Customer Reviews

Criminal Minded

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Criminal Minded: The beginning of the KRS-One saga

Put together by an ex-social worker and his formerly homeless client, Boogie Down Productions' DJ Scott La Rock and KRS-One introduced Criminal Minded to the hip-hop public in early 1987, after a year or so of dropping 12-inch singles on the indie B-Boy Records, and making a name for themselves in New York's underground hip-hop circles. The 10-track, groundbreaking album by BDP is definitely up there with the greatest rap albums of all time. The production by the artists (and according to many interviews, an un-credited Ced Gee of the Ultramagnetic MC's) brought a new sampling aesthetic to hip-hop, focusing heavily on then-dusty James Brown sides from the 60's & 70's. In KRS-One's rhymes listeners can hear a rapper whose intention is not just to entertain but to educate. The album opens with "Poetry", with a trademark James Brown scream; KRS declares "I'm not an MC, so listen--call me poet or musician". "9mm Goes Bang" is a reggae-driven tale of street revenge, focusing on the fictional "crack dealer named Peter". The Bronx-based act made instant rivals in the Queens-based Juice Crew, as evidenced in songs "South Bronx" and the perennial "diss record" favorite "The Bridge is Over" (with an oblique nod to Billy Joel at the end). "Dope Beat" samples AC/DC's "Back in Black", making for an influential rap/metal combo. The title track reinterprets the opening lines of the Beatles' "Hey Jude" with subversive results. In the ensuing years since the LP's first release, the album has fallen in and out of print several times. Fortunately, Traffic Entertainment (formerly Landspeed) has secured the catalog rights, and made the album available again. Subsequent re-releases have tacked on a few bonus tracks or an entire instrumentals disc.

In my opinion this is not the best album by BDP or KRS-ONE, but what it is definitely is the foundation or blueprint for everything that has come after it ...and not only for the members involved in creating it...but rap music on a whole. It has very simple stripped down production with sharp poigniant lyrics that doesn't try to make you dance..it goes for the gut. It's brilliance is in it's simplicity and boldness and honesty.

nuff said

This is more than a record. It is a religious sacrament. It is raw as f**k but it blow up any high-fi system at the same time. Deejay Scott LaRock's is guided by the holy spirits, Ouija board style. KRS-One blasts like a master...and it will blow your mind. This record is more than just a timepiece, it's a religion. Not only do the beats blast my head, but the lyrics are more infectious than a Vanilla Ice mushroom. Best when listened to driving down the west side highway, greened. I highly recommend this record for someone who craves something a little more human. It sounds like something that was recorded in the basement of your local high school by trespassers in the night, with a voice so loud it will crunk down on your cranium. Listen to the mindf*ck part on Sponsor, then listen to that part again and again and again and again and on into infinity.

This album always brings back one funny memory for me: I remember being so stoked to find "Criminal Minded" on vinyl back in my teens in the early/mid 90's. I brought it home, put it onto my dad's stereo, only to find out that I had purchased the Instrumentals instead! Arrrggghhh! Such disappointment... So I wound up having to re-buy it from Tower Records (remember those?), but it was definitely worth the double-purchase.

I find it amazing how much KRS-One still basically sounds the same/ same flow/ same delivery/ same voice/ same phrasings/ etc. His style always makes me, as a listener, want to pay close attention to what he's actually saying. He's been consistent in that from the start. I also find it awesome how much I still enjoy listening to this while driving around, even though it was put out nearly 25 years ago.

For younger listeners who didn't grow up on this, granted, at times this album does sound dated. For example, Dope Beat's sample of some AC/DC(?) song always sounds kind of funny to me. But hey, that's part of the history of hip-hop right there - unlicensed sampling galore back in the day! Also, this was a little tougher/ grimier/ harder than just about anything else being put out in 1987 and prior.

BDP's "Criminal Minded" is really a piece of hip-hop history, a lesson - as KRS would put it, a must-have for your classic hip-hop collection. I would much rather listen to this classic than most newer stuff that's being put out today (or maybe I'm just getting old).

This album is one of the all time great album. If you don't have this,you don't have a collection.

This is one of the first records me and my brother bought as a kid! Classic KRS. Scott La Rock....RIP. One!

NICE CD, FOR IT'S TIME BUT IT DOESN'T HAVE THE SAME APPEAL THAT IT HAD BACK THEN!