Customer Reviews

To the East Blackwards

5 star:		(37)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

X-Clan's To the East CD is classic old-school pro-black hip hop. It's also one of my old favorite CD's from my hip-hop-only teenager days.

The group was pro-black and very militant in their look and attitude. The militant part doesn't really flow into the songs so much as the pro-Africanism does.

Brother J is a great frontman; a great mc with a great delivery. Professor X was the group's version of a more-educated more-pro-black Flava Flav.

X-Clan was never too popular even in their best days, but it was still good stuff. A personal favorite of mine...this one is better than Xodus, which is still good too.

I was fortunate to find this little gem, an important document from 1990 that will live for quite some time. I am white, but you can be any race and still recognize and respect intelligence and power when you hear it. Just look at the cover and their picture on the inside, where they are dressed up in African leather clothes (not dashikis) and African jewelry and they all look older than 30. I knew I was getting into real black music with a purpose and with power. One would never think of these guys as rappers and hip hoppas by their appearance. But this is what makes X-Clan unique. They kind of take Public Enemy's approach and cause to their music and even take it a step further.
I knew this album was going to be less about the music and more about actually spreading powerful and rude-awakening messages to the black community in America. I said 'Bring It On!' This album here is further proof that hiphop has a purpose, and a testament to hiphop that these strong African nationalists chose to spread their messages through hiphop rather than any other type of music or public outlet. Apparently, they were very visible in many other aspects than just music. One has to wonder if they grew up practicing and living hiphop, or if they studied their ancestry and roots and then decided to spread their knowledge through hiphop.
Even though it's not their primary focus, the music on "To The East, Blackwards" is very entertaining and consistent. 'Grand Verbalizer' Brother J has a very nice flow and obviously is incredibly intelligent and gifted. He spits not only with a purpose, but also with a passion. Even Professor X saying, "This is protected by the red, the black, and the green, with a key, Sissies!" on every single track does not get old. The album starts off strong with "Funkin' Lesson," and "Grand Verbalizer, What Time Is It?" is great too, although it borrows the beat from Eric B. and Rakim's "Microphone Fiend." I don't think they cared too much about having cutting-edge sampling and production here, it doesn't bother me. "Tribal Jam" has some authentic African music backing it, while tracks 4 and 9 both have rock elements suprisingly (both songs are essential). Maybe my favorite track is #10 "Verbs of Power" which starts out with Prof X naming off how many African elements have been stolen by America (most recently, KRS-One's book "Ruminations" elaborates this as well) and Brother J hits home with some of the strongest lyrics he has to offer. This classic album (and document) ends off with a suprising pop-sample ('There's no beginning, and there is no end') on "In The Ways Of The Scales," but it makes since with what they're talking about.
If you haven't yet figured, this album could very well be studied for more than its musical content. It's not THAT overwhelming or in-your-face about its pro-African content. Nonetheless, it's still a classic hiphop album that hit us in one of hiphop's best years (1990). Brother J can suprisingly kick it like few others, and although his arguments and points are quite vague and random at points, his lyrics are compelling and passionate while delivered in a laid-back style. No matter what race you are, it would be to your benefit to pick this album up. I wish more African-American's and rappers would have heeded the gems given here, so maybe we wouldn't have gotten so much of the crap out of the mainstream of rap these last few years (and the biased opionions towards all rap music now). Oh well, if you're reading this, it's not too late for you. Do whatever you can to get this one! Vanglorious...

This album fuses every conceivable variant of Afrocentric thinking into a wild syncretic worldview to match anything in the work of George Clinton or Lee Perry. The music is great as well, an infectious mix of elements of seventies funk and disco put to the service of the band's weird spiritual trip. Perfect for the burning of the herbal incense of your choice.

The group are pretty much unknown over here in Europe, although I suspect that UK act the Justified Ancients of Mumu own well-worn copies of all their LPs. Their work and that of solo offshoot act Professor X will conduct you through a myriad of bizarre alternate worlds and histories. Apparently, the group did videos as well. I can't even begin to imagine what those must be like.

THIS IS PROTECTED BY THE RED, BLACK AND GREEN AT THE CROSSROADS, WITH A KEY . .

