Day 0876 - Follow the Leader

Korn "Follow the Leader" (1998) - got it

 

When I was in high school, Korn were a big deal.  They, along with a number of angry, shouty, down-tuned rock bands that made up the nu-metal scene seemed to be everywhere in the late 90s and early 00s.   

Even though it was supposed to be a movement of outsiders pushing against conformity by mashing up genres and kicking against 'the popular kids', the genre became trite, commercialised and obsessed with its own image.  Korn in particular made a thing of wearing ADIDAS and, when offered a shit-ton of money by Puma to wear their stuff instead, jumped ship.

After two albums of their growly, low-end focussed metal, Korn injected this album with a bit of variety in the shape of more of a lean into  the hip-hop side of their sound.  Guest spots by Ice Cube, the Pharcyde's Tre Hardson and (meh) Limp Bizkit's Fred Durst are featured.   This last collaboration is on the now definitely dated battle track where Jonathan Davis and Durst throw homophobic slurs at each other.

The album opens with a minute's silence made up of 12x 5 second tracks.   When I was at school there was a story going around that it was Korn demanding a minute's silence for themselves as the progenitors of the nu-metal genre, but apparently it's more humble and less cringeworthy than that.  The minute of silence was dedicated to a fan who died of cancer.  He had been able to meet the band as a dying wish.

The album is a tad overlong as are many of the songs, though "Children of the Korn" (with Ice Cube); single "Got the Life" with its disco beat and slap bass; and closer "My Gift to You" with it's slow, epic, bagpipe backed groove are still good, even now.

I enjoyed Korn at the time, haven't really revisited them much in the last few years.  It's not that I don't still like aggressive, loud rock, I just think that their particular brand of it sits best with you when you're adolescent, angry, and not thinking too hard.   

Day 0790 - Only Built 4 Cuban Linx

Raewkon  "Only Built 4 Cuban Linx" (1995)

Another Wu Tang solo album.   As with the other first few solo Wu albums "Cuban Linx" was produced by RZA, ensuring that the music is interesting and loaded with film samples and kung fu.

The lyrics, delivered by Raekwon and fellow Wu Tang alumnus Ghostface Killah I'm less fond of.   Some of the tracks flow nicely like "Guillotine (Swords)", but there are a few racial slurs and (seems to be a theme with a lot of rap albums of this era) it's quite long, with a runtime of 70-odd minutes.   I guess it's because while I like a bit of hip hop, it's not my number one genre.  Definitely there are albums of that length in other genres (see day 791) that I enjoy.

I would say though, the combination of a great backing track, the rhymes and female backing vocals on "Glaciers of Ice" caught my attention more than many of the other tracks.

Day 0728 - The Predator

Ice Cube "The Predator" (1992)

Put "Are we there yet?" out of your mind, because this is the real Ice Cube.  Angry, confident, justifiably enraged.   Predator was released following the acquittal of police responsible for the on-camera beating of Rodney King, and the album certainly takes a look at racism and the police.

The production is bassy, beaty and interesting, with a number of collaborators (including Cypress Hill's DJ Muggs) involved.   A number of dialogue samples are mixed in, joining it all together and giving it a feeling like a whole 'album' as opposed to just a collection of songs.   All in all, another interesting early 90s rap album

Fun fact: this album is believed to be the origin of the phrase "it's on like donkey-kong".

Day 0677 - Amerikkka's Most Wanted

Ice Cube "Amerikkka's Most Wanted" (1990)

Ice Cube's first album after leaving N.W.A.  The album was produced by the BombSquad (also producing for Public Enemy, whose Flavour Flav and Chuck D guest here).  It's an almost unrelenting aural assault, and two things become quite clear from listening to it:
1. Ice Cub loves the word 'mutherfucka' 
2, He is not to impressed with anyone being 'on his dick'.

You have to take the lyrics with a grain of salt as Cube blasts a certain degree of misogyny over the tracks.  This side of things is at least partly counterbalanced by his rap battle with Yo Yo on "It's a man's world".  She gives him a run for his money.

Day 0663 - Straight Outta Compton

N.W.A. "Straight Outta Compton" (1989)

We wrap up the 1980s with another classic rap release.   Oddly, this album was funded via a canny marketing move from Priority Records, who licensed and released an album by the fictional group 'The California Raisins' who had hit it big with their cover of 'Heard it on the Grapevine'.



Eazy E assembled the group of DJs and MCs, and put together an undeniable slice of gangster rap.   Whereas Public Enemy brought their 'wall of noise' and De La Soul, their pop-leaning sample-based tracks, N.W.A. just lay down sparse rhythms with some scratches and a few well-placed sounds and beats-by-Dre (and Yella) to create the backing for Eazy-E, Ice Cube and Mc Ren to rhyme over. 

The tracks are famously aggressive, packed with violence, which the group were accused of glorifying, but as they pointed out, they were just reporting on what life was actually like in their neighbourhood.  The opening salvo of "Straight outta Compton" "Fuck Tha Police" and "Gangsta Gangsta" set the scene, but the album holds its own throughout the duration.

The mix of the three MCs works really well and adds variety enough to keep things spicey across the album's runtime.  

Day 0596 - Warehouse: Songs and Stories

Hüsker Dü "Warehouse: Songs and Stories"

Another album born from a tumultuous, confrontational creative relationship.  Songwriters Bob Mould and Grant Hart were at loggerheads and  the band disbanded during the tour for this album. The break was partly due to their animosity, and partly over drummer Hart's drug use.

Mould had reportedly told Hart that he'd never have more than half the songs on a Hüsker Dü album, and with neither writer wanting to back down, this ended up being a double album.  Mould contributed 11 songs and Hart 9.

While there are some good tracks on here ("She Floated Away" being one that particularly caught my ear); their sound of melodic vocals over distorted guitar and rattling, pounding drums does tire out over the space of 20 songs.  You find yourself yearning for an acoustic or clean guitar, or for them to go further into realms of heaviness.  Faint criticism though, as any of these songs taken on its own would be perfectly listenable.