Customer Reviews

Ain't a Damn Thing Changed

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3 star:		(1)
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This collection of songs is remarkable in more than a few ways. And in some ways that force it into stark contrast with anything that has come before or since.

Firstly, in the liner notes WC & The MAAD Circle took the time to author a synopsis of each song's inspiration and it's meaning to them. With such an effort they forced a focus on the content and stood firmly behind their ideas. Contrast this to the multitudes of rappers who say that they have merely created a character (Too $hort) or that they are just reporting what they've seen (Mobb Deep). No, The MAAD Circle takes full responsibility for what they rap about and this supremely admirable.

Secondly, the album is virtually devoid of any anti-woman rants and degrading comments about Black women in particular. The one song that does deal with a woman as the central subject leaves this listener with the feeling that The MAAD Circle was discussing a particular relationship and not attempting to paint all women with the same brush. The best thing about their portrayal is that it's relatively fair and even-handed. I love these brothers for challenging the way we discuss women. Nicely done! Unfortunately it seems that only Mos Def was paying attention.

Next, they have the Gangsta tracks and the upbeat lyrics. No one gets murdered. No crime is glorified. No [women] get smacked. Nor are their any shiny suits or garish Versace shirts in the room. They simply provided a gritty urban landscape and painted a musical mural that combats the foolish notion that South Central LA is nothing but death and dismay. For this point alone this LP should have gone platinum and launche The MAAD Circle to superstardom. But we know it never happens that way.

Finally, they rightly take absentee fathers to task for failing to do their job. There needs to be more of this. Black men should challenge the behavior of other Black men. The MAAD Circle realized they had the ears of our nation tuned to them and they delivered a valuable voice that was worthy of listening to.

Good music. Excellent, thought out lyrics. Completely devoid of corny sentiment. Straight up gangsta tracks and good humor. A timeless, thoroughbred, unapologetically West Coast classic. Not just a concept. Not just a report. It's a complete immersion into their world! Show me more like this!

Dub-C and the rest of the posse really made an unbelievably strong package, this is a REAL album from start to end. Every topic on this album is the truth. I have to use the cliche "classic" here too, 'cus this is really one.

I was blessed I found this on cassette from Nuso, you can see his review here too. I highly, highly, recommend you to buy this and lot more hard-to-find classics from him. Price is nice, and delivery is fast. Props to him!

WC and Coolio put it down on the slept on hip hop classic "Ain't a Damn thing Changed". WC and Coolio supply the vocals with DJ Crazy Toones behind the wheels of steel and Sir Jinx on the production tip. Every joint is bangin with a lot of political and street commentary west coast style with tight funk samples you can bump in your lowride. One highlight is the joint "You don't work you don't eat" Which features JD and MC Eiht joining WC and Coolio. This is a must buy for any hip hop fan and definitely a must for any fan of west coast music.

Been a W.C. fan since the LOW PROFILE days and growing up to DJ Aladdin...DUB C is the bomb no doubt. Too bad I had to cop this again at a much higher price than what I paid back in 91...No Matter the COST I WILL ALWAYS SUPPORT DUB-C's music.. WESTSIDAH RIDAH!!! BABY!!!!

THIS WAS OUT BEFORE ALL OF THIS SO CALLED " SOUTHERN-CALI. RAP " EMERGED...FOR INSTANCE, WESTSIDE CONNECTION/MACK 10/EASTSIDAZ/THE GAME/SNOOP DOGG/ETC...ALL OF THAT STUFF DOESN'T COME REMOTELY CLOSE TO " AIN'T A DAMN THING CHANGED..."....THIS ALBUM IS TRULY A " CLASSIC "...

"DRESS CODE", "BEHIND CLOSED DOORS", "OUT ON A FURLOUGH", AIN'T A DAMN THING CHANGED"....THAT'S 4 REASONS WHY THIS IS ONE OF THE BEST RELEASES TO COME OUT OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA....ALL THE RAP THAT W.C. DID AFTER THIS, DIDN'T COME CLOSE TO WHAT HE BROUGHT ON THIS ALBUM...

* D.O.C. "NO ONE CAN DO IT BETTER"

* N.W.A.

* WC AND THE MAAD CIRCLE

* C.P.O " TO HELL AND BLACK "

* SCC " SOUTH CENTRAL MADNESS "

* CMW " IT'S A COMPTON THING ".....THOSE ARE THE MUST-HAVE CALI. CLASSICS....

It sounds good but the price is crazy due to only one shown. If any one can hook up a copy of this mad sound get at me. Email lorddareal@yahoo.com I will comp it from you and bless you with a christmas gesture, to all a good night PEACE!

