Every rapper now screams into the mic, sonically trashes the beats up in the studio and generally tries to scare people on the street into looking the other way when they pass them, but Onyx is the Rosetta stone of beat-you-in-your-head rap mentality. They don't sell themselves as gangstas in the way we've come to understand the term with rappers: this isn't a record about pimping or flashy jewelry or record sales. These cats are those guys on the subway looking to snatch your necklace or beat you down in the restroom at the club for selling bootlegged copies of their album at the local flea market.
The music - produced mainly by the late and great Jam Master Jay of Run D.M.C. fame - is New York cold, funky at every turn and catchy as super-virus. Lots of trunk-rattlers here, and incredibly sound production values: plenty of horns, tambourines and scary riffs. The rapping is loud, obnoxious and chanty. "Throw Your Gunz in the Air" and just about all of the interludes are about as infectious as a high school bleacher beat. Few groups since have captured the marriage of pure old-school simplicity and new school angst that Onyx had in spades. Even Onyx was unable to recapture the energy and naughty fun of this record. A classic, period, though not for the faint of sensibility.
01. Bacdafucup
02. Bichasniguz
03. Here
04. Here 'N' Now
05. Bust Dat Ass
06. Atak Of Da L-Hedz
07. Da Mad Face Invasion
08. Blac Vagina Finda
09. Da Bounce Nigga
10. Nigga Bridges
11. Onyx Is Here
12. Slam
13. Stik
14. Bichasbootleguz
15. Shifftee
16. Phat ('N' All Dat)
17. Da Nex Niguz
18. Getdafucout
*a-FILI-ated*
No doubt a classic album from a classic period in hip hop, '93! They and no one after them has captured the same energy you find on this record, simply put, it's one of the best hip hop albums ever released. Dunno bout anyone else but I do prefer the second album over this. Enjoy this classic!
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