Friday, February 20, 2009

Smif-N-Wessun - Dah Shinin' (1995)

How upsetting to parents is a rap group that misspells their gun-manufacturer referencing moniker? Shit I was hiding my Wu-Tang and Busta Rhymes cds, and my poor mother had a hard enough time with punk that sounded like "being electrocuted." Although I was allowed to own classic violent video game Doom after writing an impassioned fifth grade (?) letter detailing my maturity and desire to overstimulate my understimulated suburban senses.

Anyway, this is a record that, although heavy on the jazz samples favored by A Tribe Called Quest, et al, is fucking hard. Also, there's some great patois for all of the Erik and Dans of the world.

The minimalism of Da Beatminerz production on this record feels like being carbonized in a street while dust and debris starts to cake up on your lips. And the crackle of Hellucination evokes weed dreams of swimming in New York sewers discovering new forms of life. Dick ridahs endure a relentless tongue-lashing while I dive into manholes.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for existing. Keep it coming.

RSS said...

Always liked this one. Props.

erik b and rakim said...

thx 4 the shoutout. downloadin now. have u been working on toons? are they bloggable? i know some people

Todd said...

I'm always working on tunes, but nothing is in a bloggable state. I really have no acceptable excuses for this, but I'll let you know as soon as I've got something ready. Fewer excuses, more solutions.

erik b and rakim said...

no rush. clear ur mind, let it flow

Anonymous said...

It's an intentional misspelling, because they got sued by the gun manufacturer. At least that was the story I heard awhile back.

Todd said...

Actually, they changed their name to the "Cocoa Brovaz" to avoid the lawsuit. The misspelling is because they're nu-metal.