RDAT Tournament – Game 1 – Groups Bracket

No. 3 – Outkast – Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik vs. No. 6 – Smif N Wessun – Dah Shinin’

Whether it’s the exhuberance of youth, the culture you’re raised in or just being a black youth in a major metropolitan area; but there’s an essence of aggression against ‘others’ imbred within the boys growing up.

You made fun of one another. You insulted your best friends and had unrehearsed competitions going back and forth for no reason. You laughed afterwards and everything was forgotten, only remembered to use as ammunition for another assault. But it’s harmless…

Until it’s not. And that is the major difference between the urban and suburban environments to raise young men. But not exactly, since it’s truly between the have’s and have-not’s. It always has been and remains as such.

The children of the Have’s sometimes go too far and it turns to fisticuffs, to wrestling matches in the backyard or actual hands being thrown.  Depending on the strength of the relationship, iIf it made it to the final stage, that might be the last time you speak. You watch yourself in each other’s presence and that’s that.

The children of the Have-not’s don’t have that luxury.

That’s the essential messages coming from both albums in this Groups Play-In game. Both were released in the early 1990’s, an era when rap was headed west with the influx of Dr. Dre, the film Deep Cover and eventually The Chronic.

Dah Shinin’ is the second release from the Boot Camp Clik. The first, Enta da Stage by Black Moon, was the loud demand that rap started here and it’s still done best here. Whether that’s agreeable or not, it was a change of the sound with Da Beatminerz (DJ Evil Dee and Mr. Walt) going heavy on bass unlike anything at the time.

Black Moon’s debut might have made the list, but two remixes of the four released singles are much better. Mostly because they slow down and allow Buckshot’s gritty voice to really flow through.

I feel Da Beatminerz got it right with their next release featuring the duo of Tek and Steele or Smif-N-Wessun or The Cocoa Brovas after they moved from just an underground act from Brooklyn to something more.

Listening to the lyrics, they stay in their lane – describing the block they reside on, what will happen to rival crews and their dealings with the police. I was questioned by police just twice before my 18th birthday, but both times were tense. As a young black man, there’s never been a point when dealing with the cops is comforting.

So if there was a constant contact with cops as part of my upbringing, it certainly would be a topic of my outward expressions. Tek and Steele used lyrics and were good at it. Their voices were similar, but different enough to hear who you were listening to. They meshed well, going back and forth on choruses like ‘Wrekonize’ or within the verse like ‘Let’s Git It On’.

But I will admit the topic matter doesn’t change. The only outlier would be the one track that stands out as different on the album. In ‘Hellucination’, Steele gets info about an enemy, returns to the crib to smoke with Tek before they go out and shoot someone for “fucking with the family, Yo, they got to learn their lessons.” The catch is an undercover officer watches the whole thing, but only takes away their weapons and let them go.

When written out, it sounds blocky but with a fluttering high note in the background behind a constant kick-snare, the story plays out well and Smif-N-Wessun describe a scene you can hear. But with the title of the song, it was clear this wasn’t real. Or was it just that we, as listeners, weren’t ready for what is essentially the story-like tales that were Biggie Smalls’ forte.

It’s a solid album. If you took the best songs from Enta da Stage and Dah’ Shinin’ and made it one album, it would be an instant classic. But I’m not sure how much it would chart if released today. The Boot Camp Clik speak to a specific subculture that remains in existence today, but I’m not sure if they would respond.

The same can’t be said for OutKast. Both Smif-N-Wessun and OutKast are rumored to have been invited to be on 2Pac’s One Nation; a double-album that was to featue a West Coast side and an East Coast side. But while Boot Camp Clik was continuing a rap tradition from New York City, it felt like Andre 3000 and Big Boi were coming from outer space.

I had never heard anything from the South until Mad Skillz released ‘The Nod Factor’ in 1995. I don’t count ‘My Mind’s Playing Tricks On Me’ because while I still find it a great song, it didn’t lead me to learn more about The Geto Boys. I purchased From Where??? when it was released in 1996 and a few months later, I reviewed ATLiens for the college newspaper.

The advice I gave then is true today. While ATLiens is a good album, you would almost be better served listening to the single ‘Benz or Beamer’ off the New Jersey Drive Soundtrack or their debut album, Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik. It’s an introduction to the children of the Have-not’s from a different part of the country and while a lot of the topics are similar, the underlying tone is different. Case in point – ‘Git Up, Git Out’.

The chorus, melodiously sung by Cee-Lo Green, is enough to move this album into the next round.

Nigga, you need to get up, get out and get something. Don’t let the days of your life pass by.

You need to get up, get out and get something. Don’t spend all your time trying to get high.

You need to get up, get out and get something. How will you make it if you never even try.

You need to get up, get out and get something. Cuz you and I got to do for you and I.

It’s the tone of the entire album. They’re apt at describing the lifestyles of the pimps, players and pushers driving in the Cadillacs and serving as the envy of all the young boys. But it’s more like pulling up the curtain and shining a light that while it’s great, we should be striving for more. That there is more and…