Critical Beatdown
Encyclopedia
Critical Beatdown is the debut studio album
by American hip hop
group Ultramagnetic MCs
, released October 4, 1988, on Next Plateau Records. Production for the album was handled primarily by the group's rapper and producer Ced-Gee, who employed a E-mu SP-1200
sampler
as the album's main instrument. Music writers have noted the album for its innovative production, funk
-based samples
, self-assertive themes, ingenious lyricism, and complex rhyme patterns.
Although it charted modestly upon its release, Critical Beatdown has since been acclaimed by music critic
s as a classic album of hip hop's "golden age"
and new school
aesthetic. The album's abstract rhymes in strange syncopation
s laid on top of sampling experiments proved widely influential, from Public Enemy to gangsta rap
to several generations of underground hip hop
artists. Critical Beatdown was reissued by Roadrunner Records
in 2004, with additional tracks.
group, Ultramagnetic MCs members Cedric "Ced-Gee" Miller, "Kool" Keith Thornton
, DJ Moe Love (Maurice Smith), and TR Love (Trevor Randolph) from The Bronx, New York
were break dancers
for the New York City Breakers
and People's Choice crews. They recorded a demo
, "Space Groove", in 1984 and released their first single
"To Give You Love" in 1986. Other singles, including "Space Groove" and "Something Else", became popular at block parties
and earned the group notice in the underground music scene, eventually leading to the group's signing with dance-oriented record label Next Plateau Records
.
The group made a stylistic breakthrough with their subsequent 1986 single "Ego Trippin'". The song boasted dense, minimalist production, featuring synthesizer
riffs and a drum sample from Melvin Bliss' "Synthetic Substitution", and erratic lyricism by Ced-Gee and Kool Keith. The group's 1987 single "Funky" showcased Ced-Gee expanding on his production style, incorporating a piano sample from "Woman to Woman
" by Joe Cocker
. Before the release of Critical Beatdown, he contributed to production on albums such as Paid in Full
(1987) by Eric B. & Rakim
and Criminal Minded
(1987) by Boogie Down Productions
.
sampler
. His sampling of early recordings by James Brown
, particularly their guitar and vocal parts, added to the music's abrasive, funk
-oriented sound and exemplified the growing popularity of such sampling sources in hip hop at the time. In the second edition of The Rough Guide to Hip Hop (2005), music journalist Peter Shapiro notes its music's energy as reminiscent of The Cold Crush Brothers
and writes of the album's musical significance, "It may have been a stunning explosion of early sampling technology, but Critical Beatdown remains a devstating album even in an age of 32-bit samplers and RAM
-intensive sound-editing
software." He also views that the technological limitations of using such a sampler added to the album's style, making the music "rawer, more immediate, and more febrile, like a raw nerve." Hip hop production
team The Bomb Squad
has cited the album as a major influence on their production for Public Enemy's 1988 album It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back
. Shapiro dubs it one of the greatest hip hop albums and comments on its musical legacy, "Recorded at a time before 'street' and 'experimental' were mutually exclusive terms, it ushered in hip-hop's sampladelic golden age and laid the foundation for several generations of underground rap."
Kool Keith's and Ced-Gee's lyrics on the album are characterized by abstract braggadocio
, stream-of-consciousness narrative style, and psuedoscientific terminology. The Anthology of Rap, published by Yale University Press
, makes note of such terminology in Ced-Gee's lyricism on the album's 1986 single "Ego Trippin'", particularly the lines "Usin' frequencies and data, I am approximate
/ Leaving revolutions turning, emerging chemistry / With the precise implications, achieved adversively". Kool Keith's rhymes are manic and expressed in a staccato
pace. His lyrics on "Ego Trappin'" also criticize the musical aesthetic of old school hip hop
artists at the time: "They use the simple back and forth, the same old rhythm / That a baby can pick up and join right with them / But their rhymes are pathetic, they think they copasetic / Using nursery
terms, at least not poetic".
' in hip-hop." He noted the "lyrical invention" of Kool Keith's and Ced-Gee's respective styles, adding that "Somewhere in the nexus between the two stylistic extremes, brilliant music emanated. Critical Beatdown maintains all its sharpness and every ounce of its power, and it has not aged one second since 1988." Trouser Press
journalist Jeff Chang
called it "an amazing debut" and complimented Kool Keith's "shifty rhyme patterns", while writing that Ced-Gee "pushes sampling
technology to its early limits, providing sonics that are less bassy and more breakbeat heavy than most of their contemporaries." Pitchfork Media
's Alex Linhardt called it "a flawless album—one that stands tall today as one of Golden Age
's most ageless," lauding Kool Keith's "lyrical ingenuity" and citing Ced-Gee as "the source of the album's most insane, digitalk-quantum gibberish, spouting lines [...] [T]hey should be studied in seminars alongside general relativity." Linhardt attributed its music's "surging psychosis" to DJ Moe Love's turntablism
and Ced-Gee's dense funk
sampling, particularly his arrangement of vocal samples, writing that they "are ingrained in the very fabric of the beat, concealed and crippled amidst the relentlessly fuzzing bass. And like most great rap albums, many of them come from the patron saint of yelps, James Brown
, and flurry and flux with such abstraction and chaos that they make the beats feel deceptively fast-paced."
