#53: Black Moon — Enta da Stage (1993)

New York, NY — Nervous Records

What’s up? After somewhat of a short hiatus we’re back with the debut album from Brooklyn-based trio Black Moon, a backronym for Brothers Lyrically Acting Combining Kicking Music Out On Nations (I just learned that, and also what a backronym is, on their Wikipedia page). Counting with DJ Evil Dee from seminal producer collective Da Beatminerz as well as MCs 5ft and Buckshot, the latter of which I am somewhat familiar with, this album seems to be held in high regard due to Buck’s very solid and well-rounded rapping, DJ Evil Dee’s “signature basement sound, filled with hard drums, grimy horn arrangements and deep basslines” and for the success and critical acclaim it obtained upon release. It was also the first ever appearance of illustrious duo Smif-n-Wessun, as well as Mobb Deep’s rapper-producer Havoc and a certain Dru-Ha, Buck’s partner in the founding of Duck Down Music Inc.

Now, much like some albums we’ve seen recently, as well as some we’ll be seeing shortly, Enta da Stage is regarded as one of the main cornerstones of the NY hardcore sound of the 90s, and “one of the pioneering releases during the return of New York City’s street hip hop resurgence of the mid 1990s, after the West Coast’s reign of the early 1990s”. It was extensively dissected in Brian Coleman’s classic Check the Technique: Liner Notes for Hip-Hop Junkies, a must-read for the cultured rap aficionado, and is considered their magnum opus by far. I’ll say that this was one of those albums that left me with a radically different impression on each listen: during my first cursory jams I though it sounded a little plain, samey and uninspired, and I did not expect to be as bowled over by it as I did during a more attentive listen, following along with the lyrics and all. Let’s take it one step at a time:

Regarding the beats, I think they are all great in their own special way. Production was mostly handled by their own Evil Dee, with a significant portion of the instrumentals also signed or co-signed by Dee’s brother and Beatminerz co-founder Mr. Walt. Now, their styles, while not too outlandish, are pretty dinstinguishable from each other: Dee’s joints are somewhat more conventional, consisting of a steady drumbreak, a few (sometimes pretty muddy) basslines and a generous helping of little cuts and chops that enrich it by quite a lot, while Walt’s stuff is more minimal, less busy, almost ambient-y at times, with a clear sample-first-drums-second approach. The result is a not homogenous but still coherent mixture of styles that do a great job of putting this whole thing together, and while I personally might be somewhat partial to Mr. Walt’s beats it’s very clear that they all work off of each other to compose a final product that is greater than the sum of its parts. Granted, few if none of them are really something that’s gonna proper bowl you over, but the sum of their steadyness and consistency with the occasional flexy pyrotechnical moment makes sure they’re all satisfactory in all fronts.

How does the rapping compare, though? I’m glad to attest that it is, indeed, very good too. Well, at least Buckshot’s is — 5ft does not really appear much throughout this whole joint, being featured in only three out of a total of 14 tracks, with only one of those three being a solo effort. His rapping is definitely up to par, at least from what I can tell based on three measly songs, but apart from that I don’t think there’s enough material for one to really figure out his style and all. Buck’s, though, is very much on display for everyone to see: in line with the whole aforementioned east coast hardcore thing, the main themes here are gang-banging and being a hard motherfucka with a gat and enough street know-how to get by (although there’s a fair amount of exceptions, such as moments where he goes in self-indulgent diatribes, sneaky little jabs at assorted people and such), but his lyrical abilities are more than enough to keep it always fresh and engaging. It’s not some extravagant, almost-unnecessarily-flexy word architecture, but it’s most definitely not basic, with plenty of surprising little moments here and there.

Much like the beats themselves, the rhymes are the type that are not incredibly pyrotechnical at a first glance, but reveal little intricacies and details the deeper you get into them. Buckshot kind of maintains a certain lyrical stability all throughout, breaking it up here and there with small peaks, two or three bars where he just fucking goes at it and catches you by surprise and goes back to the old rhythm without missing a beat — not to speak of them old trusty “Black Moon Hooks”, consisting of like two sentences tops and yelled in unison by the whole group, which were apparently one of their biggest trademarks. He does not rely too much on technicality, even though he does know how to occasionally use the two-bar multisyllabic to good effect, depending instead on witty remarks and sheer lyrical strength to drive his point home, as can be seen, for example, in How Many MCs, one of this record’s only tracks that are not about pure gangbanging:

I can break it down like whatever you want
You run like this, I hit but I gets bizzed when I’m pissed
Mister Buckshot rock it not quick
Bitch, get off my dick
I open up and boot ’em up then shoot ’em up, whatever
I’m clever because I wear my leather in the winter
I enter the stage, nigga cock ya gauge
I bust ’em off sum’n awful and then I leave the stage
I’m just a crazy maniac murderer murder type thinkin’
Ya shittin’, ya ass thinkin’, I see ya blinkin’
I wet ’em and forget I never should of met ‘em
But he was talkin’ shit to my man so I had to get ‘em
Yep, you can get the fist, whatever
But how many MC’s must get dissed?

