Customer Reviews

Mental Floss for the Globe

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No universal consensus existed among my housemates regarding the primacy of "Mental Floss For The Globe" over any other CD in our collection(s) when it was released over two decades ago, yet it was a ubiquitous presence on our central stereo's CD unit for months after its release. Looking back on it now, I think it had to do with the manner in which Urban Dance Squad mixed together all of its influences, including rap, funk, blues , punk rock, heavy metal/hard rock into a fairly smooth blend through the use of live instruments, the fluid progression and cadence(s) of rapper RudeBoy's flow, and DNA's use of extensive sampling. In fact, it could almost be said (and has been said by Tom Morello, of Rage Against The Machine) that UDS created an entirely new genre on this release, providing the original genetic material for the hybrid splice of rap and heavy metal or hard rock.

Silly Sil provided the most heavily percolating basslines this side of old classic funk or jazz icons ("No Kid", "The Devil", "Fast Lane", "Mental Floss For The Globe", " Prayer For My Demo"); Magic Stick hit the drums with polyrhythmic percussive force ( "Deeper Shade Of Soul", "Big Apple", "Mental Floss For The Globe"); Tres Mano's electric guitar licks could alternate between raw, chunky, aggressively paced riffing ( "Fast Lane", "Brainstorm On The UDS"), sounding like a beehive being levitated by the blasts of a gale blowing in at high force ("Struggle For Jive"), heavily-processed, taffy-stretching distortion run through his effects board ( "Piece of the Rock") , or good old-fashioned funk woodshedding ("Man On The Corner"). DNA's seamless insertion of endless pop-cultural sampling (completely liberated on "God Blasts The Queen") frequently brought added relevance to Rudeboy's lyrics, raising many tracks to another level sonically.

Rudeboy's narratives might not have been the most imaginatively phrased lyrical content, but his exhuberant, raspy-voiced delivery and intonation allowed him to spit them out with a sense of charisma, style and fluency that outdid quite a few of his contemporaries who were strictly confined to rap as their musical genre.

While their sales paled in comparison to the bands who would successfully pursue the same sort of fusion afterwards, their influence is still felt 21 years later. "Mental Floss For The Globe" was a groundbreaking release that is not widely available today, but should be, if only for its influence on Rage Against The Machine, which shifted units into platinum numbers using the same blueprint. Order this and see what it was like at Ground Zero in 1990.

I remember a friend let me hear this (back in the day) cassette tape of Uban Dance Squad and immediatly went and bought the tape. Their popular "Deeper Shade Of Soul" was enough to get my interest but when i herd "Fast Lane" and "Brainstorm U.D.S." pure funk/rock/rap also "No Kid" has a nice funk to it. Iv looked for this CD for quite some time now and could only find collector types with a heafty price range and Itunes does not have it but luck would swing my way through Amazon and found on for a excellent price. Bottom line check out these guys they are still around a think but Mental Floss For The Globe is a cd worth get'n your hands on and JAM!!

Just goes to show, when you've got so much talent, people can't handle it. I have to admit, my knowledge of this band from Amsterdam (I believe), is quite sketchy, but I'll tell ya what I do know...
The music.
These guys are/were fronted by a dude callin' hisself "Rudeboy", rappin' about the turgid miasma of existence (thanx Celibate Rifles), among other things, backed by real bass, git & drums, plus a dude on t-tables and samples. The combination of crunchy git, groovin' bass, astute & witty vocals and crazytrippywhack samples, make this a dense sound experience with new layers to discover every time you listen to it.

Now you must understand...rap & hip-hop jus ain't my bag, run-dmc and aerosmith doin' walk this way is about all I can take, but Rudeboy's flow and what he has to say, is so right on, and the music being created by the real band behind him is so catchy, ya cannot resist.
They even had a hit that was PLAYED TO DEATH on the most mainstream of radio stations when this slab o wax hit the street in america. Totally fluky-it's actually the weakest song on the album-i'm not even gonna mention which one it is. When you hear it you'll surely scratch yer head and say, "this song is by these guys?!?!"

Unfortunately they disappeared as quickly as they came, never to be heard of again. (in this country anyway.)
They had other releases here, but none come even close to the brilliance of this one.
Outstanding cuts:
PRAYER FOR MY DEMO-says it all
NO KID-crazy slide riff
PIECE OF ROCK & THE DEVIL-trippy
BRAINSTORM ON THE U.D.S.-a$$ kickin' riffin'
and the closer to the whole thing,
GOD BLASTS THE QUEEN-mental floss in-deed!!!!!
These are just some of my faves.

Anybody into Rage Against the Machine, Beastie Boys (License to Ill/Paul's Boutique era),or just uncomprising attitude and imagination will dig the sound collage these dudes serve up on this release.

Well worth the two bucks you can probably get it for.
Drop the eight quarters on it...you'll be glad ya did!

so its not "Kinda Blue." However, I think of this as an important recording: it ushered in a new style of music that fuses pop, rap, funk and metal. Well worth having and a sound that IMHO remains fresh.