Melody Maker
stated in a retrospective review, "full of scratch-tastic heavy beat, gold plated hip hop which manages to combine the minimalist ground-breaking Sugar Hill
sounds with the show-no-mercy aural assault of the then-emerging Public Enemy." NME
gave it a nine out of 10 rating and called it "a bona fide
classic." Sputnikmusic
's Louis Arp noted the group's sound as "developed solely around the sampler
" and stated, "Critical Beatdowns notoriety as one of hip-hop's first copyright offenders is more than slightly impressive. The album unashamedly nicks from the common James Brown staples and then-popular drum breaks like Melvin Bliss' 'Synthetic Substitution' [...] Those grooves, the lyrics and the all around unique feel of the album make for some innovating hip-hop." Arp commented that the album "marks a sign of hip-hop's early burgeoning creative maturity" and praised Ced-Gee's "method of chopping up samples, rather than simply looping them like most of his contemporaries did, essentially changed the way the producer approached the hip-hop beat," adding that "One could go so far to call these tracks as genre defining." Rolling Stone
writer Peter Relic gave the album four out of five stars in a June 2004 review, citing it as the group's "quintessential release." Writing in The New Rolling Stone Album Guide
(2004), journalist Kembrew McLeod
gave Critical Beatdown four-and-a-half out of five stars and called it "a bona fide classic of hip-hop's 'golden age' of the late '80s and early '90s, an album that was mostly ignored at the time but whose reputation has grown exponentially in the years since."
, Maurice Smith (DJ Moe Love), and Trevor Randolph.
.
Studio album
A studio album is an album made up of tracks recorded in the controlled environment of a recording studio. A studio album contains newly written and recorded or previously unreleased or remixed material, distinguishing itself from a compilation or reissue album of previously recorded material, or...
by American hip hop
Hip hop music
Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...
group Ultramagnetic MCs
Ultramagnetic MCs
The Ultramagnetic MC's is an American hip hop group based in Bronx, New York. Originally founded by Kool Keith, the group is composed of Ced Gee, TR Love, and Moe Love. Tim Dog became an unofficial member in 1989. In 1990, DJ Jaycee was added as Roadmanager and backup DJ. A former member, Rooney...
, released October 4, 1988, on Next Plateau Records. Production for the album was handled primarily by the group's rapper and producer Ced-Gee, who employed a E-mu SP-1200
E-mu SP-1200
E-mu SP-1200 is a classic drum machine and sampler released in August 1987 by E-mu Systems, Inc. as an update of the SP-12, which was originally created for dance music producers...
sampler
Sampler (musical instrument)
A sampler is an electronic musical instrument similar in some respects to a synthesizer but, instead of generating sounds, it uses recordings of sounds that are loaded or recorded into it by the user and then played back by means of a keyboard, sequencer or other triggering device to perform or...
as the album's main instrument. Music writers have noted the album for its innovative production, funk
Funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...
-based samples
Sampling (music)
In music, sampling is the act of taking a portion, or sample, of one sound recording and reusing it as an instrument or a different sound recording of a song or piece. Sampling was originally developed by experimental musicians working with musique concrète and electroacoustic music, who physically...
, self-assertive themes, ingenious lyricism, and complex rhyme patterns.
Although it charted modestly upon its release, Critical Beatdown has since been acclaimed by music critic
Music criticism
See also Music journalism for reporting on classical and popular music in the media.The Oxford Companion to Music defines music criticism as 'the intellectual activity of formulating judgments on the value and degree of excellence of individual works of music, or whole groups or genres'. In this...
s as a classic album of hip hop's "golden age"
Golden age hip hop
Hip hop's "golden age" is a name given to a period in mainstream hip hop—usually cited as being a period varying in time frames during the 1980s and 1990s said to be characterized by its diversity, quality, innovation and influence. There were strong themes of Afrocentricity and political...
and new school
New school hip hop
The new school of hip hop was a movement in hip hop music starting 1983–84 with the early records of Run-D.M.C. and LL Cool J. Like the hip hop preceding it, it came predominately from New York City. The new school was initially characterized in form by drum machine led minimalism, often tinged...
aesthetic. The album's abstract rhymes in strange syncopation
Syncopation
In music, syncopation includes a variety of rhythms which are in some way unexpected in that they deviate from the strict succession of regularly spaced strong and weak but also powerful beats in a meter . These include a stress on a normally unstressed beat or a rest where one would normally be...
s laid on top of sampling experiments proved widely influential, from Public Enemy to gangsta rap
Gangsta rap
Gangsta Rap is a subgenre of hip hop music that evolved from hardcore hip hop and purports to reflect urban crime and the violent lifestyles of inner-city youths. Lyrics in gangsta rap have varied from accurate reflections to fictionalized accounts. Gangsta is a non-rhotic pronunciation of the word...
to several generations of underground hip hop
Underground hip hop
Underground hip hop is an umbrella term for hip hop music outside the general commercial canon. It is typically associated with independent artists, signed toindependent labels or no label at all....
artists. Critical Beatdown was reissued by Roadrunner Records
Roadrunner Records
Roadrunner Records is an American record label that concentrates primarily on heavy metal bands. It is currently a subsidiary of Warner Music Group.-History:...
in 2004, with additional tracks.
