| Smoke Some Kill | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Studio album by Schoolly D | ||||
| Released | 1988 | |||
| Recorded | 1988 | |||
| Genre | Hip hop | |||
| Label | Jive Records | |||
| Producer | Schoolly D | |||
| Schoolly D chronology | ||||
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Smoke Some Kill is the third album by rapper Schoolly D. The album was released in 1988 for Jive Records and was produced by Schoolly D.
Contents |
Though the album was not as successful as Saturday Night - The Album, it did manage to make it to #180 on the Billboard 200 and #50 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop album charts.[1]
The song "Signifying Rapper" was based upon the "signifying monkey" character of African-American folklore. A version of this story was performed by Rudy Ray Moore. Schoolly D's adaptation of the story is recited over the rhythm guitar figure from Led Zeppelin's "Kashmir".[2] The song was featured in the film Bad Lieutenant, and inspired the title of (and is discussed in) the book Signifying Rappers: Rap and Race in the Urban Present.
"Signifying Rapper" was the target of several lawsuits following its use in the 1992 film Bad Lieutenant,[2] in multiple scenes.
In 1994, Live Home Video and distributor Aries Film Releasing were ordered to destroy any unsold copies of Bad Lieutenant as part of a copyright infringement ruling.[3] Director Abel Ferrara was angered by the incident, which he felt "ruined the movie":
"Signifying Rapper" was out for five years, and there wasn't a problem. Then the film had already been out for two years and they start bitching about it. [...] It cost Schoolly like $50,000. It was a nightmare. And meanwhile, "Signifying Rapper" is 50 million times better than "Kashmir" ever thought of being. [...] Why sue? You should be happy that somebody is paying homage to your work.—Abel Ferrara, The A.V. Club interview[2]
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic | [4] |
| Robert Christgau | (B-)[5] |
| Los Angeles Daily News | (B)[6] |
| Rolling Stone | [7] |
The album received generally mixed reviews from most music critics. The Los Angeles Daily News gave the album a B.[6] Rolling Stone reviewer Cary Carling panned the album, writing "With its images of gun-toting bluster, mushrooming genitals and rampant drug use – backed by thuddingly dull beats – Smoke Some Kill should be played for every prospective rapper so he'll know what not to do."[7] Allmusic reviewer Ron Wynn called the album "more chaotic than creative".[4] In his consumer guide for The Village Voice, critic Robert Christgau gave the album a B- rating,[5] indicating "a competent or mildly interesting record that will usually feature at least three worthwhile cuts".[8] Christgau called Schoolly D "the white audience's paranoid-to-masochistic fantasy of a B-boy" and commended him for "realizing the fantasy so scarily, and for commanding his own tough-guy sound".[5]