Ice T Power Track by Track
By Rob Parkour
“Ice-T is a rapper? I didn’t know that.” Neither of my hiking partners knew Ice-T came to
fame as one of the pioneers of Gangsta Rap, to them Ice-T was just the guy from Law & Order
SVU. I thought of referencing a famous Ice-T hit to jog their memories, but I realized that even
his singles didn’t get the airplay or crossover success of a song like Biggie’s “Big Poppa.”
Between Ice-T’s lack of radio hits, Coco, and his role on Law & Order, Ice’s rap career never
gets the credit it deserves. Let’s change that and unpack his classic second LP, 1988’s Power,
track by track.
“Power” – The drums aren’t a James Brown sample, but nonetheless you can tell that you’re
listening to a late-80’s rap album just by the first ten seconds. “The rap motivator, teacher, talker,
night rhyme stalker/Words thrillin’, so real they’re chillin’ the hit author/Gettin’ louder than a
shotgun, you don’t want none.” The song serves as a great intro for album because it represents
the ethos of the album in a way no other single track does. The biggest beef I have with this song
isn’t with the actual song, it’s that “Power” takes the rightful spot of “Colors” as the album lead
off. The track “Colors” is the theme song for the 1988 film of the same title. In “Colors,” one of
his biggest hits, Ice-T details the dangers and drama of gang life in LA. “Colors” is better than
this song and more recognizable to hip-hop fans than any other song on the album. So why
wasn’t it included on the album? Ice-T gave this horrible excuse in Brian Coleman’s book Check
the Technique:
“I don’t know why I didn’t include ‘Colors’ on Power. It was probably just timing. I
never really thought about it, to be honest. I love that song, that’s the one I close my show to
even to this day.”
You don’t know why? Timing?! You never thought about it?! Well I have! I’ve spent
that past two months trying to figure it out, and that answer isn’t good enough. I’m not an A&R,
but you might want to include your concert closer on one of your albums. Regardless of how you
slice it, “Colors” is one of Ice-T’s best handful of songs. Like I said before, leaving “Colors” out
is more about a missed opportunity than an indictment on the “Power” track. Ice-T sounds great
on here and sets the scene of LA street crime and its consequences.
“Drama” – Ice-T will be the first to tell you that Philadelphia emcee Schooly D inspired him to
break out of the electro hip-hop he was doing and start making hard tracks like “6 in Tha
Mornin’.” Hardcore rhymes come so naturally to Ice-T, if you’ve ever watched his documentary,
Art of Rap, or listened to any interview with him, you’ll know what I’m talking about. Ice-T
unprompted will start reciting one of the thousands of street raps he has saved in his mental
rolodex: it’s not just a bar or two…he’ll rap an entire verse and you can feel the interviewer
thinking, “Okay that was cool but what does that have to do with Fab 5 Freddy?” Hard bars came
easier to Ice-T than maybe any other 80’s rapper this side of N.W.A.
I love how he starts the track: “Cruisin’ for a bruisin’ I’m takin’ no crap/Pipe bomb in my
trunk, got a nine in my lap.” Ice-T makes driving around with a gun in your lap sound as normal
as someone driving with an iPhone in their cupholder. Ice raps about coming home and seeking
revenge: “Gauges out the window, one lay cross the roof/They all die if those suckers ain’t bullet
proof/I’m rollin’ death tollin’ of course the car’s stolen/But I’m blind to what’s wrong, all I want is
what’s golden.” That’s great 80’s gangsta rap.
If you go beneath the surface, you’ll realize that Ice-T’s rhymes aren’t just braggadocios,
‘my car, my gun, my woman’ raps. Ice-T’s raps are real life. If he commits a robbery, it’ll be on
the run in the next verse. Here, Ice-T and his accomplice rob an electronics warehouse and his
man snitches on him. Ice-T said he learned from his father to tell morality tales rather than
glorifying the game or saying ‘don’t do this.’ Ice said his father would tell him about someone
robbing a million dollars and they would OD later that night.
