Return Of The Boom Bap – KRS-One – Released September 28, 1993
Released 30 years ago today, on 28th September 1993, Return Of The Boom Bap is the solo debut album from veteran MC and all-round hiphop legend, KRS-One.
It came following two back-to-back albums as one half of Boogie Down Productions (BDP), alongside DJ Scott La Rock.
The first was 1987’s Criminal Minded, an album which influenced gangster rappers such as NWA and was cited by Ice T as one of his top ten albums of all time.
The follow-up, By Any Means Necessary, dropped a year later, however in the interim Scott La Rock was gunned down while intervening to stop a fight.
The event was a portentous preview of things to come, as the ensuing years would see gun violence claim more lives within the hiphop community, most famously Tupac, Biggie and Jam Master Jay.
Scott La Rock was just 25 years old when he was rushed to hospital and pronounced dead, a tragedy which affected KRS-One enormously.
As a result, Return Of The Boom Bap saw KRS staying true to his hardcore roots but at the same time consciously putting distance between his former “Blastmaster” persona in favour of the more enlightened rallying call of “Knowledge Reigns Supreme”.
So Many Anniversaries
While much has been made of hiphop’s recent 50th anniversary, we have a lot of important hiphop-related anniversaries this year.
Return Of The Boom Bap is just the first of a series of 30th anniversaries I want to feature here in the coming months and, honestly, keeping up with them all is proving to be a full-time job.
I mean, don’t get me wrong, I do this as a labour of love, but if anyone wants to pay me to do this as a full-time job, I’m happy to accept.
But until then, for the sake of my time and my sanity, rather than doing the track-by-track account as I’ve done in previous articles, I’m going to stick with the highlights from hereon in.
Which honestly, is kinda difficult because this album is such quality – and proof, if ever any was needed, why KRS-One remains one of the best MCs on the planet today.
Perhaps even the best.
Sure, he’s said and done some stupid things in the past and weighed in pretty hefty on sensitive topics best avoided, but so what? That’s also what makes him fearless as an artist.
In an age when everyone’s afraid to have an opinion for fear of being cancelled, KRS-One just says what’s on his mind, loudly, proudly with his trademark growl and infectious flow.
Add to this his raw intellect, the gut-punching power of his delivery, the speed with which he can adlib on the spot and his ability to battle rhyme sharper than a cyberpunk assassin – the man is the very embodiment of proper old skool hiphop.
Maybe if he towed the industry line a bit more and pulled his punches he might be filling stadiums today but that’s never been his style and besides, such appearances would lack the authenticity and intimacy of a smaller club setting.
I was lucky to catch him last year in a small venue with around 100 or so people, which meant he was able to vibe off the crowd, addressing audience members directly, asking for topics to freestyle on, educating some of the audience who likely weren’t even born when Criminal Minded dropped as to how things were “back in the day”, but never patronising, always enlightening and entertaining.
“Edutainment” he likes to call it, and it’s a pure delight to watch. If you ever get a chance to see this man live, take it, you won’t regret it.
KRS-One Attacks
The album opens with KRS-One Attacks, an instrumental intro track overlain with vocal scratches providing a resume of KRS-One’s music up until 1993, with the purpose of reminding us of what has gone before, before showing us where he’s going next.
It’s the first of many tracks produced by DJ Premier of Gang Starr fame, still one of the best hiphop producers in the game and we can’t discuss this album without mentioning his immense contribution.
Premier returns on the second track Outa Here. Here’s some of that sweet boom bap we’ve been hearing about, you’ll easily give yourself whiplash nodding your head to this bassline.
This is where KRS discusses his influences and his origins, from living in a shelter where he met Scott La Rock, through forming BDP, and later, having to come to terms with Scott La Rock’s death.
Outa Here – KRS-One
Another standout is track three, Black Cop, a diss track at the black police officers who were patrolling his community. Note also its more Jamaican dancehall-inspired sound. Course there’s more pig-skinning raggamuffin bizniss to come so you can consider this a warmup track really for the main event coming later (you know the one I mean).
Black Cop – KRS-One
Track five, I Can’t Wake Up, has a simple yet hilarious premise as detailed in the chorus, “I’m a blunt getting smoked and I can’t wake up.”
KRS is having a dream about being a blunt as he’s gradually being smoked and getting passed around from one rapper to the next. Essentially every rapper and crew KRS admires gets a shoutout, Everlast, Cypress Hill, Redman, De La Soul – but also Bill Clinton.
It was 1993, after all, and the whole, “I never inhaled” quote was still fresh (Cypress Hill also referred to it on their album Black Sunday that same year.)
