KRS-One US Hip Hop 1 Items

Over two decades later, KRS One’s debut solo album Return of the Boom Bap finally gets the reissue it deserves. Pressed for the first time on color vinyl, this double LP not only includes a bonus 7” of Kenny Parker remixes, it also features the first-ever color sleeve on a US pressing.Stripping away the intricate production of the final Boogie Down Productions album, Sex and Violence, Return of the Boom Bap saw the already iconoclastic rapper return to the bare bones, gritty territory of his landmark masterpiece Criminal Minded. KRS-One’sdelivery, too, burned with a reinvigorated fury, spitting out his rhymes with pummeling cadences and world-wise intelligence. Although the record isn’t as focused on social activism and political protest as the latter Boogie Down albums, KRS-One never made his lyrics simplistic, nor did he turn his back on what could now be called prescient social commentary. The combination of raw beats and emotion-driven rhymes made Return of the Boom Bap a genuine comeback for KRS-One, one of the founding figures of modern hiphop.