The bass for this track is crazy, sounding straight out of a techno song, but bumps in the
car. Producer Afrika Islam produced the whole album, and has one of the most 80’s hip-hop
sounding names. He produced Ice-T’s first four albums, including the seminal OG. Before he
made his way out to the West Coast, Afrika Islam got his producing PhD at an early age by
joining the Rock Steady Crew at 10 years old, producing under hip-hop pioneer Afrika
Bambaataa, while being part of the Zulu Nation. He even was a member of the Supreme Team.
When Afrika Islam arrived in LA, Ice-T drove him around the rough parts of LA to give the
Bronx native an idea of what type of sound he was going for. For Power, Afrika Islam used two
SP-1200s and a 909-drum machine. On this particular track, Afrika Islam took a 303 and put it
into the SP-1200: I have no idea what that means but the results are glorious. In the James Brown
drum sample era of the late 80’s, it’s refreshing to hear someone who clearly likes to spend his
time geeking out on drum machines. Afrika Islam fell off the face of the hip-hop world after Ice-
T’s classic 1991 OG album. He went to Europe and got some of the endless stream of money
that seems to be available to any American musician who’s ever been associated with a famous
American…keep gettin’ dem checks Afrika Islam! Had Afrika Islam chose to stay in America
and worked with other artists, he very well could’ve gone down as one of the greatest producers
in hip-hop history. Afrika Islam went out on top: having your last moment in the game being the
producer on OG is the rap producer’s equivalent of John Elway retiring after winning the 1998
Super Bowl.
“Heartbeat” – Afrika Islam uses a War sample to give us a third straight fire beat. Ice-T is
always in control over the beat, making you bop your head for the entire track. I gained a deeper
appreciation for this song the more time I spent with the album. One of the more rewarding
aspects of having a long term phase with an album is songs you didn’t instantly love become
some of of your favorites.
Ice-T is nearly a flawless rapper: he’s part of the rare breed that can effortlessly glide
over any type of beat, slow or fast. Ice is in full control of his tempo. He’s never in a rush, and
gets to his sweet spots while staying perfectly on beat. Part of my brand is being a voice snob: I
put a disproportionate amount of importance on how clear and enjoyable your voice is. My three
favorite rappers, 2Pac, Rakim and Jay-Z, happen to be 1, 2 and 3 in my voice rankings. Out of
new rappers, Nipsey Hussle would be first in my voice rankings, and Kenrick Lamar would be
dead last.
Let’s take a break from the music to discuss the album cover, one of the most iconic in
music history. Ice-T’s girlfriend at the time, 19-year-old Darlene Ortiz, appeared on the cover of
Ice-T’s debut Rhyme Pays wearing a bikini in a Porsche with Ice and Afrika Islam. Darlene
appears on the single cover for “I’m a Pusher” in a skinny red bikini that accentuates her curves
perfectly on what is one of the best single covers of all time. On this cover, Darlene takes it up a
notch, brandishing a sawed-off shotgun and wearing a bikini that has approximately 14 square
inches of material to cover her nipples and box. “Your album was the first album I ever jerked
off to,” N.O.R.E. told Ice-T during his Drink Champs Podcast. The first? What the hell was the
second, N.O.R.E.? This cover is famous for many reasons but “the most jerked off to album
cover of all time” may be the best. I imagine in the 80’s, this cover was as crucial for the streets
as the Bo Derek poster was to pimple-faced white teenagers.
My god Darlene Ortiz is a thing of beauty. Sure, her posing strongly with a gun is an
important image for women and all that, but I just can’t get over how hot she looks. Go on a
Google image deep dive of Darlene Ortiz in the 80’s and 90’s. Your jaw will drop, she’s that
bad. Which leads me to my next take: Ice-T should have never left Darlene Ortiz for Coco.