Background
Before forming as a hip hopHip hop music
Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...
group, Ultramagnetic MCs members Cedric "Ced-Gee" Miller, "Kool" Keith Thornton
Kool Keith
Keith Matthew Thornton, better known by his stage name Kool Keith, is an American rapper from The Bronx, New York. A founding member of Ultramagnetic MCs, Kool Keith has recorded prolifically both as a solo artist and in group collaborations. Kool Keith is the self-proclaimed inventor of...
, DJ Moe Love (Maurice Smith), and TR Love (Trevor Randolph) from The Bronx, New York
The Bronx
The Bronx is the northernmost of the five boroughs of New York City. It is also known as Bronx County, the last of the 62 counties of New York State to be incorporated...
were break dancers
B-boying
B-boying, often called "breakdancing", is a popular style of street dance that was created and developed as part of hip-hop culture among African Americans and Latino youths in New York City. The dance consists of four primary elements: toprock, downrock, power moves and freezes...
for the New York City Breakers
New York City Breakers
The New York City Breakers is a B-boy or breakdancing crew and hip-hop group that was established in the Bronx borough of New York City...
and People's Choice crews. They recorded a demo
Demo (music)
A demo version or demo of a song is one recorded for reference rather than for release. A demo is a way for a musician to approximate their ideas on tape or disc, and provide an example of those ideas to record labels, producers or other artists...
, "Space Groove", in 1984 and released their first single
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
"To Give You Love" in 1986. Other singles, including "Space Groove" and "Something Else", became popular at block parties
Block party
A block party is a large public party in which many members of a single neighbourhood congregate, either to observe an event of some importance or simply for mutual enjoyment. The name comes from the form of the party, which often involves closing an entire city block to vehicle traffic...
and earned the group notice in the underground music scene, eventually leading to the group's signing with dance-oriented record label Next Plateau Records
Next Plateau Records
Next Plateau Entertainment is an American record label, which currently operates in association and under with Universal Republic Records.-Background:1980’s...
.
The group made a stylistic breakthrough with their subsequent 1986 single "Ego Trippin'". The song boasted dense, minimalist production, featuring synthesizer
Synthesizer
A synthesizer is an electronic instrument capable of producing sounds by generating electrical signals of different frequencies. These electrical signals are played through a loudspeaker or set of headphones...
riffs and a drum sample from Melvin Bliss' "Synthetic Substitution", and erratic lyricism by Ced-Gee and Kool Keith. The group's 1987 single "Funky" showcased Ced-Gee expanding on his production style, incorporating a piano sample from "Woman to Woman
Woman to Woman (Joe Cocker song)
"Woman to Woman" is a song written by Joe Cocker and Chris Stainton. It was released on Cocker's 1972 album Joe Cocker . It has been recorded by other artists...
" by Joe Cocker
Joe Cocker
John Robert "Joe" Cocker, OBE is an English rock and blues musician, composer and actor, who came to popularity in the 1960s, and is most known for his gritty voice, his idiosyncratic arm movements while performing, and his cover versions of popular songs, particularly those of The Beatles...
. Before the release of Critical Beatdown, he contributed to production on albums such as Paid in Full
Paid in Full (album)
Paid in Full is the debut album of American hip hop duo Eric B. & Rakim, released July 7, 1987, on the Island-subsidiary label 4th & B'way Records. The duo recorded the album at hip hop producer Marley Marl's home studio and Power Play Studios in New York City, following Rakim's response to Eric...
(1987) by Eric B. & Rakim
Eric B. & Rakim
Eric B. & Rakim were a hip-hop duo composed of DJ Eric Barrier and MC Rakim .Hailing from Long Island, New York, the pair are generally considered by hip hop enthusiasts to be one of the most influential and innovative groups in the genre...
and Criminal Minded
Criminal Minded
Criminal Minded by Boogie Down Productions is a highly influential hip hop album. Production on the LP is credited to 'Blastmaster' KRS-One and DJ Scott La Rock , but in interviews it has been revealed that an uncredited Ced-Gee of The Ultramagnetic MCs had a key role in crafting the sound of the...
(1987) by Boogie Down Productions
Boogie Down Productions
Boogie Down Productions was a hip hop group that was originally composed of KRS-One, D-Nice, and DJ Scott La Rock. DJ Scott La Rock was murdered on August 27, 1987, months after the release of BDP's debut album, Criminal Minded. The name of the group, Boogie Down, derives from a nickname for the...
.
Music and lyrics
The dynamic, choppy production on Critical Beatdown was handled primarily by Ced-Gee, who used a E-mu SP-1200E-mu SP-1200
E-mu SP-1200 is a classic drum machine and sampler released in August 1987 by E-mu Systems, Inc. as an update of the SP-12, which was originally created for dance music producers...
sampler
Sampler (musical instrument)
A sampler is an electronic musical instrument similar in some respects to a synthesizer but, instead of generating sounds, it uses recordings of sounds that are loaded or recorded into it by the user and then played back by means of a keyboard, sequencer or other triggering device to perform or...
. His sampling of early recordings by James Brown
James Brown
James Joseph Brown was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and recording artist. He is the originator of Funk and is recognized as a major figure in the 20th century popular music for both his vocals and dancing. He has been referred to as "The Godfather of Soul," "Mr...
, particularly their guitar and vocal parts, added to the music's abrasive, funk
Funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...
