MC Shan must’ve been on that Rock Stuff when he decided to include on his third solo album a song by M And M. Their “groove”; a chorusless demo; is easily the worst here. The best, which, true to the liner pictures, ends the set on a romantic note, is How I Feel About You; the heartbreak beat of which is quite beguiling. Ain’t It Good To You? Yeah, it is. I also like Ran The Game and Funkin.

Shan, with his sneakily clever rhymes and charismatic vocal inflections, is fun to listen to. It’s when nothing interesting’s happening during the breaks that the album falters. The vocal samples on Time For Us To Defend Ourselves, which protests police brutality, are quite effective, but the Richard Pryor bits on Death Was Quite A Surprise and Music You Can Dance To won’t induce any encores.

my rating : 3 of 5

1990