Rap Hands

When I First Heard Criminal Minded

By Timothy Moriarty

When I first heard Criminal Minded… I was in… Damn, where was I? Seventh grade… Battling this other emcee… Smoking a blunt and drinking a forty down on the lower east side with my ni… I have no idea where I was… I was on my way to a family reunion in a car on the Long Island Expressway… Roosevelt Projects… I was… Outside of church when I was really little and I was doing the Wop with this girl… I mean, I could have been anywhere… Red Alert played one of the songs on the radio… It was so long ago… Yo Merce, what’s up, this is Manson man, I want you to peep that out. Yo kid, I was at this party, this hype party, when I heard KRS Criminal Minded.

Random People, Stakes Is High Intro

When I first heard Criminal Minded, I was at the Boys Club in the summer of 1987, before my sophomore year in high school. This was the basketball spot in Shelbyville, Indiana. Pickup games were played Sunday through Thursday starting at 6 PM, with Sunday being the highlight. As an aspiring baller1, I was there. Since this was Indiana in the 80’s and some of the legendary 86 Golden Bears were playing, the competion was fierce.2 So suffice to say, I was just watching, shooting baskets between games, and hanging out. That day, there was this black kid from Delaware, who was visiting family, also hanging out and listening to his Walkman. I can’t remember how we started talking, but I probably asked what he was listening to because I assumed he was listing to hip-hop. He was surprised to find out that I listened to rap. Actually, I believe he started laughing and gave me the incredulous, “YOU listen to rap?” So then he starts telling me about KRS-One, the one emcee I have to hear. He told me, “KRS-One, it’s not a radio station. KRS-One.”3 He let me listen to his Walkman and I heard some new rap sounds. Unfortunately, it wasn’t KRS-One. I didn’t know it at the time, but it was The Classical Two’s “New Generation.” He couldn’t find the KRS songs on the cassette, so that was the day I first heard of Criminal Minded, or rather, KRS-One.

Later in the fall of 1987, I was at Karma Records browsing through the R&B section searching for any new rap music. Remember, this was before the days when record stores broke out Rap/Hip-Hop as a seperate genre. Anyway, while flipping through the bins, I finally came across the Boogie Down Productions Criminal Minded album. The cover was dope, so I picked it up. On the back cover of the album, it said Scott La Rock and Blastmaster KRS One. I was like, “oh shit, this is what that kid from Delaware was telling me about. I got to get this.” But sadly, I had no money and that day would not be the day I first heard Criminal Minded.

At that time, it was a hip-hop drought in smalltown Shelbyville, Indiana. Particularly between the fall of 1985 when the black owned radio station in Indianapolis, WTLC, decided not to play rap. Before this, I could discover and tape songs off the radio. They would play the Fat Boys, Boogie Boys, U.T.F.O., Run-D.M.C., Mellie Mel, etc. The last rap songs they played were Doug E. Fresh & The Get Fresh Crew, “The Show”, L.L. Cool J “Radio”, The Boogie Boys, “Fly Girl”, and Full Force, “Alice, I Want You Just For Me!” The Full Force song, while not rap, had a hip-hop feel. So in 85-86, my eighth grade year, I had decent idea of what albums to check for. Around the holidays was when I would get the bulk of my music for the year. That year, I got Fat Boys The Fat Boys Are Back, The Boogie Boys City Life, Kurtis Blow America, Morris Day Color Of Success4, and Krush Groove Soundtrack. I also got “Mr. Magic’s Rap Attack”. Later in the spring, I got L.L. Cool J Radio. Early in the summer, I picked up5 Fat Boys Big & Beautiful 6 and Run-D.M.C. Raising Hell 7.

