MF911 - Idol, The Bloodsport LP

Next Plateau (1993)

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.

MF911 is another one of those groups that eluded me when they originally were active.  I have no memory of seeing anything about these guys in The Source or on Yo! MTV Raps back in '93.  Had I known about them, I'm sure I would have picked up the record, particularly due to a hip hop luminary being a big part of this album.

Who is that luminary?  Ced Gee of Ultramagnetic MC's.  From what I've read, he brought the group to Next Plateau.  But even if that story isn't accurate, he was very involved in the creation of this album, even handling the production for about half the album.  And if you know me, 1993 era Ultramagnetic is one of the high points of that time for me.

You can absolutely hear that in the production.  Even though MF911 are from Detroit, the production screams early 90s New York boom bap.  There are those jazzy loops and hard hitting drums that would not be at all out of place on The Four Horsemen.  Top to bottom, the production on this album is great, with the tracks that weren't produced directly by Ced Gee still having a similar sound leading to a cohesive album.

Lyrically, the folks in MF911 are flowing in a much more straightforward manner than the Ultramagnetic boys do.  And that's not a shot at them.  I don't think the world needs too many groups rapping like lunatics.  That works for Ultra, but doesn't often work for others.  MF911 has MCs that have vocal similarities to Ced deep voice, but they're staying on beat and spinning stories that are more narrative in structure.  The lyrics complement the beats nicely and the total package is an album that has been slept on (including by me) for far too long.  Hopefully some label will release this lost gem one day to get more attention on a record that deserves it.

MF911 - Idol, The Bloodsport:
https://mf911.bandcamp.com/album/idol-the-bloodsport