KRS-One

Rap is moving so fast these days that some of the wizened twentysomething pioneers of the
genre seem to want to put on the brakes. This isn't necessarily a bad thing. It lends a
well-deserved sense of tradition to hip-hop, and on Return of the Boom Bap, the sixth
studio album in seven years from Boogie Down Productions, rapper KRS-One wears his past
proudly, like a series of battle scars. He brandishes his musical history as a way... More >

His best, because the music has finally subsumed the lyrics--with outside guidance from Gang Starr's DJ Premier and others, the rapmaster's bassy beats and monophonic hooks have never sounded more catchy or more his own. Horn blats, "Three Blind Mice" guitar, siren imitation, human beat-box, whatever--all recur hypnotically and leave you hungry for more. Nor have the words fallen off. The history he teaches is mostly his own. And a couple of times he just kills the cops. (Grade: A-)