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Criminal Minded by Boogie Down Productions is a highly influential hip hop album. Production on the LP is credited to 'Blastmaster' KRS-One (Lawrence Krisna Parker) and DJ Scott La Rock (Scott Sterling), but in future interviews it has been revealed that an uncredited Ced-Gee (Cedric Miller) of The Ultramagnetic MCs had a key role in crafting the sound of the LP. In 1998, the album was selected as one of The Source 100 best Hip-Hop Albums of All Time.[1] In 2003, the album was ranked number 444 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.
[edit] Overview
Released in early 1987, the album sampled records from James Brown and AC/DC, and also flaunted a dancehall reggae influence. The songs “South Bronx” and “The Bridge is Over” (a reference to the Queensbridge Housing Projects) ignited a famous rivalry with the Queens-bred emcee MC Shan (see the The Bridge Wars). The album is also credited with providing a prototype for East Coast gangsta rap from which to develop. For instance, the cover, which showcases Parker and Sterling surrounded by an arsenal of weapons, was hip-hop’s first major release to feature members brandishing firearms. The album also contained several seminal hardcore songs such as “9mm Goes Bang,” one of the first hip-hop songs to be based around a first-person crime narrative, and "P Is Free," which details an encounter with a drug-abusing prostitute for perhaps the first time on record.
[edit] Controversy
Initially, the album sold at least several hundred thousand copies; however, the relationship between the group and B-Boy Records quickly deteriorated when the label (headed by Jack Allen and Bill Kamarra) was allegedly slow to pay royalties. A lawsuit was launched, which was eventually settled out-of-court. Having left B-Boy Records, new friend Ice-T introduced them to a Warner Bros. A&R exec, who promptly signed them to a new record deal. The deal was short-lived, however. By this time, Sterling had befriended a neighborhood teenager, Derek "D-Nice" Jones, who did a human beatbox routine for the group. One evening, Jones was assaulted by some local hoodlums and he later called Sterling to run interference. The next day, Sterling and a group of others came to the stoop where the offending parties lived. Sterling’s intention was to try and mediate things, but one of the hoods pulled out a gun and began shooting at random. In the ensuing confusion, Sterling was hit in the neck. Critically wounded, he died several days later in a hospital, leaving behind an infant son.
Warner Bros. reneged on the new deal in the aftermath of Sterling’s death. Parker, however, decided that the group should continue. A handful of friends were brought into the collective, including Parker’s new wife Ms. Melodie and brother Kenny Parker, with whom he had just recently reunited. Signing with Jive/RCA Records, Parker recorded eight albums for that label in a 10-year period, eventually dropping the Boogie Down Productions moniker and billing himself as a solo performer. REM and others recruited him for collaborations, and he was among the few hip-hop acts at the Beastie Boys’ Tibetan Freedom Concerts. Meanwhile, Criminal Minded has been notoriously hard to find, falling in and out of print every few years, surfacing with a different distributor every time. Currently, the Boston-based independent label LandSpeed Records has landed the distribution rights to Criminal Minded, hence re-release in 2002. An expanded re-release titled The Best of B-Boy Records: Boogie Down Productions includes longer versions of the albums tracks and several 12-inch singles that didn't make Criminal Minded's original pressing. The album was rereleased again in 2006—original art intact—when LandSpeed became Traffic Entertainment Group.
[edit] Track listing
| # |
Title |
Songwriters |
Producer(s) |
Performer (s) |
| 1 |
"Poetry" |
L. Parker, S. LaRock |
Ced Gee, DJ Scott La Rock, KRS-One |
KRS-One |
| 2 |
"South Bronx" |
L. Parker, S. LaRock |
DJ Scott La Rock, KRS-One |
D-Nice, DJ Scott La Rock, KRS-One |
| 3 |
"9mm Goes Bang" |
L. Parker, S. LaRock |
DJ Scott La Rock, KRS-One |
KRS-One |
| 4 |
"Word From Our Sponsor" |
L. Parker, S. LaRock |
Ced Gee, DJ Scott La Rock, KRS-One |
KRS-One |
| 5 |
"Elementary" |
L. Parker, S. LaRock |
DJ Scott La Rock, KRS-One |
DJ Scott La Rock, KRS-One |
| 6 |
"Dope Beat" |
L. Parker, S. LaRock |
Ced Gee, DJ Scott La Rock, KRS-One |
KRS-One |
| 7 |
"Remix For P Is Free" |
L. Parker, S. LaRock |
Ced Gee, DJ Scott La Rock, KRS-One |
KRS-One |
| 8 |
"The Bridge Is Over" |
L. Parker, S. LaRock |
Ced Gee, DJ Scott La Rock, KRS-One |
KRS-One |
| 9 |
"Super-Hoe" |
L. Parker, S. LaRock |
Ced Gee, DJ Scott La Rock, KRS-One |
DJ Scott La Rock, KRS-One |
| 10 |
"Criminal Minded" |
L. Parker, S. LaRock |
DJ Scott La Rock, KRS-One |
KRS-One |
| 11 |
"Scott LaRock Mega-mix (Bonus)" |
S. LaRock |
DJ Scott La Rock |
DJ Scott La Rock |
[edit] Samples Used
[edit] Album Chart Positions
| Year |
Album |
Chart positions |
| Top R&B/Hip Hop Albums |
| 1987 |
Criminal Minded |
#73 |
[edit] Trivia
[edit] References
- ^ ~~~~ www.rocklist.net ~~~~
- ^ XXLmag.com | Hip-Hop On A Higher Level | » Maestro Fresh Wes on hip-hop up top
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KRS-One |
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| B.D.P. albums |
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| Filmography |
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