As a college student immersed in hip hop in the early 90's, I thought WC and the Maad Circle's freshman effort "Aint a Damn Thing Changed" epitomised everything that was right with hip hop. 13 years later I have the same opinion. Here we have two MCs with obvious skills (Collio's subsequent success notwithstanding), a DJ (A real DJ!??) and a producer supreme when producers wern't trying to be stars. This CD simply brought the heat. Thats all it promised and all it delivered. Banging beats start to finish; insightful lyrics; funny lyrics; party lyrics; gangsta, but never violent lyrics; on-point, precise delivery; this CD was everything you wanted wrapped up in a perfect package. If there was one seemingly universally slept on album that I know of, this is it. If you love hip hop and you want to know where to start to get it back to its glory days of artistry first, listen to this CD.

i still love this wc been underground too long this cd wc brought coolio to the scene, with these classics the samples always took me back to my youth, wc brings us the funk, topics include an abusive father, stuck up girls, everyday life in the hood, fakes, not selling out on the radio, going to jail,wc, and coolio brings it to you raw, and real long live the funk.

These brothas represent reality. No sugar coting, just reality. Big ups for WC an Toones for staying true to their turf and never changing. Conect Game 4 liaaaa, niiaaa.

PS: Hip Hop needs another WS album, Mack Dime needs to come back home!!!!

This is a very good album and not quite a classic. Following the breakup of WC's original duo Low Profile with DJ Aladdin, the Los Angeles rapper teamed up with Coolio, producer Sir Jinx, and his brother DJ Crazy Toones to form the Maad Circle and release their debut in late 1991 (ironically sharing a release date with the Nice & Smooth album of the same name). This album mirrors the urban social relevance of concurrent albums by Ice Cube and the Geto Boys. However, "Ain't a Damn Thang Changed" wishes it was Death Certificate or We Can't Be Stopped, and it's not; everything on this album had been done before and better. You'll hear familiar topics, including lyrics dealing with hypocrisy, police brutality, struggles with ladies, urban discrimination, and anti-mainstream sentiments. There are very well-written raps on "Ain't a Damn Thang Changed," and both WC and Coolio impress the listener as effective, well-versed MCs. But the songs lack the provocative and exciting quality of Ice Cube and Geto Boys' material, and without a classic single to its credit, some of the album is a bit forgettable. They don't put much new spin on familiar topics, so some comes across as reheated. The production is funky. "Ain't a Damn Thang Changed" is a good album, and the songs have quality rhymes and well-thought structures that will immediately appeal to any fans of old school rap, with a positive message. However, better days were ahead for all parties involved, as WC would join supergroup Westside Connection and Coolio would soon become a household name with Gangsta's Paradise.

The album begins with an intro and the title track, where the MCs assert that despite any success, they'd never sell out or abandon their lifestyle. "Behind Closed Doors" develops the common 1991 theme of police brutality and discrimination toward blacks. "Out on a Furlough" is a nice storytelling track about being caught in bad situations in the hood, and "Caught in a Fad" is directed toward "studio gangstas," fake Christians, and other hypocrites who go with urban fads. The best song on the disc is "F... My Daddy," a WC solo track where he speaks of the struggles growing up in a broken home due to his father's neglect ("I remember times when I asked for a quarter / And Pops was on the verge of involuntary manslaughter"). This song is personal and effective. After the old school b-boyisms of "Get Up on That Funk" comes the highlight "Dress Code," which addresses perceptions that accompany the impressions of a person's clothes. "You Don't Work, U Don't Eat" is another good song dealing with the troubles of independence and making a living in the ghetto. On "Ghetto Serenade," WC and Coolio recall experiences trying to pick up ladies from their teenage years, and on "Back to the Underground" they condemn mainstream hip hop for its glitziness and shady business. The outro "A Soldier's Story" closes the album on a good note.

I like "Ain't a Damn Thang Changed" and found it to be a good album on all fronts, with some very good tracks, tons of social relevance, and a nice overall feel. Maybe I just felt it was a little overhyped, but it stands among many other good releases from the West in this era. It's so much better than the majority of music being released today, and people appreciate it as such. Although I recommend it, it is long out of print, and I would strongly discourage paying any more than $25 for this album, regardless of its rarity. Instead, one might bounce for their more available (and in my opinion, better) sophomore album Curb Servin', or other material by WC, Coolio, and Westside Connection. WC is an excellent MC and should not be overlooked. "Ain't a Damn Thang Changed" is a good disc of early old school West Coast hip hop, and it displays a lot of what makes that music so likable.