-oriented sound and exemplified the growing popularity of such sampling sources in hip hop at the time. In the second edition of The Rough Guide to Hip Hop (2005), music journalist Peter Shapiro notes its music's energy as reminiscent of The Cold Crush Brothers
The Cold Crush Brothers
The Cold Crush Brothers is a hip hop group that formed in 1979 in the Bronx, New York City, New York, alongside other early hip hop acts.-Formation:...
and writes of the album's musical significance, "It may have been a stunning explosion of early sampling technology, but Critical Beatdown remains a devstating album even in an age of 32-bit samplers and RAM
Ram
-Animals:*Ram, an uncastrated male sheep*Ram cichlid, a species of freshwater fish endemic to Colombia and Venezuela-Military:*Battering ram*Ramming, a military tactic in which one vehicle runs into another...
-intensive sound-editing
Audio engineering
An audio engineer, also called audio technician, audio technologist or sound technician, is a specialist in a skilled trade that deals with the use of machinery and equipment for the recording, mixing and reproduction of sounds. The field draws on many artistic and vocational areas, including...
software." He also views that the technological limitations of using such a sampler added to the album's style, making the music "rawer, more immediate, and more febrile, like a raw nerve." Hip hop production
Hip hop production
Hip hop production is the creation of hip hop music. Though the term encompasses all aspects of hip hop music, it's most commonly used to refer to the instrumental, non-lyrical aspects of hip hop. This means that hip hop producers are the instrumentalists involved in a work...
team The Bomb Squad
The Bomb Squad
The Bomb Squad is an American hip hop production team, known for their work with the rap group Public Enemy. The Bomb Squad are noted for their dense, distinct, innovative production style, often utilizing dozens of samples on just one track...
has cited the album as a major influence on their production for Public Enemy's 1988 album It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back
It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back
It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back is the second studio album by American hip hop group Public Enemy, released April 14, 1988, on Def Jam Recordings. Recording sessions for the album took place at Chung King Studios, Greene Street Recording, and Sabella Studios in New York City...
. Shapiro dubs it one of the greatest hip hop albums and comments on its musical legacy, "Recorded at a time before 'street' and 'experimental' were mutually exclusive terms, it ushered in hip-hop's sampladelic golden age and laid the foundation for several generations of underground rap."
Kool Keith's and Ced-Gee's lyrics on the album are characterized by abstract braggadocio
Braggadocio (rap)
Braggadocio is a type of rapping where the MC is "bragging and boasting" and can include subjects such as physicality, fighting ability, sexual prowess, or coolness...
, stream-of-consciousness narrative style, and psuedoscientific terminology. The Anthology of Rap, published by Yale University Press
Yale University Press
Yale University Press is a book publisher founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day. It became an official department of Yale University in 1961, but remains financially and operationally autonomous....
, makes note of such terminology in Ced-Gee's lyricism on the album's 1986 single "Ego Trippin'", particularly the lines "Usin' frequencies and data, I am approximate
Approximation
An approximation is a representation of something that is not exact, but still close enough to be useful. Although approximation is most often applied to numbers, it is also frequently applied to such things as mathematical functions, shapes, and physical laws.Approximations may be used because...
/ Leaving revolutions turning, emerging chemistry / With the precise implications, achieved adversively". Kool Keith's rhymes are manic and expressed in a staccato
Staccato
Staccato is a form of musical articulation. In modern notation it signifies a note of shortened duration and separated from the note that may follow by silence...
pace. His lyrics on "Ego Trappin'" also criticize the musical aesthetic of old school hip hop
Old school hip hop
Old school hip hop describes the earliest commercially recorded hip hop music , and the music in the period preceding it from which it was directly descended . Old school hip hop is said to end around 1983 or 1984 with the emergence of Run–D.M.C., the first new school hip hop group...
artists at the time: "They use the simple back and forth, the same old rhythm / That a baby can pick up and join right with them / But their rhymes are pathetic, they think they copasetic / Using nursery
Nursery rhyme
The term nursery rhyme is used for "traditional" poems for young children in Britain and many other countries, but usage only dates from the 19th century and in North America the older ‘Mother Goose Rhymes’ is still often used.-Lullabies:...
terms, at least not poetic".
Reception
Allmusic editor Stanton Swihart praised the album's production as "forward-looking" and called it "an undeniable hip-hop classic [...] one of the finest rap albums from the mid- to late-'80s 'new schoolNew school hip hop
The new school of hip hop was a movement in hip hop music starting 1983–84 with the early records of Run-D.M.C. and LL Cool J. Like the hip hop preceding it, it came predominately from New York City. The new school was initially characterized in form by drum machine led minimalism, often tinged...
' in hip-hop." He noted the "lyrical invention" of Kool Keith's and Ced-Gee's respective styles, adding that "Somewhere in the nexus between the two stylistic extremes, brilliant music emanated. Critical Beatdown maintains all its sharpness and every ounce of its power, and it has not aged one second since 1988." Trouser Press
Trouser Press
Trouser Press was a rock and roll magazine started in New York in 1974 as a mimeographed fanzine by editor/publisher Ira Robbins, fellow Who fan Dave Schulps and Karen Rose under the name "Trans-Oceanic Trouser Press" ...
journalist Jeff Chang
Jeff Chang (journalist)
Jeff Chang is an American journalist and music critic on hip hop music and culture. His 2005 book, Can't Stop Won't Stop, which chronicles the early hip hop scene, won an American Book Award in 2005...
called it "an amazing debut" and complimented Kool Keith's "shifty rhyme patterns", while writing that Ced-Gee "pushes sampling
Sampling (music)
In music, sampling is the act of taking a portion, or sample, of one sound recording and reusing it as an instrument or a different sound recording of a song or piece. Sampling was originally developed by experimental musicians working with musique concrète and electroacoustic music, who physically...
technology to its early limits, providing sonics that are less bassy and more breakbeat heavy than most of their contemporaries." Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media, usually known simply as Pitchfork or P4k, is a Chicago-based daily Internet publication established in 1995 that is devoted to music criticism and commentary, music news, and artist interviews. Its focus is on underground and independent music, especially indie rock...