Those who know me personally may be surprised, “but Rob, I thought you loved thick women!”
First of all, Darlene Ortiz is 80’s thick, especially for a 19-year-old. If you look at
pictures of her in the 90’s when she filled out in her 20’s, you’ll notice she only gets hotter and
thicker as the years went on. Second of all, I am not entirely sure Coco’s ass is real…scratch that
I’m positive it’s fake. I saw a picture of her in a magazine when she was 18 years old and she
was curvy for a white girl but her ass wasn’t crazy. Actually, it was probably smaller than
Darlene Ortiz’ on the cover of Power. Coco had a doctor come on her own talk show to
“prove” she didn’t have an ass job, but so did America’s most famous fake butt. I remember
being forced against my will to watch Keeping Up with the Kardashians in 2012, and Kim took
(and passed) a similar test to prove her ass is real, and we all know that’s a lie. I understand (and
love) the fact that asses get bigger as women get older, but Coco’s ass grew out of proportion for
what a Serbian woman’s body should look like.
Coco will willingly admit that her tits are fake (a tell), and she’s obviously had work
done on her face. I find it funny she thinks that’s any less shameful than having an ass job. When
your butt is the only reason people care about you, you have to hold on to the illusion as long as
you can. Darlene on the other hand is 100% natural and her personality strikes me as down to
earth and chill. Isn’t hip-hop about loyalty? Wouldn’t have it been cool to leave the game with
the chick you came into it with? I can’t imagine a reality where Coco would be a better hang
than Darlene Ortiz. Objectively, Darlene has a prettier face than Coco. On his last album,
2006’s Gangsta Rap, Ice-T tried to recreate the magic of the Power cover by having a nude Coco
laid across Ice-T’s naked body. The result? No one cared about the cover or the crappy music
inside. Darlene Ortiz truthers stand up!
“The Syndicate” – If you’ve read my reviews on golden age hip-hop albums, you’ll start to
realize I have certain pet peeves. My biggest pet peeve from that era is rappers having one
reggae-centric song stuck in the middle of an otherwise classic album. I’m also unnecessarily
hard on rappers who experience a sophomore slump after a classic debut. Another pet peeve of
mine is having your homies, double-A rappers, jump on a track that only you deserve to spit on
(the beats for these songs are always very good to compensate for the lack of talent which makes
the star’s smaller role that much more frustrating).
This may sound hypocritical since 2Pac is my favorite rapper and was known to have his
young homies featured on his albums. I stand by Big Skye and the rest of the Thug Life’s
contributions on Thug Life; the Outlawz weren’t as enjoyable as Thug Life, but at least they were
lyrical (I suspect 2Pac wrote their lyrics). Donald D, who met Afrika Islam when they were both
members of the Zulu Nation, has two verses on here and actually doesn’t sound terrible. Hen-
Gee is also featured on two verses but leaves something to be desired.
It’s pretty crazy that Ice-T ended up getting a Syndicate album and a Donald D solo
album (which somehow charted and was produced by our guy Afrika Islam). Donald D sure was
in the right place at the right time. Ice-T’s heart and intentions were good: The Syndicate was his
way of giving back and trying to put his homies on. It’s ironic that the Syndicate was
compromised of all New York rappers. There was a third album birthed from the Syndicate.
Remember House of Pain? You’re trying not to? Okay, well do you remember the white rapper
Everlast who had a beef with Eminem? Yeah, that guy. Nothing like white on white rap beef!
How much leverage did Ice-T have with Warner Bros. in 1989 to release the Everlast solo album
Forever Everlasting? Who greenlit that album title? While we’re talking about Everlast, have
you ever had an itch to listen to a hip-hop, blues and rock fusion album? Yeah? Well you’re in
luck, Everlast’s second LP from 1998, Whitey Ford Sings the Blues has you covered. I’m not
sure what’s weirder, the fact that AllMusic gave a Hip-Hop/Blues/Rock album 4 and a half stars,
the fact that Sadat X is featured on two songs, or the fact that having his name attached to the
album didn’t kill elderly Whitey Ford.
