A REAL OUTLAW IS A MUTHA FUCKA

When K-Rob is outlawed, only The Outlaws will have K-Rob production. Y'all know who K-Rob is, right? He's best know for his classic old school duet with Ramellzee, "Beat Bop," a record known for adding off-beat funk (featuring unusual instruments and echo effects over a slow bassline) to hip-hop when everybody else was still doing the pure disco sound, and for having a famous picture cover painted by Basquiat. Then in the mid-80's, he did a couple records for Profile, and finally resurfaced in the 90's as a producer... mostly underground, though he worked with Jay-Z several times.

And I don't suppose you get much more underground than this. I'd never heard of it until The Old School Rap King hipped me to it, and there's not a single mention of it online anywhere. In this day and age where the most obscure random rap singles have countless message boards and blogs on fire, how many albums can you say bring up zero hits on Google?

So yeah, this album is called Super Heroes Of the Ghetto by The Outlaws, for whom K-Rob seems to be the sole producer and lead MC. There is another rapper who appears less often, and a reggae guy... think The Crusaders Of Hip-Hop, where K-Rob is Tony D and you get the picture. This came out on Bad Azz Records in 1993, a label which I'm guessing is K-Rob's own (the only other record I know of on this label was also produced by K-Rob: "Who You Be?" by Bro-N X).

So how is it? It's pretty raw. K-Rob's got a pretty tough but sample-heavy sound... Most of said samples are pretty original, though "Give the People What They Want" is essentially the exact same instrumental as Grand Daddy IU's "I Kick Ass," but filtered so heavily the horns are all but inaudible, sunk deep beneath a roaring sea of heavy, heavy bass. Like, "WHOMP!! Whomp, whomp, whooomp!" And a few other songs use some very traditional hip-hop samples, but in every case they're flipped uniquely or paired up with something fresh and unheard. K-Rob is definitely a producer who can stand next to the greats.

Lyrically, it's even rawer. There's some really angry content here... with songs dedicated to their hatred of white rappers ("No Frosted Flake") and rape victims "She Cried Rape (Dedicated To Mike Tyson)." They lighten the mood a bit to talk about their hatred of the media "(Kill the Media"), killing cops (an untitled skit about Rodney King), how much it sucks to ride the subway ("Hopping Trains"), and their resentment of Yo! MTV Raps ("Fuck MTV (Doctor Dre and Ed Lover Dis...)"). They even squeeze the line "fuck the Pope," into "How a Black Man Feels." This album is so much like the New York equivalent of Disco Rick's first album, they even have a similar manifesto in their liner notes:

"A REAL OUTLAW IS A MUTHA FUCKA WHO HOPS TRAINS, DON'T GIVE A FUCK ABOUT BITCHES AND COULDN'T GIVE A FUCK ABOUT MTV ...... CAUSE DRE AND ED LOVER ARE NOTHIN BUT UNCLE TOMS. A OUTLAW HATES THE DAILY NEWS, THE POST, NBC, ABC, CBS, TED KOPPEL, DAN RATHER, MARK KRIEGEL[a sports columnist lol] AND PHIL DONAHUE (THE WHITE LIBERAL).
CUZ WHEN IT COMES TO A BLACK MUTHA FUCKA THEY NEVER TELL THE TRUTH! SO KILL THE MEDIA AND GIVE THE PEOPLE WHAT THEY WANT OR YOU'LL HAVE RIOTS ALL OVER AGAIN, CUZ THAT'S THE WAY A BLACK MAN FEELS! SO SUCK MY DICK AND LICK MY NUTS AND LISTEN TO THESE FAT ASS CUTS."

Yeah, this album isn't for the squeamish. But then neither is this site; we love the hardcore here! And this album is pure good times. This album gets a full, all-around recommendation from me... if you can find it any place!