's Alex Linhardt called it "a flawless album—one that stands tall today as one of Golden Age
Golden age hip hop
Hip hop's "golden age" is a name given to a period in mainstream hip hop—usually cited as being a period varying in time frames during the 1980s and 1990s said to be characterized by its diversity, quality, innovation and influence. There were strong themes of Afrocentricity and political...
's most ageless," lauding Kool Keith's "lyrical ingenuity" and citing Ced-Gee as "the source of the album's most insane, digitalk-quantum gibberish, spouting lines [...] [T]hey should be studied in seminars alongside general relativity." Linhardt attributed its music's "surging psychosis" to DJ Moe Love's turntablism
Turntablism
Turntablism is the art of manipulating sounds and creating music using phonograph turntables and a DJ mixer.The word 'turntablist' was coined in 1995 by DJ Babu to describe the difference between a DJ who just plays records, and one who performs by touching and moving the records, stylus and mixer...
and Ced-Gee's dense funk
Funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...
sampling, particularly his arrangement of vocal samples, writing that they "are ingrained in the very fabric of the beat, concealed and crippled amidst the relentlessly fuzzing bass. And like most great rap albums, many of them come from the patron saint of yelps, James Brown
James Brown
James Joseph Brown was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and recording artist. He is the originator of Funk and is recognized as a major figure in the 20th century popular music for both his vocals and dancing. He has been referred to as "The Godfather of Soul," "Mr...
, and flurry and flux with such abstraction and chaos that they make the beats feel deceptively fast-paced."
Melody Maker
Melody Maker
Melody Maker, published in the United Kingdom, was, according to its publisher IPC Media, the world's oldest weekly music newspaper. It was founded in 1926 as a magazine targeted at musicians; in 2000 it was merged into "long-standing rival" New Musical Express.-1950s–1960s:Originally the Melody...
stated in a retrospective review, "full of scratch-tastic heavy beat, gold plated hip hop which manages to combine the minimalist ground-breaking Sugar Hill
Sugar Hill Records (rap)
Sugar Hill Records was the name of a rap music record label that was founded in 1979 by husband and wife Joe and Sylvia Robinson with Milton Malden and financial funding of Morris Levy, the owner of Roulette Records.-History:...
sounds with the show-no-mercy aural assault of the then-emerging Public Enemy." NME
NME
The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...
gave it a nine out of 10 rating and called it "a bona fide
Bona Fide
Bona Fide is a studio album from rock band Wishbone Ash. It is the first studio album in six years and is the only studio album to feature guitarist Ben Granfelt...
classic." Sputnikmusic
Sputnikmusic
Sputnikmusic, or simply Sputnik, is a music website offering music criticism and music news alongside features commonly associated with wiki-style websites...
's Louis Arp noted the group's sound as "developed solely around the sampler
Sampler (musical instrument)
A sampler is an electronic musical instrument similar in some respects to a synthesizer but, instead of generating sounds, it uses recordings of sounds that are loaded or recorded into it by the user and then played back by means of a keyboard, sequencer or other triggering device to perform or...
" and stated, "Critical Beatdowns notoriety as one of hip-hop's first copyright offenders is more than slightly impressive. The album unashamedly nicks from the common James Brown staples and then-popular drum breaks like Melvin Bliss' 'Synthetic Substitution' [...] Those grooves, the lyrics and the all around unique feel of the album make for some innovating hip-hop." Arp commented that the album "marks a sign of hip-hop's early burgeoning creative maturity" and praised Ced-Gee's "method of chopping up samples, rather than simply looping them like most of his contemporaries did, essentially changed the way the producer approached the hip-hop beat," adding that "One could go so far to call these tracks as genre defining." Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
writer Peter Relic gave the album four out of five stars in a June 2004 review, citing it as the group's "quintessential release." Writing in The New Rolling Stone Album Guide
Rolling Stone Album Guide
The Rolling Stone Album Guide, previously known as The Rolling Stone Record Guide, is a book that, along with its sister publication Rolling Stone magazine, contains professional reviews of popular music...
(2004), journalist Kembrew McLeod
Kembrew McLeod
Kembrew McLeod is an American journalist, artist, activist, and professor of Communication Studies at the University of Iowa.He is best known as a performance artist or "media prankster" who filed an application in 1997 to register the phrase "Freedom of Expression" as a trademark in the United...
gave Critical Beatdown four-and-a-half out of five stars and called it "a bona fide classic of hip-hop's 'golden age' of the late '80s and early '90s, an album that was mostly ignored at the time but whose reputation has grown exponentially in the years since."