Now as the 1986-87 school year was starting, a.k.a., my freshman year in high school, the drought would be most severe. Music discovery was really difficult. The radio wasn’t playing rap anymore. Yo! MTV Raps wasn’t a thing yet. Therefore, I would just get follow-up albums from artist I already knew. In the fall, I picked up Whodini Back In Black. Also that fall, my sister’s boyfriend introduced me to Egyptian Lover On The Nile and World’s Famous Supreme Team “Hey! D.J.”8 Both of these were from 1984, so I was a couple of years late. That holiday season, I got Full Force Full Force Get Busy 1 Time, which didn’t have anything like “Alice, I Want You Just For Me!” I also got The Boogie Boys Survival of the Freshest, Kurtis Blow Kingdom Blow, and U.T.F.O. Skeezer Pleezer. Skeezer Pleezer had the BEST album title and a few memorable songs. Most notably, “Split Personality”.9 But the best album I got that holiday season was Doug E. Fresh & The Get Fresh Crew Oh, My God!. This album had certified classics “Nuthin’”, “The Show (Oh, My God! Remix), and “All The Way To Heaven”. And then there was Beastie Boys Licensed To Ill10, which would become the hottest album of the year. The only albums that out sold Licensed To Ill were Whitney Houston Whitney Houston and Bon Jovi Slippery When Wet. But none of these artist were new to me. Even the Beastie Boys had a song on the Krush Groove soundtrack that I got the previous year. So as far as new artist, I wasn’t making much progress.

The drought started to ease soon after I first heard about Criminal Minded and started my sophomore year in high school. I got U.T.F.O.’s Lethal at the start of the school year. A much better album than their sophomore effort. Not only was the Educated Rapper back, but the production was much different. Drum machines and keyboards were less prominent and sampling was more pronounced. I also got Rap’s Greatest Hits Volume 2, a compilation of songs from 1985 and 1986. The notable tracks on this compilation are, Eric B. & Rakim’s “Eric B. Is President”, Biz Markie “Make The Music With Your Mouth”, and M.C. Shan “The Bridge”. Other albums I got in the fall of 87 were Steady B What’s My Name11, Ice-T Rhyme Pays, and Schoolly D Saturday Night! - The Album. The art had been elavating, from rhyme styles, to content, to production techniques.

Finally, Christmas of 87, I got my introduction to KRS-One. Criminal Minded is ten tracks, 47 minutes. I couldn’t even comprehend all the rhymes until years later. For example, “South Bronx”, which was simultaneously a dis record and a history lesson. Aside from not knowing why KRS was dissing M.C. Shan’s “The Bridge”12, I was hearing names and neighborhoods that were previously unknown to a kid from the Midwest. It may have been the first I time I heard of Kool Herc, the architect of this art form. Not only was KRS taking out Shan, he was throwing barbs at Run-D.M.C. and explaining how, if you are an emcee, he will take out through out the album. He was also the first emcee I recall repping Nikes in his rhymes.13 The production was handled by Scott La Rock with help from Ced-Gee of Ultramagnetic M.C.s. Sonically, Criminal Minded was a little rough compared to the other releases I got the Christmas, Kool Moe Dee How You Like Me Now produced by Teddy Riley and Dana Dane Dana Dane With Fame produced by Hurby Luv Bug. Also, by the time I got the album, the production and content seemed less groundbreaking and more of a natural progression of where hip-hop was going.14 It was a great precursor to what was to come the in 1988, the start of a hip-hop golden era.

But, that tape I listened to in the summer. I finally got a copy of that tape in the spring of 88. That tape. It was incredible. The track listing is as follows:

  1. Stetasonic “Go Stetsa I (Remix)”
  2. Salt ‘N’ Pepa “I Desire”
  3. Public Enemy “Public Enemy #1”
  4. Biz Markie “Nobody Beats The Biz”
  5. Eric B. & Rakim “I Know You Got Soul”
  6. Grandmaster Flash “U Know What Time It Is”
  7. True Mathematics “After Dark”
  8. Just-Ice “Cold Gettin’ Dumb II”
  9. The Classical Two “New Generation”
  10. Wax Master Torey & DJ Sound Machine “12 Inches The Hard Way”
  11. Stetasonic “Go Stetsa I (Remix)”

That tape was incredible. The Salt ‘N’ Pepa song was the only song I had previously heard. “I Know You Got Soul” was the third Rakim song I heard, while “Nobody Beats The Biz” was the second Biz song I had heard. Everything else was basically brand new to me. For example, I had heard Grandmaster Flash songs, but I had no idea “U Know What Time It Is” was a Flash song. This was my intro to Public Enemy, although I had no idea I was listening to Public Enemy. Three of the songs, “After Dark”, “New Generation”, and “12 Inches The Hard Way”, I didn’t even find out who the artist were until the rap blog era, around 2005. The blog era was also when I finally heard other Just-Ice songs. I remember seeing Kool & Deadly in the record store in the spring of 88, but I never got it or knew anyone who did.15 That tape always felt like my window into New York hip-hop circa 1987. I am not sure who created this tape, but it was a true mix tape. The DJ added his own scratches and cut in Kurtis Blow “Tough”. He also did that technique were lines were repeated. Also, when Rakim said “pump up the volume”, the level changed. That tape was the first time I heard of Criminal Minded.