Speaking of Thug Life, you’ll recognize the “Aqua Boogie” Parliament sample from
“Shit Don’t Stop.” The beat is great and makes you wish that Ice-T had three 16 bar verses to
himself, but Hen-Gee and Donald D are serviceable and don’t ruin the track.
“Radio Suckers” – Ice-T samples Chuck D’s voice on the hook and does his best Public Enemy
impression on the track, admonishing rap stations for playing cheesy commercial songs instead
of the real rhymes that were being ignored. Someone even more cynical than me may say that
Ice-T eventually sold out, because he’s been in over 400 episodes of Law & Order, but I think
that’s wrong for a couple reasons. For one, it’s better that he sold out acting in a show (that
somehow every American woman has seen in its entirety) than if he had started to make
commercial rap singles. People don’t realize Ice-T was already 29 by the time his debut dropped
which is a very old age to be starting rap at. Off the top of my head, only Rick Ross, dropping
Port of Miami at 30, was older at the time of his debut. What was Ice supposed to do? Continue
rapping until he completely destroyed his legacy? According to Ice-T, nowadays he’s all about
eating, living good, relaxing, playing Xbox and going to shoot Law & Order: seems like a pretty
good life to me.
“I’m Your Pusher” – In Ice-T’s first single he uses music as an alternative to drugs. Afrika
Islam samples “Pusherman” by Curtis Mayfield for a beat that is incredibly smooth and easy on
the ears. I feel like I’ve heard “Pusherman” sampled before, but almost all the samples since this
song sample Curtis Mayfield’s voice and not his music. “I’m Your Pusher” does the opposite,
sampling the music, but using a real-life pimp to sing the hook. Pimpin’ Rex sings the chorus
and does an excellent jobm but that shouldn’t be a shock to anyone: if your name is Pimpin’ Rex,
you excel at everything.
“Pusherman” is probably Ice-T’s best all around song: at the very least it checks the most
boxes and would be the track you would show to someone who never listened to Ice-T. I actually
played it for my hiking friend who’d never heard Ice-T’s music and she was so impressed that
she immediately added the song to her iTunes. Ice-T’s always had music that could crossover but
as he detailed on the previous track, he never had the machine behind him.
Ice-T dedicated a full verse to dissing LL Cool J on “Syndicate,” starting off the verse by
telling LL, “A lot of MC’s like to talkin’ bout they self/A first-grade topic, I think you need
help/How many time on one album can you say you’re def?/I’m baaaad- Yo punk, save your
breath.” One song later, Ice-T tries to sell a fiend rap instead of drugs and the fiend gladly
accepts Ice-T’s array of musical offerings including Rakim, Boogie Down Productions, Doug E.
Fresh, Public Enemy, Biz Markie, and even LL’s biggest rival Kool Moe Dee, but when Ice
offers the fiend some LL Cool J the fiend tells him, “Nah, nah man, I don’t want none of that/
You can keep that man.” I remember the first time I heard it took me by surprise and I started
laughing out loud. Why the hell would Ice-T want to diss LL Cool J? According to Ice-T, LL
was claiming he was the best rapper out and Ice-T, being a major player on the West, had to
stake his claim and represent his coast. That statement doesn’t seem like enough to start a beef:
Benzino and his neck had the same conspiracy I have of what started the beef. Benzino asked
Ice-T during his appearance on the Drink Champs Podcast if LL Cool J fucked Darlene Ortiz.