Track listing
All songs were written by Cedric Miller, Keith ThorntonKool Keith
Keith Matthew Thornton, better known by his stage name Kool Keith, is an American rapper from The Bronx, New York. A founding member of Ultramagnetic MCs, Kool Keith has recorded prolifically both as a solo artist and in group collaborations. Kool Keith is the self-proclaimed inventor of...
, Maurice Smith (DJ Moe Love), and Trevor Randolph.
| # | Title | Producer(s) | Sample(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Watch Me Now" | Ced-Gee, Ultramagnetic MCs Ultramagnetic MCs The Ultramagnetic MC's is an American hip hop group based in Bronx, New York. Originally founded by Kool Keith, the group is composed of Ced Gee, TR Love, and Moe Love. Tim Dog became an unofficial member in 1989. In 1990, DJ Jaycee was added as Roadmanager and backup DJ. A former member, Rooney... |
|
0:40 |
| 2. | "Ease Back" | Ced-Gee, Ultramagnetic MCs |
The Grunt "The Grunt" is a funk instrumental recorded in 1970 by James Brown's band The J.B.'s. It was released as a two-part single on King. Part 1 of the recording was included on The J.B.'s 1972 album Food for Thought. It was one of only two instrumental singles recorded by the original J.B.'s lineup with... " by The J.B.'s The Meters The Meters are an American funk band based in New Orleans, Louisiana. The Meters performed and recorded their own music from the late 1960s until 1977... Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor.... , "Thirty seconds to respond..." |
3:24 |
| 3. | "Ego Trippin' (Original 12" Version)" | Ced-Gee, Ultramagnetic MCs |
|
5:26 |
| 4. | "Moe Luv's Theme" | Ced-Gee, Ultramagnetic MCs |
UPP UPP may stand for:*Union for Promoting Progress , a political party in Macao*Pacifying Police Unit, policing and law enforcement program in Rio de Janeiro*United Progressive Party... |
2:14 |
| 5. | "Kool Keith Housing Things" | Ced-Gee, Ultramagnetic MCs |
Dennis Coffey Dennis Coffey is an American guitarist. He was a studio musician for many soul and R&B recordings.-Biography:Coffey learned to play guitar at the age of thirteen, in the Michigan Upper Peninsula town of Copper City... The J.B.'s The J.B.'s were James Brown's band during the first half of the 1970s. On record the J.B.'s were sometimes billed under various alternate names such as The James Brown Soul Train, Maceo and the Macks, A.A.B.B., The First Family and The Last Word... |
3:15 |
| 6. | "Travelling at the Speed of Thought (Remix)" | Ced-Gee, Ultramagnetic MCs |
Fresh (musician) DJ Fresh is an English Drum & Bass and Dubstep producer and DJ. He was one of the principal members of drum & bass supergroup, Bad Company, alongside Darren White , Jason Maldini, and Michael Wojcicki... Louie Louie "Louie Louie" is an American rock 'n' roll song written by Richard Berry in 1955. It has become a standard in pop and rock, with hundreds of versions recorded by different artists... " by Motörhead |
1:51 |
| 7. | "Feelin' It" | Ced-Gee, Ultramagnetic MCs |
Dennis Coffey Dennis Coffey is an American guitarist. He was a studio musician for many soul and R&B recordings.-Biography:Coffey learned to play guitar at the age of thirteen, in the Michigan Upper Peninsula town of Copper City... Kid Dynamite Kid Dynamite was a Philadelphia-based melodic hardcore band consisting of drummer Dave Wagenschutz, guitarist Dan Yemin, vocalist Jason Shevchuk, and bassist Michael Cotterman, who replaced original bassist Steve Farrell. The band put out two full-lengths before lead singer Jason Shevchuk left the... Cold Sweat "Cold Sweat" is a song performed by James Brown and written by his bandleader Alfred "Pee Wee" Ellis. Brown recorded it in May 1967. An edited version of "Cold Sweat" released as a two-part single on King Records was a #1 R&B hit, and reached number seven on the Pop Singles chart... " by Mongo Santamaría Mongo Santamaría Ramón "Mongo" Santamaría Rodríguez was an Afro-Cuban Latin jazz percussionist. He is most famous for being the composer of the jazz standard "Afro Blue," recorded by John Coltrane among others. In 1950 he moved to New York where he played with Perez Prado, Tito Puente, Cal Tjader, Fania All... |
3:31 |
| 8. | "One Minute Less" | Ced-Gee, Ultramagnetic MCs | —— | 1:58 |
| 9. | "Ain't It Good to You" | Ced-Gee, Ultramagnetic MCs | —— | 3:33 |
| 10. | "Funky (Remix)" | Ced-Gee, Ultramagnetic MCs | —— | 3:40 |
| 11. | "Give the Drummer Some" | Paul C Paul C Paul C. McKasty , better known as Paul C, was an East coast hip hop producer and engineer in the 1980s. McKasty was of Irish descent.-Work:... |
James Brown James Joseph Brown was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and recording artist. He is the originator of Funk and is recognized as a major figure in the 20th century popular music for both his vocals and dancing. He has been referred to as "The Godfather of Soul," "Mr... with the Dee Felice Trio Funky drummer "Funky Drummer" is a funk song recorded by James Brown and his band. The recording's drum break, performed by drummer Clyde Stubblefield, is one of the most frequently sampled rhythmic breaks in hip hop and popular music; indeed, it lays a strong claim to being the most sampled recording ever,... " by James Brown Give It Up or Turnit a Loose "Give It Up or Turnit a Loose" is a funk song recorded by James Brown. Released as a single in 1969, it was a #1 R&B hit and also made the top 20 pop singles chart... " by James Brown |
