You possibly can think about the confusion on some listeners’ faces after they placed on Black Sheep’s debut album, A Wolf In Sheep’s Clothes, for the primary time. “So this duo is from Native Tongues? They’re down with De La Soul, A Tribe Called Quest, and Queen Latifah? They must be cool and sunny, not nasty like that 2 Live Crew…” Get dwelling, put it on… “What the okely dokely is this? Doo-doo eatin’? Pee-drinkin’? Hide your hos… Is this a joke?!”
Take heed to A Wolf In Sheep’s Clothes on Apple Music and Spotify.
Launched within the autumn of ’91, Black Sheep weren’t as well mannered as their pals in Native Tongues, the casual aggregation of rap artists who got down to keep away from clichés and promote clever Afrocentricity. A few years after De La’s 3 Toes Excessive And Rising, and within the face of the comparative business failure of Jungle Brothers’ glorious second album, Accomplished By The Forces Of Nature, Black Sheep clearly realized issues had been altering in hip-hop, in order that they didn’t observe the Native Tongues’ template. Whereas the grooves had been way more downbeat than the hardcore fashion on the West Coast, they usually nonetheless laced their speak with humor and brainpower, Black Sheep had been rough-edged. They didn’t pull the wool over anybody’s eyes: the opening “Intro” states their hip-hop household roots, however makes it clear they’re known as Black Sheep for a cause. Dres and Mr. Lawnge (“Long”) did their very own factor on A Wolf In Sheep’s Clothes, letting assumptions slide off them like lamb chops off Teflon.
As soon as the cautious hip-hop fan bought round these preconceptions, this was one hell of an album. In truth, it bought properly, making No. 30 within the Billboard chart and delivering a sequence of spanking singles together with “Strobelight Honey,” which topped the R&B chart, and the mighty “The Choice Is Yours (Revisited).”
Black Sheep had a huge impact, however their misfortune was to ship their debut in a yr the place hip-hop classics had been popping out on a weekly foundation (Naughty By Nature and Cypress Hill’s debuts; Gang Starr’s Step In The Area; Fundamental Supply’s Breaking Atoms; and so forth). It was straightforward to be overshadowed in that firm, and the truth that Black Sheep made music laced with satire and a sarcastic, acrid wit, meant that their full message was by no means going to be loved by everybody.
If a few of it has misplaced its which means (that explanatory “Intro” now not serves the identical goal), their album remains to be filled with tunes. Dres’ lyrical movement is prodigious, silky-smooth, good, deeply funky; hear “Flavor Of The Month,” a message of positivity tracing his improvement from scorned child to assured grownup. “To Whom It May Concern” ranges by way of musical racism, STDs, sell-out rappers, and talentless teams signed to be written off as a tax loss, with Lawnge displaying large microphone chops. There are skits (“LASM,” a tune that’s an interview; “Go To Hail,” an encounter with a reluctant, racist cabbie; “For Doz That Slept”), declarations of lust (the completely outrageous “La Menage,” that includes a visitor spot by Q-Tip), and a few deep, severe moments, corresponding to “Black With NV.” It holds collectively fantastically, with samples stacking R&B classics and jazz as cohesively as could possibly be imagined.
A Wolf In Sheep’s Clothes will be purchased right here.