Now that would’ve made sense to why Ice-T was going at LL so hard, and would’ve been a
great wrinkle in the beef. Just look at how bad Darlene looks in the “Pusherman” video! If LL
Cool J was straight, he surely would have smashed Darlene. There’s an old saying in the NBA
that all fights are either over women or gambling debts. You would think more beefs would start
over a rapper taking another rapper’s girl: hip-hop beef may include that babymother aspect (Jay-
Z’s infamous Jeep line on “Superugly,” Rick Ross and 50), but rarely does the beef start over a
woman. Someone who has insider industry secrets needs to release the oral history of rap beefs
that started over a woman.
According to Ice-T, the beef was never personal, the two hadn’t met until a few years
ago. The ironic part about LL and Ice-T beefing is that they have very similar career paths. In the
80’s they both released multiple successful albums (BAD, Radio, Power, The Iceberg) which
made them a star on their respective coasts. In the early 90’s they both released their magnum
opus (OG, Mama Said Knock You Out) and had great acting moments (Ice-T in New Jack City,
LL starring in the criminally underrated sitcom, In the House). Then, they both experienced
identity crisis’ (Ice-T’s rock phase & LL’s West Coast phase) before their music careers slowed
down to a crawl. LL and Ice-T both released albums in the 00’s to little fanfare, before becoming
full-time actors on a crime procedural show (NCIS and Law & Order). In 2018, they’re both
known as actors instead of rappers, despite being somewhere in the 15-20 range of best rappers
of all time.
Afrika Islam remembers when the beef came to a head and they confronted Ice-T: “We
all sat down at a table. I remember it was me, Flavor Flav, Red Alert, Mike Tyson and Afrika
Bambaataa and we were like ‘you have to stop this.’ LL was battling Kool Moe Dee and Dee and
Ice were friends. Having Mike Tyson there made sense, because he was down with hip-hop and
the Zulus, and I’ve always considered rappers like boxers anyways.” Wait just a second, can we
go back to the part where Flavor Flav, Mike Tyson, Red Alert, Bamabaataa and Ice-T were
hanging out at the same table?! What a meeting of the minds! “Having Mike Tyson there made
sense,” might be the beginning of my favorite sentence ever.
LL Cool J beef aside, this is a classic song that you will not tire of regardless of how
many spins you give it. This song also includes one of my favorite lines of the album when Ice-
T claims that, “People high off dope but still physically fit.” I understand what the line means,
but the imagery of a bunch of jacked fiends doing pull ups in an outdoor California beach gym
cracks me up every time. I’m curious though, do in shape fiends work out before, after or during
their first high of the day? Personally, I can’t work out even if I just smoked a little bit of weed,
so I can’t imagine doing burpies high off crack.
“Personal” – The five scariest words in rap: “Are the guitars on there?” Remember my hip-hop
pet peeves? Here’s another one to add to the list: rappers trying to incorporate rock guitar riffs
into their rap beats. The guitar riff comes from the 1976 Heart song “Magic Man,” and somehow
Africa Islam takes the corny riff and makes it into a pretty good beat, at least when compared to
other rap-rock beats of the era. The most egregious example of this is on No One Can Do It
Better when D.O.C. says “Dre laid the tracks, I laid the vocals, we need some guitar that rocks,
know what I’m saying?” No, I don’t know what you’re saying! I literally almost got into a car
accident one time because I was fumbling around with my phone trying to skip the song before
the guitar came on.
But what about Run-DMC? They’re an exception to the rule but their best stuff isn’t rock
based, or at least in the “Walk This Way” collaboration way. Run-DMC’s song “Raising Hell” is
a best-case scenario for “letting the guitar rock.”
There’s something hilarious about rappers that are so cool talking with such giddiness
about guitar riffs that are so overtly corny. I just listened to 55 seconds of Body Count’s album
and my face is permanently stuck in the “I just smelled a bad fart” expression.
