Back In Black — Whodini
Still in the very early years of Hip-Hop, the group Whodini had already shown what’s goin on with 2 albums that really show where the genre was. The sound leading into this third album was very techno driven and had that 70s/80s disco vibe to it.
When I picked up this album, I couldn’t remember where I’d heard of Whodini before, but I thought they were an R&B group, so I was interested enough to buy the CD. Threw the disk into the player and was shocked to hear a very early piece of Hip-Hop history.
Back in Black was released in April of 1986 following the success of their first two albums Whodini and Escape. Lowkey can’t find much information about the making of this album or anything about the build up to the album.
The cover art for this album is dope. It’s a classic studio shot of the guys. Black leather and gold jewelry in front of a funky blue backdrop. The very “in the moment” typeface for the group logo. Has that rough and quick handwritten look that I feel like I’ve seen before.
The first song on the album, “Funky Beat”, takes you right back to the 80s rap scene and sound. This is a really sick classic introduction to the group and sound they are rockin with on this album. This song has a couple of samples in it, but for the most part, they are using original production. They are sampling pieces from “Different Strokes” by Sly Johnson and “GLASMASH” by Fairlight CMI.
The final track on this album is sorta a shout out to themselves, and I love that. If you got hits, shout it out. I also think that in this time, there was less of a chance that you’d have heard of certain music, so it is a great marketing tool to show off old material.
Ultimately, this was a fine album, I wasn’t overly blown away, but it was really dope to hear some classic songs that have been sampled by familiar songs we know and love. This album alone was samples HELLA times. You could damn near make a whole show using only songs that sampled tracks off of this album.
For the simple, classic, OG energy of this album, it would make sense that it wouldn’t score too crazy on the list. We got this album at a: 6.5
Favorite Song: “I’m a Ho”
Skips: “How Dare You”
Stand Out Tracks: “One Love”, “I’m a Ho”, “Fugitive”
