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Son of Bazerk
BAZERK BAZERK BAZERK (MCA, 1991)
Produced by The Bomb Squad (Hank Shocklee & Keith Shocklee)
Son of Bazerk - vocals; Cassandra aka MC Halfpint - vocals; Almighty Jahwell - vocals; Daddy Rawe - vocals; Sandman - vocals; Michael Hampton - guitar; Cliff Branch - keyboards; Chris Walker - bass; Terminator X - DJ; Kamron - DJ.
If this isn't the best rap album ever made, it's the best rap party album ever made. Imagine Sly and the Familiy Stones greatest hits perfomed by James Brown channeled through The Time and orchestrated by the Bomb Squad. This is the good-time party record Public Enemy never made. The cover says "Amazing * Sensational * Thrilling" and it's not hyperbole (the cover is a parody of James Brown's PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE disc).
Son of Bazerk and his cronies, who appear to be called No Self Control, trade high speed exchanges and tear through 13 interwoven songs like their lives depend on it. This disc has all the musical trademarks of the Bomb Squad's work with Public Enemy - time-stopping loops layered with noise, rhythm and rapping - with the five vocalists singing, shouting, exhorting, and commenting in the most tightly controlled chaos you're likely to hear. And it's as funky as Prince's shorts.
Highlights are many - "One Time For The Rebel" driven by a Led Zep riff, "N-41" with the vocalists working over a bare drum machine and sound effect track, and the album's closer "Honesty", a hi-speed r&b stew that keeps adding bits and pieces until it fades away. If you think you are a rap or hip/hop fan you MUST own this disc or be forever shamed. You'll party likes it's 1991.
Posted 1 September 2005.
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