3:43 |
| 12. | "Break North" | Ced-Gee, Ultramagnetic MCs |
Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, originally released as Star Wars, is a 1977 American epic space opera film, written and directed by George Lucas. It is the first of six films released in the Star Wars saga: two subsequent films complete the original trilogy, while a prequel trilogy completes the... |
3:24 |
| 13. | "Critical Beatdown" | Ced-Gee, Ultramagnetic MCs |
Fred Wesley Fred Wesley is an American jazz and funk trombonist, best known for his work with James Brown in the 1960s and 1970s.-Biography:... & The J.B.'s The J.B.'s The J.B.'s were James Brown's band during the first half of the 1970s. On record the J.B.'s were sometimes billed under various alternate names such as The James Brown Soul Train, Maceo and the Macks, A.A.B.B., The First Family and The Last Word... |
3:42 |
| 14. | "When I Burn" | Ced-Gee, Ultramagnetic MCs |
Ultramagnetic MCs The Ultramagnetic MC's is an American hip hop group based in Bronx, New York. Originally founded by Kool Keith, the group is composed of Ced Gee, TR Love, and Moe Love. Tim Dog became an unofficial member in 1989. In 1990, DJ Jaycee was added as Roadmanager and backup DJ. A former member, Rooney... |
2:32 |
| 15. | "Ced-Gee (Delta Force One)" | Ced-Gee, Ultramagnetic MCs |
Bob James (musician) Robert McElhiney James is a jazz keyboardist, arranger and producer.-Biography:During the 1970s, Bob James played a major role in establishing the smooth jazz genre. "Angela", the instrumental theme from the sitcom Taxi, is probably Bob James' most well-known work to date... Ultramagnetic MCs The Ultramagnetic MC's is an American hip hop group based in Bronx, New York. Originally founded by Kool Keith, the group is composed of Ced Gee, TR Love, and Moe Love. Tim Dog became an unofficial member in 1989. In 1990, DJ Jaycee was added as Roadmanager and backup DJ. A former member, Rooney... |
2:49 |
2004 edition bonus tracks
| # | Title | Producer(s) | Sample(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16. | "Funky (Original 12" Version)" | Ced-Gee, Ultramagnetic MCs |
|
4:47 |
| 17. | "Bait (Original 12" Version)" | Ced-Gee, Ultramagnetic MCs |
Cerrone Marc Cerrone is a French disco drummer, singer-songwriter and record producer.Marc Cerrone has sold over thirty million albums and has often performed in front of hundreds of thousands of people at huge concerts and events such as The 2005 Dance Party Live in Versailles and The 2000 Los Angeles... , Mountain (band) Mountain is an American hard rock band that formed in Long Island, New York in 1969. Originally comprising vocalist and guitarist Leslie West, bassist Felix Pappalardi and drummer N. D. Smart, the band broke up in 1972 before reuniting in 1974 and remaining active until today... Bob James (musician) Robert McElhiney James is a jazz keyboardist, arranger and producer.-Biography:During the 1970s, Bob James played a major role in establishing the smooth jazz genre. "Angela", the instrumental theme from the sitcom Taxi, is probably Bob James' most well-known work to date... |
4:26 |
| 18. | "A Chorus Line (Original 12" Version)" (featuring Tim Dog Tim Dog Tim Dog is an American rapper from the Bronx, New York who rose to prominence during the early '90s with his debut LP Penicillin on Wax and the celebrated "diss" record "Fuck Compton". Tim had already appeared on songs with the Ultramagnetic MCs and went on to form a duo, Ultra, with member Kool... ) |
Ced-Gee, Ultramagnetic MCs |
The Payback (song) "The Payback" is a funk song by James Brown, the title track from his 1973 album of the same name. The song's lyrics, originally written by trombonist and bandleader Fred Wesley but heavily revised by Brown himself soon before it was recorded, concern the revenge he plans to take against the man... " (Intro) James Brown James Joseph Brown was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and recording artist. He is the originator of Funk and is recognized as a major figure in the 20th century popular music for both his vocals and dancing. He has been referred to as "The Godfather of Soul," "Mr... |
6:04 |
| 19. | "Traveling at the Speed of Thought (Hip House Club Mix)" | Paul C |
Planet Rock (song) "Planet Rock" is a 1982 song by Afrika Bambaataa & the Soulsonic Force. In the background and hooks featured Marvella Murray, Yvette Murray, Melissa Johnson and Sandra Wheeler. Although it was only a minor hit in the US, Canada, and UK, it helped change the foundations of hip-hop and dance music... " by Afrika Bambaata & the Soulsonic Force Kraftwerk Kraftwerk is an influential electronic music band from Düsseldorf, Germany. The group was formed by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider in 1970, and was fronted by them until Schneider's departure in 2008... Think (About It) "Think " is a funk song recorded by Lyn Collins and released as a single on James Brown's People Records in 1972. The recording was produced by Brown and featured instrumental backing from his band The J.B.'s... " by Lyn Collins Lyn Collins Lyn Collins was an African American soul singer best known for working with James Brown in the 1970s. Contrary to some reports, she is not related to Bootsy Collins, nor Catfish Collins.... |
4:22 |
| 20. | "Ego Trippin' (Bonus Beats)" | Ced-Gee, Ultramagnetic MCs | —— | 1:11 |