I first heard "To the East Blackwards" when I was a senior in high school, and it was X-Clan who got me into the Afrocentric movement that was very strong back in 1990-1991. Yet I haven't heard "Blackwards" SINCE I was in high school and only recently got the CD. Listening to it for the first time in nearly ten years brought back memories, and I remembered the lyrics as if I had heard them yesterday. I bought "Exodus" back in 1992 and only started listening that one recently again as well, and forgot how deep both the lyrics and the bass is (some of those tracks make the floor vibrate) - I loved it. I must agree with the other posting that said that X-Clan is REAL hip hop, and not the fluff, hyper-meterialistic gawdiness, and artificial glamour you see today in the genre. Perhaps it's just I'm getting a little older and my perspectives are changing about popular music. No doubt that X-Clan was unique then, and STILL IS unique today. I don't know what they're doing today, but I wouldn't mind hearing the Grand Verbalizer and Professor X's views on Y2K in a new album myself.

Well anyway - let me say that "Exodus" IS a better CD in my opinion, but it's VERY hard to find. If you CAN find it - BUY IT! . And if any one out there knows the name of X-Clan's OTHER CD album (I think there was a another one) post what you know up here.

I had this album when it came out I was a junior in high school and this album literally sounds better than 90 percent of the music out now. Krs-0ne and x-clan had sort of an intellectual beef when this album dropped they went back and forth on some philosophy type rebuttal records (SEE "Sex and violence" by KRS) that was crazy. Anyway album is a great buy if you want to know where hip hop was 15 years ago. Buy the way this has been protected.....you know the rest. PEACE

When I was 17, this was it for me and my boy james, we lived X-CLAN. I still have this on tape and cd as well as XODUS. In the words of Brother J and Professor X, " This is protected by the Red, the Black, and the Green, on the road again, SISSY" ! GO COP Brother J solo, Professor X solo Queen Mother Rage solo and Isis solo releases, SISSY!

This album bites like an alligata!
Me and my bro listened to it back in the day non-stop. It was great then and even better now!
Like rap? Get it! SISSYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!
Peace

This LP has aged quite nicely. Twelve years down the road and it remains unmatched. The most compelling quality of X-Clan is the fact that the music was at least as good as Dr. Dre's tracks and the lyrics were at least as intriguing as Rakim.

So, within X-Clan you had what was the ultimate mix of funk + philosophical flow = Funkin' Lesson. The epitome of Pan African hip hop.

I remember the first time I saw their album in late 1990. It was just out and I'd never heard of them. Based upon the LP cover (photos of Malcolm, Fannie Lou Hamer, etc.) and the song titles I had to have it. What blasted through my speakers was unlike any other music I'd ever encountered. It was like they uncapped my brain and unleashed my very own thoughts in musical form. Fascinating. Thrilling. Compelling. Fantatsic-in the truest sense of the word. They were Black men obeying their musical-spiritual-emotional-mental call. Props Due!

I was so moved that I forced all my friends to listen. And in a couple of cases I bought it for them so they'd have the complete package. I've still got my original vinyl copy from 1990! As well as nearly all their other LPs and 12" singles.

I love X-Clan like they are my own brothers. RIP Sugar Shaft. I'm hoping for more from this camp some day.

On a side note, Professor X (Lumumba Carson) is the son of Activist Sonny Carson who was the subject of an obscure 70's film called The Education Of Sonny Carson. Check for it.

This is a landmark album in the history of hip hop. Though it did not have the mainstream appeal of todays corporate rap machine, it enjoyed huge popularity. And was very important in terms of guiding hip hop into its concious activist, and spiritual movement. However, the album is by no means preachy. Brother J is one of the most gifted lyricist of all time. He paints beautiful images with his metaphors and analogies which allow the listener to be immersed in a world of intellect and spirituality outside the eurocentric philosophies.
Beyond that- the beats are just banging. X clan ignited the use of old school(70's/80's)samples. But they go a step further and incorporate tribal rhythms which connect the modern urbanite to a time past when the wisdom of the ages was not lost. This album is a must for anyone that wants to hear truly inspired and purposeful hip hop.

Forget about the semi-coherent attempt at an overarching philosophy. Forget about some sort of weird brand of black nationalism. When I listen to the X-clan, all I hear are jaw-dropping beats and jaw-dropping flow. The production is elegant, samples PERFECTLY chosen, beats: ragged and solid...remember when DJs used to create BEATS?!?!? The lyrical flow: unmatched, old-skool, flawless. The two albums X-clan released are, in my opinion, the pinnacle achievement of the art form...everything before it was up-hill, everything after is down-hill. If you have accidentally stumbled onto this review, if you like hip hop, GET THIS.