Tim Dog - Penicillin on Wax 2xLP - Green Vinyl (/1000)

Music On Vinyl (2017, 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 twenty-five plus 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 was another I had on CD back in 91 when it originally came out.  Though the album is probably most well known for it's anti-west coast/NWA diss track, "Fuck Compton," for me it was the song "Step To Me" that always stood out.  It's the song that had a video on Yo! MTV Raps and is what inspired me to grab the CD, I'm imagining as part of a BMG/Columbia house scam.    

"Step To Me" still holds up to me as the best track on the album, but the entire album, if nothing else, is really well produced.  Considering that the bulk of the beats were handled by folks from Ultramagnetic MCs, that shouldn't really be too much of a surprise.  It's remarkably varied on the production side, especially considering how one dimensional Tim Dog is as an MC.  He's not bad, but he pretty much says the same stuff over and over again and doesn't really change up his by the numbers flow.  

Lyrically, lots of cussin' and shock value stuff here.  The skits are universally terrible and I'm grateful that they're all mercifully short.  I think had I heard it for the first time now instead of when I was fourteen years old, I'm not sure that I'd be too keen on the whole package.  But again, the beats are really good and it has that weird baked in nostalgia that I'm certainly guilty of indulging in.  Not sure everyone needs this in their collection, but it has its moments.

Tim Dog - Penicillin on Wax:
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_l_IhEG06EGgmA9HsD9q0Btv2YcPmnALIk