A premium example of the critical importance of that illusory element called "flow", this cut from 1993's Til Death Do Us Part opens with a verse from what sounds like a very mean child and only gets better from there. Equaling Sugarhill Gang's "Rapper's Delight" in number of rappers, it is less free-wheeling topically as it stays on the message of all the different ways people can be murdered. Really, there are as many descriptions of individual murders as any of the Expendables movies so if that makes you uncomfortable, you should probably skip it. But if you are fan of most other parts of American culture, this is in your wheelhouse! Over a jazzy drum hook and a funky, head-nodding bass, no less than ten different people share their violent, dark fantasies of power. The guy who talked about inadvertently cannibalizing that lady greatly contributed to the Geto Boys' reputation as too extreme for consumption (ha!) and I am not even sure if he was a Geto Boy. The visual power of his verse which also includes a reference to mass shootings and blasphemy is undeniable so it makes sense that the politicized shrinking violets of the time latched onto it. The brief choruses are endlessly chantable (which I only do when I am in the car by myself) while the verses beautifully underscore how important it is to lyrically lock into and, once there, play with the beat. Rhyme and repetition are employed adeptly by all the participants until the verse that starts, "Check it, first I walk up on him..." sends the whole thing into the stratosphere above mere mortals who, based on the song, are probably all dead anyway.
My eternal thanks to Fwuffy Da Destwoyah for turning me onto this song so long ago.
"Bring It on" by the Geto Boys
My eternal thanks to Fwuffy Da Destwoyah for turning me onto this song so long ago.
"Bring It on" by the Geto Boys