A Future Without a Past...

Leaders Of The New School

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 2, 1991)
• Original Release Date: July 2, 1991
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Elektra / Wea
• ASIN: B000002H8I
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #78,207 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I don't use the term "classic" very often, but..., October 29, 1998

By A Customer

The first thing that'll hit you while listening to this album is the uniqueness of the three rappers (Dinco D, Charlie Brown, and Busta Rhymes) in both lyrical content and delivery. Many of the songs have a real point to them (such as "Just When You Thought it was Safe" and "Teachers Don't Teach us Nonsense") but are still lots of fun. Then there's Cutmonitor Milo, who does some of the most creative sampling I've ever heard, on "What's the Pinocchio's Theory?" there are bagpipes and dialougue samples from Disney's "Pinocchio". Then there's "Sound of the Zeekers @#^**?!" the ultimate example of how strange and far sampling can go: There are 10 rappers in this song, you keep hearing things that sound like a chorus but are never repeated, and the music changes somehow with each rapper's part; maybe an extra sound, beat, or sample. This album is rap at some of it's best, and a must have for Busta Rhymes fans.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Absolute Classic Material, September 28, 2004

By	ill will "ill will" (Austin, Texas United States) - See all my reviews

An hour long c.d. that never gets tired, great routines, always on point back and forth delivery and creative production that makes the whole thing gel. It's a sort of loose concept album which follows LONS through a day in school. The opening track has a great feel with samples from the riot scene outside the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago, this is the "whole world is watching" bit.

Busta blew up but listen and see if he didn't work much better in the context of a group. At the time this dropped, it seemed like every week something new was coming out raising the bar for hip-hop, exciting times. Other classics of the same period would definitely include Gang Starr's Step in the Arena, Brand Nubian's All for One, Tribe's The Low End Theory, Diamond D's Stunts Blunts and Hip Hop, De La Soul is Dead, KMD's Mr. Hood and Cypress Hill's first one.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Classic Material !!!!, August 12, 2003

By	Wayne Guthrie "Greezy" (Kingston, Jamaica a.k.a Yard) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Classic timeless Hip Hop. An Essential acquisition for any true hip hop head/music fan.There isn't a single weak track on this album, all bangers that fit together perfectly to form an album that is greater than the sum of its parts(i.e. Yuh caaan skip nuh track). The production on this album by "The Leaders" and "The Bomb squad" is MindBlowinG and the three emcees from Strong island complement each other like thongs on big booties. I got this when it first came out and it still gets regular rotation to this day. I gotta say that the only thing better than L.O.N.S in your box is L.O.N.S on stage and since that ain't likely to happen any time soon I implore you to pick-up this gem from the Golden era of Hip Hop.