Cheers to seangee for this idea. Chances are I’ve written this exact post already over the past sixteen years but who has time to search through the backlog?
Beats make or break a rap record as far as I’m concerned, and the nineties was a prime time for quality production ruined by not so great rapping and/or unnecessary tongue twisting lyrical acrobatics.
In this golden age of limited edition vinyls, pretty much every old rap LP has had an intros release on wax or Spotify. Here are some which benefited greatly from the sans-vocals presentations. Please note: the first Group Home album is not included on account Melachi the Nutcracker delivering some of the finest ‘I’m not even pretending to try being good at rapping’ lines of all time.
Lords of the Underground – Here Come The Lords and Keepers of the Funk
These LP’s both featured a lot of quality K-Def / Marley tracks, supporting the somewhat over-enthusiastic delivery from Do It All and Mr. Funkee (smh). I bought both of these when they were originally released but at some point I tired of LOTUGs antics and traded them in for some old jazz breaks. These dudes still have loyal fans but the only squeaky voiced rhyming I can tolerate at this stage in my life is old Roxanne Shante singles on Pop Art. I’ll hand in my Jersey bridge pass at the door.
Erick Sermon – Double or Nothing
I’m not sure if it was the added responsibility of no longer sharing production duties with Parrish that did it, but after the fourth EPMD LP it was as if the EE Double forgot how to rap and fell into a tiresome routine of endless, obvious punchlines. When his second solo album dropped, I grabbed it on the strength of some peak Green Eyed Bandit vibe out beats but after a couple of spins his lackadaisical rhymes killed my buzz to the point that I had the record cast out into the wilderness, never to taint my ears again.
Cypress Hill – Temple of Boom
While DJ Muggs delivered some magnificent work here, updating the sound of the first two albums significantly, the same can’t be said for B-Real and Sen Dog. Having already exhausted their respective bag of tricks on the first two go-rounds, the vocals are decent but just can’t seem to match how quickly Muggs’ sound was progressing. Turns out they all agreed to tread water together for the next decade so I guess it worked out OK?
Common Sense – Can I Borrow A Dollar
Another example of great tracks soiled by gimmicky rapping. As dull as he often is, Common has proven to be great at rapping when he needs to be, but here he was still finding his feet on his debut he made the unfortunate decision to pepper his verses with donkey noises and weird squeaks, giving the impression that the poor bloke was suffering from a mild case of Toutettes. As a result, some early Beatnuts and No ID productions never got to shine as brightly as they otherwise may have.
Dr. Dre – Chronic 2001
What better way to enjoy the Futuristic Cosmic Slop producec by Dre’s weed carriers than without having to endure his shit rapping?
Downtown Science – S/T
Sam Sever = good. Bosco Money = not so much. This record presented a wide range of musical styles, all of which were rendered unlistenable once Bosco’s mic was turned on.
Fu-Schnickens – FU Don’t Take It Personal
Way to blow three Ali Shaheed beats and a Dres track on hyperactive rapping and Loony Tunes sound effects! To their credit, they did technically beat Wu-Tang to the punch with the kung fu flick samples…but then blew any good-will by rapping in a flying Chinese takeaway box.
Everything by Shaq.
Junior Mafia – Conspiracy
Apologies to any Lil’ Cease loyalists ( *cough*), but the number of impressive instrumentals squandered here could the bring a tear to the eye of a more emotional Nineties Rap Tragic than my good self. DJ Clark Kent must have the patience of saint is all I’m saying.
Both Fu-Gees albums
If I have to choose between enjoying L-Boogie’s outstanding work or enduring Pras and ‘Clef, I’m voting ‘Nope’ to the vocals everytime.
Chino XL – Here To Save You All
I tired of Chino’s cadence and ‘look how clever my overwrought punchlines are!’ style after one song, but cot damnit those beats were pretty sweet.
Ice Cube – The Predator
Cube switched his style up after ‘Death Certificate’, and went from setting trends to following them in the space of one record, as he attempted to hitch his wagon to the Cypress Hill/Das-EFX train in order to…stay hip to the kids? The result is a tape full of cutting edge beats and stilted, ‘New Improved’ Cube raps.
Pharcyde – Bizarre Ride 2 The Pharcyde
J- Swift really gave the Rhodes organ a workout (pause) on this one, and was part of a movement of LA rap crews who were comfortable to stop rapping about guns over Roger Troutman loops, but for me the high pitched antics of Fat Lip and co wore me down after a few listens.
Borderline cases:
Grand Puba – 2000
How did Puba go from being the best rapper on earth when Brand Nubian dropped to a guy who couldn’t be bothered writing rhymes until he scribbled something on the back of Hillfiger catalogue while hungover in the studio?
Can’t finish the verse? No drama, just sing for a bit mate. Way to squander some great Minnesotta beats there. Obviously, Puba is still good at rapping even when operating at a fifth of his capacity, but hearing such a talent phone it in is so frustrating that I’d rather rock out to the beats by themselves.
Real Live – The Turnaround
Larry O was a victim of poor timing, as by the time this album hit the shelves his brand of Mob Flick Rap had already been rinsed and many listeners were hungry for something different. K-Def eventually released the instrumental version of this but the original version is still worth a spin from time to time.
cosign to most of this list.
91-93 was lets say difficult
in forms of delivery n cadence.
would add some wu affiliates stuff.
debut albums by fat joe and group home are prime examples of rap albums with great beats and weak raps (apart from verses by g rap, puba & guru).
Most of these I would agree but I’d give Cypress and Ice Cube another chance. I feel like Cube didn’t really officially fall off until the late 90’s with all that corny Don Mega shit. Cypress Hill for me didn’t fall off until they started attempting to appeal to the same crowd that listens to Linkin Park and Limp Bizkit.