Can’t Wake Up – KRS-One
Track 7 is the one we’ve all been waiting for. It’s up there with tunes like House Of Pain’s Jump Around, Public Enemy’s Fight The Power and Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five’s The Message as one of the greatest hiphop anthems of all time.
In fact, I think this might well be my favourite hiphop track ever – because if they ever made hiphop track Top Trumps this card would score 10/10 in every category.
Backing track: 10/10
Hook: 10/10
Message: 10/10
Delivery: 10/10
Lyrics: 10/10
Longevity: 10/10
Let’s start with the backing track by Showbiz; it’s rough, it’s raw and it’s made to be turned up LOUD.
Blast it out your boombox, out your car stereo or a club sound system, pure bass bombardment to get the crowd jumpin’. And that triple-thump of the kick on the second bar really gives this tune some serious swagger. Even as an instrumental, this one bangs.
But then we got the hook – Woop! Woop! That’s the sound of da police – once you’ve heard it you’ll never forget it. And no doubt you’ll adopt it as a mantra like I have.
Doing something naughty and want to alert your friends, “Woop woop!” Riding shotgun with your buddy and see a speed trap? “Woop woop!” It’s a refrain of boundless utility.
And it’s universal. People who don’t speak a word of English know and love this tune because the message is understood worldwide.
The tune is big in France, big in Spain, big in Germany. They know it in Morocco, in Brazil, in Thailand or Japan – no matter where you go in the world the people you wanna know all know that woop woop = police.
The delivery, when combined with the track itself, guarantees that the message is clear, even to those who don’t understand a single word. The anger is palpable and KRS-One’s delivery “inna ruff stylee”, is so self-assured and impactful, it transcends language.
For those of us fortunate enough to fully appreciate the lyrics, Sound Of Da Police is an absolute masterclass in how to verbally eviscerate your chosen target in a way that’s both nuanced and intelligent but also readily accessible to the masses.
And, given the subject matter, this track is timeless, every bit as relevant in 2023 as it was in 1993 and, it’s fair to say that it will still be every bit as relevant in 2053 or 2093, if we’re all still around to enjoy to it.
Sound Of Da Police – KRS-One
Track nine, Uh Oh, features more ragga-style rapping over a simple human beatbox, while track 11, is the title track, Return Of The Boom Bap. It’s certainly got that boom bap beat, which, in case you require any clarification.
“Return Of The Boom Bap means just that, it means return of the real hard beats and real rap.” – KRS-One
Love this one too but once again take care while listening as the beat may result in repetitive neck strain from nodding along.
The very last track, Higher Level, is another one of my favourite KRS tracks, with beats supplied once again by DJ Premier sampling the soundtrack from the movie Blacula.
Higher Level wasn’t supposed to be the last track of the album and was done on a whim. It ended up being recorded at around 5 a.m., while, according to the video below, DJ Premier was running, “on fumes”.
As Premier tells it, the track was a last-minute addition, completely unplanned, but when they hit record, magic happened…
DJ Premier discusses the track Higher Level and other aspects of recording the album.
“Take a second”, says KRS as he lets it drift for a bit, “take a second”, he repeats, allowing Premier’s beat to take centre stage for a while before commencing to rhyme and gradually introducing the track’s topic – religion.
Never one to shy away from controversial topics, KRS draws parallels between religion and slavery, how Christianity is a byproduct of European colonialism while also blasting the pope and so-called pious politicians.
It’s a theme he would return to again on his eponymous 1995 album with a track called The Truth, further espousing his belief in a maternal god while chiselling away at the hypocrisy of organised religion.
Higher Level – KRS-One
We Will Be Here Forever…
Return Of The Boom Bap is one of the all-time classic hiphop albums, one that sees KRS-One pay respect to his roots with BDP while finishing off on a Higher Level.
It also adds Jamaican dancehall vibes into the mix, as exemplified by the track Sound Of Da Police, one of the greatest hiphop tracks of all time. I’ll even go so far as to say it’s perhaps the best, since I’m struggling to think of anything that can match it.
But that’s just one track of many, covering a lot of subjects, featuring the talents of numerous collaborators, most notably DJ Premier.
Far’s I’m concerned Return Of The Boom Bap is the album that cemented KRS-One’s reputation as the undisputed heavyweight champion of pure hiphop, true hiphop, none of that watered-down commercial record company pish, but that fearless, uncompromising, fuck the consequences just turn-it-up-loud banging boom bap hiphop.
As such, it’s the one album every hiphop fan needs to have in their collection.