Search - Blackmale :: Let It Swing

When The Mainstream Was Caught up With Suckaizm

retro_styled_crooner | Tustin, CA USA | 04/20/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Released during a time when West Coast gangsta rap and Florida bass music were bursting onto the scene, enjoying multi-platinum sells, MTV air-play and successful chart positions on both the R&B and Pop charts, not to mention controversy. This was the marvelous time of which was billed as the "Golden Age" era of Hip-Hop, but not because of N.W.A. or 2 Live Crew, but more for the reason of Big Daddy Kane, Eric B. & Rakim, MC Shan, Nice & Smooth, LL Cool J, Public Enemy, EPMD ect. Those six years witnessed the best recordings from some of the biggest rappers. Golden age rap is characterized by skeletal beats, samples cribbed from hard rock or soul tracks, and tough dis raps. Rhymers like PE's Chuck D., Big Daddy Kane, KRS-One, and Rakim basically invented the complex wordplay and lyrical kung-fu of later hip-hop. It was the time when Def Jam, Tommy Boy, Jive, and Cold Chillin' ruled the hip-hop scene. The Philadelphia-based, Blackmale, released their 1989 debut on the, at the time, unknown Ruffhouse records (which later produced huge sellers in the Fugees, Kris Kross and Cypress Hill). Ruffhouse was still being distributed by Enigma, oppose to Columbia. One of Ruffhouse's pre-Columbia, Enigma-era releases was Let It Swing by Blackmale, an East Coast duo that has been compared to Eric B. & Rakim and Brooklynite Special Ed. This release was far from a multi-platinum smash but may very well be one of the most slept own rap releases of the late-'80s. Artists like Robbie B & DJ Jazz, Steady B, and the Buffalo Soldiers were no strangers to serious Hip-Hop fans, but to the mainstream white-america they were a nonentity to the music world of MTV and pop charts. Just looking at Blackmale's style in attire one could tell they were Philly born MC's and not Westcoast gangsta rappers or nasty spittin' lyricists from the South (both of which were becoming increasingly popular in 1989). The minute emcee EZ Tee starts to flow on "Body Talk" or the amusing "You Sorry Bitch," you can tell that he is a Northeastern MC. And Tracey Cobb's production style is as Northeastern-sounding as Tee's rapping. Obviously mindful of New York producers like the legendary Marley Marl and DJ Mark the 45 King, Cobb favors the sort of sampling/scratching/drum machine approach that New York and Philly hip-hoppers were known for at the time. Let It Swing isn't among 1989's essential rap releases, but it's a likable footnote in the history of the Golden age."