“Girls L.G.B.N.A.F.” – On this track, Afrika Islam took two 909 drum machines, linked them
together playing different beats, and sampled Rufus Thomas. The song sounds like it was
recorded during the Rhyme Pays period and is probably my least favorite track on the album. The
concept of the song was, you’ll never guess this, a diss to LL Cool J. In the 80’sm LL was the
king of making rap ballads like “I Need Love,” and Ice-T thought that was corny because back
then if women dug your raps that meant it wasn’t good. If social justice warriors were around
back then they would say that this track’s energy is filled with nothing but toxic masculinity,
which of course is the point. If LL needs to beg and serenade a girl for their love, than Ice-T is
going to come up to you and not sugarcoat his intentions: the acronym on the title stands for let’s
get butt naked and fuck.
“High Rollers” – Camp Lo would be proud of the Blaxploitation sound the Edwin Starr sample
from the Hell Up In Harlem Soundtrack gave the track: somewhere Sonny Cheeba and Ski Beatz
are smiling. Speaking of Edwin Starr, did you know that Air sampled him on their landmark
1997 album Moon Safari, and the next year DMX sampled him for It’s Dark and Hell’s Hot? I
love the juxtaposition of that.
The song is one of the three or four best songs on the album and is one of the first videos
Ice-T ever shot. Ice-T said that all the guns, jewelry and cars they used for the video and photo
shoot were real, and the people who were filming were getting uncomfortable being around that
much drugs, money and guns. The fact that Ice-T never even thought to rent a car or jewelry for
his video proves he’s cut from the right cloth. Let’s get back to the era where you were shamed if
you rocked cars and jewelry that were rented.
“High Rollers” is Ice-T’s second single and he uses it to warn of the traps that come with
the flashy lifestyle of street crime. Ice sets the scene and makes being a drug dealer sound fly:
“Lifestyle plush, females rush/This high profile personality, who earns his pay
illegally/Professional liar, schoolboys admire/Young girls desire, very few live to retire/Cash
flow extreme, dress code supreme, vocabulary obscene/Definition-street player, you know what I
mean” An underrated fact of 80’s rap is that they didn’t have to curse to set the scene, tell stories
and sound cool.Rakim is the king of not having to curse. Ice-T not needing cursing makes you
realize how some rappers use curse words as a crutch. Ice-T’s stories aren’t here to romanticize
anything. “They’ll say I’m glamorizing the hustling hood/And a record like this can do no
good/But I’m not here to tell ya right or wrong/I don’t know which side of the law you belong.”
He’ll show you the cinematic lifestyle of a player in the beginning, but makes sure you hear the
reality of it at the end: he’s not telling you how to live, just showing a mirror to the streets and
letting you decide. “Yes, the game has flash, but sometimes hurts/Behind any mistake, hard
times lurks/And jail’s not your only problem though it may seem/You just may die by a barrage
from an M-16/But to each his own, choose the mobile phone.”
“Grand Larceny” – A solid track that doesn’t stand out in a particular way. Ice-T uses his fierce
raps as a metaphor for stealing and robbing. He has better “positive thing replaces criminal
activity” tracks on this album, so by the time you get here, you’re underwhelmed by this
particular offering. If only Ice-T would have replaced this song with “Colors”.
Ice-T’s personal story is both tragic and inspiring just like his rhymes. Ice-T was born in
Newark, New Jersey and his mother died of a heart attack when he was just in third grade. His
father raised him in a single parent household for four years before also dying of a heart attack.
Orphaned at 12 years old, he soon moved to live in LA with his aunt. Ice-T saying on The
Combat Jack Show there’s a reason orphans become billionaires at a rate higher than everyone
else is something I’ve always remembered, even though I haven’t listened to that podcast
episode in over 5 years. A lot of rappers faced brutal childhoods but Ice-T’s was among the very
worst. It’s nothing short of incredible that Ice-T made to the heights he did when he was dealt
such a bad hand.
“Soul on Ice” – This spoken word track pays homage to Ice-T’s namesake and biggest
influence, street author Iceberg Slim. Ice-T received Iceberg Slim’s books as a 14-year-old and
was fascinated by the fly lifestyle of pimps. I have to give Ice-T credit, his spoken word/jazz
track sounds like it could be taken from an Iceberg Slim novel. Hustler’s Convention a
funk/poetry, toasting album by Lightnin’ Rod had also is a clear influence on Ice-T’s
storytelling.