| 21. | "Mentally Mad (Original 12" Version)" | Ced-Gee, Ultramagnetic MCs |
James Brown James Joseph Brown was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and recording artist. He is the originator of Funk and is recognized as a major figure in the 20th century popular music for both his vocals and dancing. He has been referred to as "The Godfather of Soul," "Mr... Roy Ayers Roy Ayers is an American funk, soul, and jazz composer and vibraphone player. Ayers began his career as a post-bop jazz artist, releasing several albums with Atlantic Records, before his tenure at Polydor Records beginning in the 1970s, during which he helped pioneer jazz-funk .- Biography :Ayers... |
5:05 |
Personnel
Credits for Critical Beatdown adapted from Allmusic.- Carlton Batts – mastering
- Janette Beckman – photography
- Ced-Gee – engineer, producer, vocals
- Kool Keith – vocals
- André Harrell – executive producer
- Kimberly Brathwaite Moore – production coordination
- Paul C – producer
Charts
| Chart (1989) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| US Billboard Top Black Albums Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums is a chart published by Billboard magazine that ranks R&B and hip hop albums based on sales compiled by Nielsen SoundScan. The name of the chart was changed from Top R&B Albums in 1999... |
57 |
Sample use
List of songs sampling material from Critical Beatdown adapted from WhoSampledWhoSampled
WhoSampled is a website and database of information about sample-based music founded in London, United Kingdom.WhoSampled is an online sample-based music databases of music that compares original songs with covered songs or songs that "borrowed" samples, it serves as a historical line of where...
.
- "Ease Back"
- "Take It in Blood" by NasNasNasir bin Olu Dara Jones, who performs under the name Nas , formerly Nasty Nas, is an American rapper and actor. He is regarded as one of the most important figures in hip hop and one of the most skilled and influential rappers of all-time...
from the album It Was WrittenIt Was WrittenIt Was Written is the second studio album by American rapper Nas, released July 2, 1996 on Columbia Records in the United States. Following the moderate sales success of his acclaimed debut album, Illmatic , Nas chose to focus his efforts in a more mainstream direction... - "Here Today, Gone Tomorrow" by Gang StarrGang StarrGang Starr was an influential East Coast hip hop duo that consisted of the late MC Guru and DJ/producer DJ Premier. Their style combined elements of New York jazz and hip hop.-Background:...
from the album Step In the ArenaStep in the ArenaStep In the Arena is the second studio album by hip hop duo Gang Starr, released on January 15 1991. Initially, the album was rated 3.5 out of 5 mics in The Source magazine...
- "Take It in Blood" by Nas
- "Give the Drummer Some"
- "Smack My Bitch UpSmack My Bitch Up"Smack My Bitch Up" is a song by The Prodigy, released as the band's twelfth single on 17 November 1997. It was the third and final single from the album The Fat of the Land....
" by The ProdigyThe ProdigyThe Prodigy are an English electronic dance music group formed by Liam Howlett in 1990 in Braintree, Essex. Along with Fatboy Slim, The Chemical Brothers, and other acts, The Prodigy have been credited as pioneers of the big beat genre, which achieved mainstream popularity in the 1990s and 2000s...
from the album The Fat of the LandThe Fat of the LandThe Fat of the Land is the third studio album by The Prodigy. The album was released by XL Recordings on 30 June 1997 and on 1 July 1997 in the United States by Maverick Records...
- "Smack My Bitch Up
- "Ego Trippin'"
- "Why R UWhy R U"Why R U" is a song performed by American R&B singer Amerie. The song was recorded for her fourth studio album, In Love & War, and serves as the lead single from the album...
" by AmerieAmerieAmerie Mi Marie Rogers , known professionally as Amerie or Ameriie, is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and actress. She debuted in 2002 with the album All I Have, primarily co-written and produced by Rich Harrison, and was well-received in the urban market...
from the album In Love & WarIn Love & WarIn Love & War is the fourth studio album by American R&B singer-songwriter Amerie, released November 3, 2009 on Def Jam Recordings. Recording sessions for the album took place during 2008 to 2009 at Record Plant Studios in Hollywood, California and at other recording studios in Miami, Florida and...
- "Why R U
- "Critical Beatdown"
- "Out of Space" by The ProdigyThe ProdigyThe Prodigy are an English electronic dance music group formed by Liam Howlett in 1990 in Braintree, Essex. Along with Fatboy Slim, The Chemical Brothers, and other acts, The Prodigy have been credited as pioneers of the big beat genre, which achieved mainstream popularity in the 1990s and 2000s...
from the album ExperienceExperienceExperience as a general concept comprises knowledge of or skill in or observation of some thing or some event gained through involvement in or exposure to that thing or event....
- "Out of Space" by The Prodigy
External links
- Critical Beatdown at DiscogsDiscogsDiscogs, short for discographies, is a website and database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. The Discogs servers, currently hosted under the domain name discogs.com, are owned by Zink Media, Inc., and are...
- Critical Beatdown at Acclaimed Music