That’s a good example of Buck’s main strengths as a rapper. Nothing too overly complex or flexy, but steady and solid instead, with a constant style that nevertheless gives way to short little bursts whenever it’s needed — shortly put, it flows freely, effortlessly and easily. And, speaking of flow…

A comparison with Onyx’s debut is as understandable as it is irresistible, given the temporal and cultural proximity between the two releases, but personally I would argue that Onyx’s main undoings were turned by Black Moon into their main strengths. Buck’s delivery is plenty powerful, not to say somber, but never grating or obnoxious, and it seems like he has good control over the ebbs and flows, no pun intended, of his rapping — unlike all the four members of Onyx, who just go as hard as possible from the get-go, which does have some pretty big initial impact at first, but just grows jarring after a while. Much like his lyricism, his cadence is overall smooth and wavey, with a fair amount of little syncopated climaxes here and there that break it up just enough to keep it fresh — illustrious rap scholar Tricia Rose, whom I’m a big fan of, defines rap’s three central, competing and cooperating values as flow, layering and rupture, and Black Moon definitely masters the three of them.

Another thing that is also the same and the opposite as Onyx’s debut is related to the samey-ness of it all: Enta da Stage is pretty samey alright (although there is a clear movement from hard to mellow as the record goes), but with just enough variety so as to suggest a subtle motion instead of complete flatness, which in this case does benefit the general listening experience. Of course, there are a couple of stinkers, all of them having being shoddily put together as their major sin, such as Son Get Wrec, a remarkably plain and uninspired track, which is a shame due to it being 5ft’s only solo cut, and U Da Man, the album’s closer and mandatory posse cut, featuring Smif-N-Wessun, Havoc and a very random opening verse from Buckshot’s entepreneurial partner Dru-Ha, who did not let the fact that he wasn’t a rapper at all get in the way of him becoming the first white guy to drop an N-bomb in this review series.

All in all, I’d say this album is remarkably well-rounded, with a practical and not excessively ambitious approach to it — they know what they do well and that’s what they do for the whole thing, but that does not mean they don’t know how to spice it up, both in a macro and in a micro sense. It definitely is an example of that “mostly-flat-early-90s-rap-album-that’s-more-like-just-a-collection-of-songs” thing, but it’s one that definitely works. Most songs in here are pretty good, with plenty of absolutely amazing ones here and there, but, and I can’t overstate this, you do need to work for it! Listen to each song attentively, really sit with the combination of lyrics, music and performance, and you’re bound to enjoy most if not all of this joint, which is easily some of the best early east coast hardcore hiphop I’m aware of.

Favorite songs

Ack Like U Want It: 5ft may not appear a whole lot on this album, but he did choose a exceedingly good beat to jump onto. One of Dee’s best joints in my opinion, it sits at this peculiarly pleasant sweet spot between heavy crime rhymes and laid-back shit-shooting. “Boo-Ya-Kaa, check my file and my style/ Never on the Isle, Buckshot was a juvenile/ A little freestyle fanatic, I shot the rap addict/ With an automatic, now I got static/ See back in the days, I was a stone-cold hood/ And now I’m just a paid hood, still up to no good […] From the town where niggas always get bucked down/ Kicked in the door, keep my finger on the pound/ Word is around, that you’re looking for the 5/ Surprise, real niggas always survive/ Don’t be amazed, I’m alive from the flames/ No need to scream now you’re calling out my name”

Black Smif-N-Wessun: That’s right, the famous duo’s debut is hands down one of the best tracks in here, if not the best. The beat is minimal but precise, leaving more than enough space for the bar festival that this track is. Thematically it’s mostly a gangsta-flavored braggadocious semi-posse-cut, and it does get a little simpler and more straightforward than some other tracks in here, but it just goes so absolutely hard that none of that really matters. It’s a hard choice, but Steele’s verse is probably my favorite out of this whole deal. “Straight up and down, ‘nuff respect to Bucktown/ Home of the chrome, where I roam, not givin a fuck now/ Damn, just when you thought it was safe/ To come out, with a rhyme, I got the nine to your face/ Boom, hooked up with Black Moon, now it’s on for real/ So I pack more steel lookin for the kill/ Hope you’re not the picture on my scope, ’cause the dread’ll/ Pump lead, from the black Smith & Wesson, ‘nuff said”

I Got Cha Opin’: Incredibly smooth beat by our hero Mr. Walt, probably my favorite instrumental, and Buck’s suave yet hard bars do not lag behind. I cannot overstate how smooth this all is: everything just flows seamlessy into each other and itself, creating this almost floaty general sensation, which, hey, is pretty original when it comes to hardcore rap, eh? “When I get bent I must represent, no question/ Get up a dime spot and then I’m off to the dread section/ Roots hit me off lovely/ Coming out the spot I had to duck because a nigga tried to buck me […] Rest in peace to my niggas in the East/ And all the real niggas that was shot by beast/ Around the way, all we do is spark mad ism/ Ladies be like, yo, he’s Buckshot right there, that is him”.

Enta Da Stage: No, you know what, actually I take that back. This is hands down my favorite beat out of this whole deal. Holy shit, folks, Walt does not joke around. It’s hard to even describe how good this beat is: the drums, the bass, the cheesy stabs, the little production details… It’s not even that original, really, but it’s just so damn well put together that you can’t help but gape at it. And the lyrics, if you can stop marveling at the beat for long enough to pay them some attention, are also incredible: impeccable rhyme work, with a distinct off-the-top, self-referential flavor to it, which works really well as a change of pace in this whole thing. “Jump up/ All my niggas in the house raise up your blunts just once/ I’m bringin it back, back to the original crook/ Flippin the hook like flippin a book […] So I can see shit slow/ I’m bringin it down to the highs and the lows of the flow/ A mind master, rhyme, lyrical blast a bitch/ I own the flow, you know I mastered it/ What, picture a nigga droppin me/ Ain’t shit stoppin me, you’re cockin’ me”