Destruction From the Exterminator

Never heard of MC Destruction before?  That's okay, neither had I until Dope Folks put up sound-clips for their latest preorder.  But one listen and I immediately had to find out everything I could.  Unfortunately, though, that's not much.  Destruction's from the Bronx, and he only released this one, super rare 12" single on Black Wax Records, all four songs of which are being repressed now by Dope Folks.  He was produced by Marc Niles, who later went on to produce some Crustified Dibbs stuff for Jive Records; but you'd never imagine the two acts were connected listening to this.

There's a strong Big Daddy Kane influence in Destruction's work, and some serious pre-Wu Tang Genius mixed in with a bit of a Supreme Nyborn vibe at times.  The single was originally recorded in '89 and released in '90, which may explain a bit about why it didn't blow up Destruction's career to a major label level.  It sounds more like it's from '87-'88, so anyone looking for the next big thing would've moved immediately past this.  But now in the era of looking back for lost gems, '88 is perfect.

One thing that really works for this record is that, like Kane, he's very consistent as an MC even while his songs are very different from one another.  This Blow Of Death EP captures that, but without any of Kane's later "Groove With It"-like misfires.  We start out with the title track (changing the sequencing from the original record), a slick burner where Destruction slips into some hardcore fast rap, "those who try to beat or defeat me; they can't because my rhymes are overlooked by Nefertiti."  My only criticism is that Blow Of Death uses so many samples you've heard before on other rap songs, to the point where, for all intents and purposes, you've heard the instrumental for "Goin' Off" at least a dozen times before.  This EP is fantastic, but originality is not its strong suit.  In fact the most original song might otherwise be its weakest track, "Maria."  Yeah, it's about a girl like the title suggests, but thematically it's much more in tune with "Jane" or "Mary Go Round" than a love song.  "Murderin' MCs" is like a smoother take on "Blow Of Death," by his DJ Absolute.  And finally "Comin' Off" is a duet with an unnamed second MC (though by the writing credits, we can guess his government name is Howard Dodd), where there's a real cool, almost gangsta rap influence as they represent their Black Wax Posse over James Brown's "The Payback."

Now the original 12" was actually a split EP, with MC Destruction's four tracks on side A, and four cuts by another guy named Corey Pee (clearly not the other guy from "Comin' Off" unless he really switched up his voice) on the B-side.  For both of them, this seems to have been their only record.  So, for serious collectors, there's still a reason to hang onto your original 12", but there's no question MC Destruction's is the side that needs to be preserved.  Corey Pee was okay, his song "Come Get Some" is pretty good; but he was definitely going for more of a mainstream-friendly, crossover tip, with some corny R&B hooks and junk.  His song "Step To This" in particular is like a budget C&C Music Factory joint.  So MC Destruction's stuff doesn't just edge out Corey's side as the superior material, it's on a whole other level.

This is limited to Dope Folks usual 300 copy run, the first 50 of which are on yellow vinyl, and the rest are on traditional black.  By the way, am I alone in thinking that black wax is particularly appropriate in this instance?  And by the way, how awesome is it that Dope Folks now have custom label sleeves?  It's tempting to say that I was more excited by the surprise of seeing that sleeve when I opened the package than the actual record, but I can't because the record's too hot.  I was having a discussion with someone recently trying to tell them how much I was feeling this record, and they were kind of dismissive, like "yeah, everything on Dope Folks' stuff is great."  And yeah, that's true; but I would put this over even most of the other Dope Folks Records in my collection.  This is a real must-have.