WC and the Maad Circle - Ain't a Damn Thing Changed LP

Priority (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 thirty 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.

WC and the Maad Circle are yet another golden era act that I didn't hear back in the 90s.  If I had actually heard them in 1991, I can't imagine not have being just about as into them as I was Ice Cube.  There's a pretty good reason for that and that's because half of this album was produced by Sir Jinx, one of the masterminds behind Death Certificate.  Which unsurprisingly results in Ain't a Damn Thing Changed having an extremely similar feel, production wise, as that west coast classic.

The beats on this are great.  That heavy low end, kind of smooth sound that was poised to take over before Dre came and ruined the west with The Chronic.  Lyrically WC handles the bulk of the rhyming and he has a strong voice and descriptive, story telling flow.  He had cut his teeth in a group called Low Profile (still looking for that LP at a good price) before forming the Maad Circle.  You know who else is in the Maad Circle?  Coolio.  Yeah, that Coolio.  I have never been a fan of Coolio, but that's probably mostly due to not liking his production.  On this album, with Sir Jinx beats, he's totally fine and a nice compliment to WC.

This is an album that I'm really surprised hasn't been reissued in some form.  The only LP out there is the original from 1991, which has 18 tracks crammed onto a single LP.  It doesn't sound bad or anything, it's totally fine.  But I nice double LP reissue is absolutely something I'd add to my collection if given the chance.

WC and the Maad Circle - Ain't a Damn Thing Changed:
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_k5QYp2eKxOlkQQGSH7uUscLReKma4KsKw