The title suggests a game of basketball, but it’s the rap game KRS-One plays best. He’s The MC of MCs; a hip-hopper in perhaps its purest form. He’s also The Teacha, so, if we’re using the sport of basketball for comparison’s sake, he’s a former star player turned coach. The big difference is that, while arguably past his prime, he just can’t stay off the court.

There’s even a song entitled Can’t Stop Won’t Stop, but it’s not about his love for rap music. It’s a tale, told from the first-person perspective, about a drug dealer who, in order to avoid going to prison, makes a deal with the police. The story, enhanced with dramatic sound effects where applicable, fits snug into the BDP canon, alongside Love’s Gonna Get You.

It’s the ridiculous abundance of skits and bits, tracked in place of full-length songs, that serves as KRS-One’s foulest offense. There are two back-to-back intros at the start, for example, and three Halftime interludes in a row, which collectively come across as album filler, especially when you find yourself skipping them for the umpteenth time.

Only about half of the tracks are actual songs. Even if you ignore the rest of the album, only about half of those songs are of any notable quality. Step Into A World works in an off-beat kind of way and Real Hip-Hop is just that, but Blowe sounds silly and the Heartbeat beat; the song features Redman and Angie Martinez; is wack. So much for the Playoffs.

my rating : 3 of 5

1997