Swoopin' through Compton like Batman and Robin

Compton's Most Wanted: I Mean Biznez and Late Night Hype
From: It's A Compton Thang [Orpheus Records,1990]

In the potted history of early nineties gangsta rap, the section on Compton's Most Wanted's contribution appears to have been mislaid. Revisiting their albums recently I'm absolutely buggered if i can work out why. Though less influential than NWA, the group were still a major player in spreading the Compton sound. A perfect example of the change in hip hop that gangsta rap initiated, CMW come full of swagger and the kind of ballistic energy you only have when you're know you're at the leading edge of a movement.

Their debut album, It's A Compton Thang, is the only one of the group's original output that properly features all members of CMW, Chill MC spending much of the rest of the early nineties behind bars. While the later albums offer a slicker and harder feel there's something about the raw energy and enthusiasm of the first album that wins me over everytime, the sound of people grasping their opportunity with two hands and going for it.

I Mean Biznez sets out CMW's stall for those who haven't quite grasped it yet, the two MCs laying out their declaration of intent over stark drums and horn samples in the hardcore style soon to be a thing off the past.

Late Night Hype is a proto g-funk classic, setting the aggression of the lyrics over a laidback melody. This time Eiht and Chill deliver their tales of smoking, jacking and loving in Compton over the smoothest of Rick James samples by The Unknown DJ. They don't make em like this anymore.