Going on a trip to Mic-a-delphia

Whenever I find myself behind the ones and the twos at a party or evening soiree, there is a 12 that I virtually always drop. A tune which pleases me immensely every time I hear it, and even if others in the room are criminally unfamiliar with the sounds of Brand Nubian’s classic cut “All For One”, it is always a song that will get floors bouncing. The sample of James Brown’s “Can Mind” and “All For One” combine to create an incessantly funky backing, with the metronome high-pitched beep driving the groove forward inexorably. And then there is the rapping, three verses of tight and inspired rhyming from three MCs at the top of their game.

It is difficult to see past Grand Puba’s incredible opener which has always struck me as one of the best verses ever laid down, but Sadat X (or plain Derek X as he still was then) and Lord Jamar more than compliment it. Just a brilliant tune. But it has been a while since I dug out the same-titled album from which it came. And this is a shame because “All For One”, as we all recognise, is a stone cold classic. And as I gave it a full play-through recently I was given to reminiscing about how this was an album of real significance, and that this influence is easy to forget. Fair enough we had already had De La’s revolutionary “Three Feet High And Rising” and Tribe had dropped “People’s Instinctive Travels”, as well as X-Clan’s similarly socially militant “To The East, Backwards”.

But Brand Nubian’s debut long player, to my mind, did more to set the template for early 1990s hip-hop of a socially conscious bent than any others. Never formally affiliated to the Native Tongues family, nonetheless the messages and sound of “All For One” sets numerous templates for the style that dominated large aspects of hip-hop in the early 90s, and is a golden period for many fans. And this is not just for stand out singles, “Slow Down” and the title track. This album is one of a large-ish but still elite group to be given 5 Source mics, not necessarily always an arbiter of good taste, but a sign of its consistent strength throughout. And this is something I had forgotten.

How inspired Derek X’s solo joint “Concerto in X Minor” is, how I love the patois toasting and light dancehall groove of “Who Can Get Busy Like This Man”, how “Drop The Bomb” breaks lyrical taboos, providing 5 percenter rhetoric over a cowbell driven funk of immense proportions, waking this listener up to the consideration of issues previously disregarded. Or the languid soul of “Wake Up”, “Step to the Rear” and “Grand Puba, Positive and LG”, or the bass-heavy and quite brilliant “Brand Nubian”. It is a powerhouse of creativity throughout and well worth digging out for a full listen every day of the week. In fact since I picked it up again it has been on repeat in my car, coaxing the sunshine out from the clouds and looking like it will be sound-tracking another summer.

It is worth pointing out that I still have issues with some of the content. It is not so much the militant stance of the Afrocentric message which can easily slip into sheer anti-Caucasian sentiment, for this is very much of its own social and political context, and reasoned in its presentation to a certain extent. But I do have issue with the explicit homophobia and misogyny, although all rap fans will have a view on the prevalence and acceptance of this within the genre, and people’s views are their own affair I suppose. All of that aside, it is still difficult to take anything away from this seminal offering.

It is a blueprint and a definitive document in hip-hop’s rich and varied history and while I will still drop “All For One” as a single at every chance I get, at least I have reminded myself that there is plenty more to enjoy myself with when the party’s over.