Iceberg Slim’s influence is everywhere in hip-hop whether you realize it or not. The Ice
in Ice Cube is a nod to the author, the pimp references in Snoop and Too $hort’s music, Pimp C
referring to himself as Sweet Jones, and Jay-Z’s memorable, “Iceberg Slim riding rims in the
suburbs” line. But nobody embodies the soul of Iceberg Slim more than Ice-T; he’s not Kobe
Bryant copying Michael Jordan down to how he chewed gum obsessed but it’s close. Ice-T
named his third album “The Iceberg”, wrote the introduction to Iceberg’s posthumous book
Doom Fox, and produced the acclaimed documentary Iceberg Slim: Portrait of a Pimp. If you’re
not familiar with Iceberg Slim, watch the documentary on Showtime, and go to your local library
to grab a copy of Iceberg’s best book Pimp.
With the exclusion of “Colors,” it’s hard to make an argument for Power being in the
Top 100 rap albums. Once you get to the cutoff line it’s splitting hairs and missing that classic,
all-time track. Regardless, it’s a golden age classic and certainly in the Top 125. 1988 was such a
stacked year that you can make an argument that a classic like this doesn’t even belong in the top
ten.
Albums from 1988 better than Power:
Public Enemy – It Takes A Nation of Millions To Hold Us Back
Slick Rick – The Great Adventures of Slick Rick
N.W.A. – Straight Outta Compton
Big Daddy Kane – Long Live the Kane
Eric B & Rakim – Follow the Leader
EPMD – Strictly Business
Eazy-E – Eazy-Duz-It
Marley Marl – In Control Vol. 1
Ultramagnetic MC’s – Critical Beatdown
Albums released in 1988 that are in the same league as Power:
Boogie Down Productions – By All Means Necessary
Jungle Brothers – Straight Out the Jungle
MC Lyte – Lyte as a Rock
Biz Markie – Goin’ Off
Too $hort – Life is…. Too $hort
DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince – He’s the DJ and I’m the Rapper
Just look at that list. There are nine pantheon rap albums that you can’t put Power ahead
of. Good luck trying to figure out what gets the tenth spot out of the other seven classics to be
released that year. What an incredible year: if you add Run-DMC’s Tougher Than Leather,
Stetasonic’s In Full Gear, King Tee Act A Fool, and Doug E. Fresh’s The World’s Greatest
Entertainer that makes over 20 albums in one calendar year. 1988 was a clear turning point for
the rap LP. You could argue that 1988 by itself was a better year for rap (or at least the rap
album) than 1983-1987 combined.
Albums in the same league as the aforementioned 1988 albums:
Eric B. & Rakim – Paid in Full
Boogie Down Productions – Criminal Minded
Run DMC – Raising Hell
Run DMC – Run-DMC
Public Enemy – Yo! Bum Rush the Show
LL Cool J – Radio
LL Cool J- BAD
Ice-T – Rhyme Pays
Schooly D- Saturday Night Thee Album
Stetasonic – On Fire
MC Shan – Down by Law
2 Live Crew – 2 Live Crew, Is What We Are
Just-Ice – Kool &; Deadly
Heavy D &; The Boyz – Livin’ Large
Whoodini – Escape
Salt N’ Peppa – Hot, Cool & Vicious
Kurtis Blow – Kurtis Blow
Kool Moe Dee – How You Like Me Now?
The Treacherous Three – The Treacherous Three
You could construct an argument and say Paid in Full and Criminal Minded are the two
best 80’s albums but that would be the only area that ‘83-‘87 has over ’88. The top 5, top 10m
and 11-20 albums are clearly better in 1988. What a special year. Related: I was born in 1988.