxk0