As readers of this series will know, I've always been a fan of '80s hiphop, but it seems to be the prevailing opinion among my peers that this era of rap music has aged horribly. That's a point I'll concede, & I think it's by design, or at least a consequence of an art form that was very invested in sounding of its time. Those early rappers & producers were not interested in making something that would stand the test of time, they were trying to capture the exact sound & feel of their historical moment, that giddy revolutionary rush of hiphop's first explosion.
While Lyte as a Rock is no exception, I'd argue that it has held up better than a lot of other records of the same vintage, by virtue of its simplicity. Most of the beats are little more than a drum loop & some angular samples, & Lyte (who was 18 when the album was released) is reciting lyrics that she claims she wrote as early as age 12. But please do not misconstrue this as me saying the lyrical content is primitive or childish, because a lot of it is quite forward-thinking: the Antoinette-targeting "10% Dis" is a bit more savage & personal than the diss records we were accustomed to hearing at the time, & "I Am Woman" stakes out territory that Queen Latifah would fully inhabit a year or so later.
I love the sound of this era of rap: dry, dusty drum loops, low-fi samples, unadorned vocals; everything warm & up front & close together, little regard to subtlety in the mix. Little recording errors or inconsistency in levels or jagged sample chops are just left in--it makes you feel like you're there in the studio or in the park with the boombox. The title track with its furiously stuttering drums chops & organ sample, or "10% Dis" with its horn stabs, both produced by Audio Two, are good examples of this specific, warts & all sound. King of Chill contributes "Paper Thin," which is an interesting composition making use of vocal "ooohs" & a memorable distorted guitar loops that serves as a hook for the chorus-less, relatively unstructured rhyme. The album has some interesting beats like that here & there, but the real standout is "MC Lyte Likes Swingin'," by a young man named Prince Paul, then known as the DJ for Stetsasonic before his career-catapulting work with De La Soul. Paul's hitmaking instincts are evident here: he's the only producer on the album who makes use of sonic space, he employs reverb to fill out the composition, his sample collaging is just at a higher level. Anybody could tell this guy was gonna do big things.
In my opinion, Lyte's best work was still ahead of her (can't front on Ain't No Other), but this album is an enjoyable listen, & as the 1st full album by a solo female rapper, its historical significance is huge. I know you think '80s rap is corny, & I don't blame you, but if you haven't heard this one, give it a shot.
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