  1. A baller is a basketball player. Ballin' could either mean you were playing basketball or you were playing basketball well. Until I heard Above The Law Livin' Like Hustlers, I knew of no other meanings.back
  2. The 1986 Shelbyville Golden Bears were finalist for the Final Four before Indiana had class basketball. They lost the first afternoon game against Anderson by one point in overtime. The point they lost by was also the only point scored after regulation. Had they won, they would have played the defending and eventual state champions, Jay Edwards and Lyndon Jones of the Marion Giants. Some speculate that the Golden Bears could have taken it all that year if not for untimely injuries. Back in the Columbus Regional, the Golden Bears lost their backup shooting guard, who was rumored to be able to make jumpers from the parking lot, to a knee injury. In the game against Anderson, the point guard turned his ankle early in the game and didn't return until late.back
  3. Roxanne Shante said his name sounded like a wack radio station on her song, "Have a Nice Day."back
  4. Hey, I also liked R&B. Also, Color of Success was the first clear cassette I remember getting.back
  5. By picked up, I mean my parents bought it for me. Thanks Mom and Dad.back
  6. The "cover" of Sex Machine by James Brown was the beginning of the Fat Boys covering old songs. They later covered "Wipeout" by the Beach Boys on their 1987 album Crushin'. On their 1988 album, Coming Back Hard Again, they covered "The Twist" by Chubby Checker. "Louie Louie" may have also been a cover, but I stopped checking for the Fat Boys after Crushin'.back
  7. I had never heard of Aerosmith or "Walk This Way" before this album.back
  8. I recently found out, while listening to The Combat Jack Show, that The Educated Rapper was kicked out of the group due to drug problems. He turned things around and rejoined the group in 1987.back
  9. I dubbed both of these from dubbed copies, so the quality was outstanding.back
  10. Dubbed.back
  11. Also dubbed.back
  12. There is a little ambiguity around the timeline of the Bridge Wars. What we do know is, M.C. Shan released "The Bridge" as a B side (the B side always wins) in 1986. Boogie Down Productions released "South Bronx / The "P" Is Free" later that year. Shan included "Kill That Noise" on his 1987 album, Down By Law. I can't confirm if it was released as a single. Finally, KRS-One basically ended it with "The Bridge Is Over" in 1987. We also know that the BDP Crew shopped a demo to Mr. Magic, aka, Sir Juice. He had a radio show, "Rap Attack", that featured M.C. Shan's DJ/Producer. Anyway, whatever song was from the BDP demo that was played was evidently wack. I have read that the song played was Success Is The Word, and yes, that song is wack. The confusion creeps in with Marly Marl's telling of the story. All the essential pieces are there, the demo, the Mr. Magic dis. The added information is the fact that they met up at Power Play Studios and Marly left his beat tape in the studio. So after being dissed and finding the beat tape, BDP recorded "The Bridge Is Over". And if you listen to the snares on "The Bridge Is Over", they sound like the snares on "The Bridge". So if this version of the story is correct, BDP recorded "The Bridge Is Over" in 1986, but didn't release it until 1987. KRS-One's telling, in Brian Coleman's Check the Technique: Liner Notes for Hip-Hop Junkies, fits more with release of the records. It is basically, they got dissed and recorded "South Bronx". Shan answered with "Kill That Noise" and BDP responded with "The Bridge Is Over". KRS also says he and Ced Gee sampled Eric B. & Rakim's "Eric B. For President", a Marly Marl produced record. That could be why Marly's snare are in the song.back
  13. I was still rocking Adidas.back
  14. During the early years of hip-hop, a lot of the inovation was released on 12" singles. A lot of artist would get single deals before a record company would commit to an album. I can't say for certain, but I am guessing many singles were never sold outside of the East Coast. If they did make their way to the Midwest, I am certain the availablity was limited. Also, 12" singles were sold for $4.99, whereas, albums were $7.99. So with the limited availability, and the price calculus, I missed out on many of the groundbreaking singels as they were released.back
  15. One of my regrets.back