Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Proper Deluxe Version of a Hip-Hop Classic, July 25, 2008
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
The beginning of the KRS-ONE legacy--, June 4, 2007
By Hype Currie "scholar of pop culture" (Detroit, Michigan United States) - See all my reviews
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 (such as "The Best of B-Boy Records: Boogie Down Productions" and "The Blastmaster Tapes") have tacked on a few bonus tracks or an entire instrumentals disc. Enclosed here is an entire disc of 12-inch mixes, alternate takes, radio interview/promo snippets, as well as an Enhanced-CD-Rom version of the original "The Bridge is Over" music video. Depending on whether one owns some of the previous re-releases, there is definitely some overlap here. Still, for a newcomer to the B.D.P. legacy or hip-hop in general, this is a can't miss.
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2.0 out of 5 stars
Strange Album, April 10, 2009
I am not sure if this is real or not, or just another bootleg. However, it is good to have the rare cuts. The 1st version of "Stop the Violence" I had on tape from 1988 or late 1987 when Marley Marl (yes that's right) played it on WBLS all those years ago. He only played it like three times and done. That was a rare cut, but that is what you had on Mr. Magic/In Control then. STV should not be on the album, while although recorded a at the time, it was not a single for that album
Other cust were either put out before there was a BDP or after this album came to be, so to call this a "deluxe edition" is wrong and it flat-out puts the wrong perspective on this album and BDP for the new comer. I also have some other rare cuts from the period as well that are not on this album. It's good to have, but totally misleading and not part of the album.
I say only get it if you must have the rare cuts, but let it be known that those cuts were not a part of this album or the group called Boogie Down Productions. "Crack Attack" belongs on here and the original "Bridge is Over," but that is about it.
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3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
same difference, April 24, 2008
if you own already own criminal minded on cd you can leave this one alone,it's nice to own a videoclip from bdp but for the other extra's : forget it .it's the same thing b-boy records did before :use the little material they own from bdp and re use it over and over .if you like this sort of product check ultramagnetic's critical beatdown and shan's down by law re issued versions they both have real previously unreleased on cd versions that are worth having,like krs himself already said on the second album :b-boy records you just can't tr..t,just one live version that's ok.wait for a jive records version.
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