#29: Main Source — Breaking Atoms (1991)
New York, NY — Wild Pitch Records
As we approach the end of the third ten-album cycle, we are greeted by an album celebrated for its trendsetting stylistic innovations, most of all the incredible sampling and production present here. Composed of Large Professor, K-Cut and Sir Scratch, this is one of those groups with an unusally disproportionate producer-to-rapper coefficient, with Prof being the only MC in there, as well as the main producer as far as I can tell. As such, he is naturally under the spotlight quite a bit more than the other two, even though he states more than once how much this album is a collaborative effort and would not exist with his two groupmates.
Now people, Large Professor is, without a shred of doubt, one of my personal top beatmakers, and in my opinion a pretty underrated one at that — the fact that him and Prince Paul aren’t routinely mentioned in the same conversations as Madlib, Dilla and The Alchemist is just plain outrageous. It’s a given, then, that the production in here, even though it’s not even on the absolute all-timer world-class level of late 90s Prof yet, is pretty fucking great. The sampling is varied, meticulous, inspiring even, with the chops and breaks taking unexpected turns, combined with what sounds like live playing on occasion, creating a pleasant, tasteful soundscape. Every beat here awesome, if not a straight up masterpiece, complete with few and far-between but tasteful scratching sections by K-Cut and Sir Scratch. Some are extravagant, some are minimal, some are fast and furious, some are laid-back and chill, and not a single one of them fails to deliver soulful, bone-rattling grooves and a more than solid base for the raps to be spat upon. However, do the raps compare?
It is my pleasure to inform you that yes, they do. The rapping is clever, technical in structure yet loose in feel, and I feel like subtle is the key word here: Prof seldom goes into extravagant diatribes and flexy sections, rather keeping a varied yet steady rhythm and letting the cohesiveness of his bars and flows speak for themselves. There are plenty of multisyllabic, internal and whatnot rhymes, but, like in Gang Starr’s Step In The Arena, they don’t get obnoxiously rubbed in your face like a forced testament to the rapper’s mad skillz, but are rather allowed to quietly and efficiently do their thing and win you over through discrete rather than harsh mechanisms.
A constant concern of his is to uphold the underground’s excellence in a time and place where hip-hop was already firmly being turned into a soulless pop culture commodity, in somewhat of a foreshadowing of what would become a recurring theme from the mid 90s onwards. Creativity is also a strength of his: even in tracks pertaining more generic themes such as bragging and talking shit about the opposition, he enriches it with elaborate metaphors, similes and entendres, in a way that’s neither overwhelmingly crafty and cerebral nor empty and “just for the sake of it”. For me it hits dead center in a sweet spot between complexity and simplicity, and personally I can’t have enough of it. For an example we can check out the first verse from Just Hangin’ Out, the second track and one of my favorites:
I’m mainly known for the rough raps
But kids steal my lyrics like hubcaps
And eat ’em like stacks of flapjacks like Rugrats
Hey, and I get busy over unknown tracks
While the next man flaps his lids like Parkay
I’m skilled in the field, so slide to the side
I’ll make a rapper cry, ’cause I can get some shut-eye
While he’s havin’ hard times writin’ rhymes
So he gnaws on my metaphors and dines on my lines
Which is the reason why I like to hang out
And hustle with my friends, to get away from pens
And copiers, so I’m Corona bound
To check Drew a.k.a Doc the Butcher, and what’s goin’ down
And Joe with the Jetta enables us to get around town, he’s a clown
Other than that, I’m with Joe Burgos
Watch an old Black Caesar flick for kicks
Jump in the wagon and we’re outta here without an idea of where
But usually we wind up there
I go over K-Cut’s block ’cause rock cuts is what he blends
Check it, and I like to hang out and hustle with my friends
Theme and poetics wise there is an interesting thing going on, another favorite of mine, which is when the author creates this general imagery that is fairly mundane and familiar, yet manages to make it into something higher, deeper, even large-than-life at times, through delicate poetic work. Essentially, Large Professor’s talking about little more than his day-to-day thing, the stuff he likes to do with his buds, et coeterera; however, it’s not long before it takes a divagatory turn into an almost dreamy, free-associative territory within his mind and memories. There are such examples in almost all tracks here, which gives the album a nice general seasoning and cohesiveness.
There is good reason this album is so highly regarded within the golden era of hip-hop, not the least of which the generally delicious display of both mastery of the established genre tenets and creative innovation upon such structures. The only criticism I can really conjure up if I try is that, even though the flows are varied and creative, Prof’s delivery can be a little plain at times, but it’s not really a deal breaker at all. It’s really a thing that deserves to be experienced in itself, so I encourage you, my dearest reader, to jam at least some of it and taste the atoms for yourself.
Favorite tracks
Just Hangin’ Out: Even if the marvelous beat with the immediately recognizable Sister Nancy sample hadn’t instantly won me over, the soulful, delicate rapping would have sealed the deal before the first verse even ended. The combination of gracefully described day-to-day life and creative, many-faceted rhyming really does tie it all together into one of my single favorite tracks from this entire past cycle.
Looking At The Front Door: A softly bitter, genuinely heartfelt breakup song, where the simple yet touching lyrics are complimented by a terrifically moody beat, not too melancholic nor too hype, and even the somewhat upbeat breaks and choruses serve a purpose of providing a tasteful dose of contrast to the generally desolate yet strangely cozy vibe. Reminds me a bit of Kool G Rap & DJ Polo’s She Loves Me, She Loves Me Not. “And your friends don’t understand your choice of man/ They speak proper while my speech is from a garbage can/ But regardless, you shouldn’t have to be so raw/ I’m lookin’ at the front door”.
Just A Friendly Game Of Baseball: Jarringly impactful track where Prof weaves this incredible tesselate of metaphors connecting daily baseball jargon with mindful denouciation of the issue of police brutality towards the black population, complete with a masterfully minimal, strangely jazzy and a litte uncanny yet heavy-hitting beat. “R.B.I., real bad injury/ But don’t get happy, you’re in jail for a century […] And watch him run for the stretch/ But you don’t know the man is at home waitin’ to make the catch/ So the outfielder guns you down/ You’re out, off to the dugout, underground”.
Live At The Barbecue: Couldn’t wrap this up without a shoutout to the track that introduced rap titan Nas to the world, now could I? That’s correct, right here’s the first ever recorded verse by Nasir bin Olu Dara Jones, Nasty Nas at the time. The Joe Fatal, Akinyele and Large Professor parts aren’t bad at all, but the illustrious first verse by our boy here is a thing to behold, both regarding his already pronounced proeminence at lyrical wordplay and his taste for being an absolute fiend: “Street’s disciple, my raps are trifle/ I shoot slugs from my brain, just like a rifle/ Stampede the stage, I leave the microphone split/ Play Mr. Tuffy while I’m on some Pretty Tone shit […] Kidnap the president’s wife without a plan/ And hangin’ niggas like the Ku Klux Klan/ I melt mics ’til the soundwave’s over/ Before steppin’ to me, you’d rather step to Jehovah”. Yep, lil’ guy does it every single god damn time. And, as if it wasn’t enough, yet another fucking masterpiece of a beat puts it all together.
