Above The Law >> Please don't misdefine it

California Month continued, tremor #32:

Above The Law - "Freedom Of Speech"

(Ruthless Records / Epic Records, 1989)

The reason why I'm offering this major-label-affiliated song is that I recently learned how to post a song without making it downloadable.  So you can only stream this one.  (Normally when you click "share" on the player module, it gives you an option to download the song, but I've turned that off for this one.  I guess I should go do this for that Catherine Wheel song too.)  This was a huge discovery, because it means I don't have to stick to indie songs any more.  But I will anyway, at least 98% of the time, because I wanna stick to this site's original mission.  I just had to post this song because I can't think of California music without thinking of it.  Its poppiness makes it atypical of ATL's overall sound, though it is actually quite comparable to their single "Untouchable."  Overall, this is one of the few non-annoying songs about censorship that I've ever heard.

Most of the music in this song is by James Brown, a famous song he wrote for Vicki Anderson called "Message From The Soul Sisters".  (The Geto Boys also built their 1990 song "City Under Seige" on that song.)  Hey, if you're gonna steal something, steal something good.  Cold 187um's vocal delivery is one of the best I've ever heard in the rap game, though he modeled himself blatantly on KRS-One.  I love the line "Those that want to sell out, need to get the fuck out the business," because your mind expects him to rhyme the word "sell" with "hell."  The sprightly ska-esque beat is something that's almost unheard-of in rap music.  I bought this album, Livin' Like Hustlers, on cassette in June or July 1991 at a mall in or near Hilton Head, South Carolina, because I had seen the video for the gangsta rap classic "Murder Rap" many times.  And when you're the age that I was (13 or 14), it's pretty much the coolest thing ever, with squelchy synth notes imitating a police siren:

I also got a pack or two of Yo! MTV Raps trading cards that week, and had the Flavor Flav one taped to my wall for over a decade after that.

I also went to UNC basketball camp that summer for a week or two, and was constantly lifting weights and running, in preparation for my first season of high school football.  I was able to dunk a volleyball by that fall, thanks in part to using Strength Shoes; I was only about 5'11" or 6' at the time.  I almost went as Flav for Halloween that fall, but I couldn't find a big clock to wear.  So it was a pretty hectic year, but I wouldn't trade it for anything.  "Murder Rap," whose title of course has two meanings (it's about being falsely accused of murder), was pretty much a sister song to Public Enemy's "Black Steel In The Hour Of Chaos," with a lot also borrowed from N.W.A's "Straight Outta Compton."  Livin' Like Hustlers has gone on to be rightfully considered one of the best rap albums ever, blending charismatic gangsta stylings with jazz instrumentation and interesting samples.  I was later surprised to find this song on the mostly college rock-based Pump Up The Volume soundtrack, which I bought in '96 just for its Sonic Youth song (the amazing "Titanium Exposé").

Overall, I'm glad I copped this album on that day in South Carolina rather than the one I had originally set out to buy on that day: Kool Moe Dee's new one... Ha.

Cool life-sized statue next to some Giant Crinums, at New Orleans Botanical Garden yesterday

Planets with similar climates: Gil Scott-Heron - "Free Will" (1972), Paris - "Escape From Babylon" (1990), N.W.A - "Express Yourself" (1987), A Tribe Called Quest - "Check The Rhime" (1991).