FU Robbie. Take it personal ;). Chip Fu (let’s face it, The Fu Schnickens was just him with two randos along for the ride) were dope. The production credits for the two Fu Schnick albums look good on paper. However, in practice, the beats themselves aren’t actually that good. It’s all about Chip Fu’s verbal acrobatics.
Killarmy “Silent weapons for quiet wars” springs to mind as an album with superb beats which I could easily enjoy without the vocals.
Would it be CRC blasphemy to suggest most Doppelgangaz, Beatnuts and Pete Rock-produced albums? I like “Hark” and “Loansharks” but after that, Doppelgangaz albums are great beats spoilt by irritating catchphrases.
^ I’d rather suggest most alchemist-produced albums…
out of the newer stuff, westside gunn albums always got some dope production but this guy is intolerable … big ghost ltd is a dope producer but most of the rappers he works with suck…
I agree with you on everything except for that “Real Live” comment…Truth be told, Larry’s rhymes grew on me (Wasn’t the most complex or extra lyrical at the time it dropped compared to other shit in 94-95), but I revisited “The Turnaround” the other day, and he definitely has his moments…
That record captures K-Def in a amazing zone, some of the illest beats I have heard till this day…
Peace-
D
Very Honoured you took this up Robbie, will need to put some research into this before I comment further – of the dome
Original Concept “Straight From the Basement” as much as I love it….
Agree. Heard him rhyme for the first time yesterday. Terrible in every way. Sounds like a constipated anus made famous…
Robbie, I thought you would’ve shouted out the Souls Of Mischief debut, which would go nice day with those jazz breaks you bought.
Tony D, RIP. 2 albums that he didn’t need to rap on…
@Drasar: That’s what I was trying to say, I used ignore the rapping but now I don’t mind it.
@3BM-Ark: Yeah, the instro version of the ’93 Til’ LP they released themselves is amazing.
Robbie, you could also note the instrumental albums you want rapping on, and by whom… Like ‘Diverse Recourse’ by Joe Beats with Baby Alchemist rapping in a Dr. Trevis vox efx, for example!
madlib and freddie gibbs – Pinata. madlib’s beats sound way too important to have freddie gibbs just say “bitch nigga weed motherfucker” over them repeatedly
@Robbie
Word up, how could Larry go wrong with lines like “Copped an O.Z. / now she is about to fuck a nigga to sleep”…HAHA.
Yeah man, his rhymes definitely sound better now than back then…
Which Doobie U Be? – Funkdoobiest
Thought I was the only one who copped that downtown science tape lol…..
And not for nothing…. alotta rappers have been tuned out so the beats can be enjoyed….jigga gets tuned out on the regular…. especially on streets is watching and come and get me
And there was no way I was buying a grand puba solo lp
Truth to spinning them souls of mischief, pharcyde, Erick sermon joints with the rapper mute button on
Throw LONS in there with LOTG
Wasn’t buying no junior mafia cd man stop it lol
Salute
Wildchild’s Secondary Protocol album. Maybe even Lootpack’s Soundpieces: Da Antidote as well, as much as I adore it warts and all. Stones Throw was always savvy enough to releases instrumental versions of Madlib-produced albums, though.
@Stu Dogg: First Lootpack is a great call – that rapping was not my thing on any level.
I actually still dig the downtown science album to this day. Not randomly quoting Bosco Money rhymes to show I’m “down” by any means but find his tone, and even his rhymes, fitting for the music.
My votes for some rap-less albums:
OGC – Da Storm
Double XX posse – Put your boots on
Chi-Ali/Shyheim – kid voice works on some songs but after a while…
Ouch. Now you’ve gone too far! PB Wolf was nice on the beat though…
1st das efx … love the james brown breaks, especially the black ceasar stuff, but can’t stand that style of rappin…
Truth! I couldn’t repeat a hot verse from TI but he gets royalty $ when it’s time to clean the car and backyard…the rap collective will repeat how Rozay picks beats but it’s never a homage to his pen game… I dust off the group home lp only for baby pa…. it’s why I don’t cosign the Griselda roc Marci slander them boys keep ill samples on deck….dudley Boyz goes whether it’s Bronson or Gunn…. Richard gear and Ephesians go
That 2nd Slick Rick record and both Black Sheep records could have made this list.
^ really? as far as I remember, the vance wright beats on ricky d’s 2nd album were rather shitty, and I bet dres’ rapping on “autobiographical” ist better than 90% of the rap stuff in your collection. but to each his own…
I’ve definitely got better things to do than argue with an idiot who shits on Das Efx, so let’s just leave it at “to each their own”.
Second N.W.A album
1. Keith Murray’s second album. I can remember driving in my homie’s car listening to it. The beats were dope but Keith was just making up words by adding a prefix or suffix to them. The beats were dope but about 3 or 4 songs in I started to hit the skip button.
2. Slick Rick’s 2nd album was terrible. All he did was walk into the studio with some Ultimate Breaks and Beats albums. He did no digging. Just rapping over breakbeats, which was cool in 88, but by 1991 that style was played out.
E40’s “The element of surprise.” The beats (by Bosko I think) spank so funking hard. Could easily do without most of the vocals.
Everything by Quasimoto. It’s kinda entertaining first but the hydro rap style wears down heavily on album length
@andrew
True indeed! Elif4zaggin might be arguably Dre’s finest moment behind the boards but you can tell what a difference Ice Cube made in that group. Outside of Ren, everyone else was unlistenable…
ahah…you Jaded old nit picking prick, your site is dead & not much to post about anymore, Real Live, Predator wtf covering this Him Lo guy is that’s all you have now?