#6: Stetsasonic — On Fire (1986)
New York, NY — Tommy Boy Records
Stetsasonic is a rap group I must admit I’m not very familiar with; I’ve heard the name before alright, just have never really bumped any of their stuff before if I remember correctly. Its members are MCs Delite, Wise, Frukwan and Daddy-O, as well as DJ and producer Prince Paul, whose other work I’m much more familiar with, both as a producer to legendary outfits such as De La Soul, Gravediggaz and Souls of Mischief, as well as his own collaborative project with Dan the Automator, called Handsome Boy Modeling School (which I’d do well to add to the list tbh). Wikipedia tells me they formed in 1981 and, in somewhat of a pioneering move, were one of the first proper hip-hop groups to perform and record with a full live band, and also that they “…combined beat-boxing, sampling technology, and live band performance, incorporating R&B, jazz, dancehall reggae, and rock into its sound. Stetsasonic is also considered one of the acts that pioneered jazz rap”. That leads me to believe that this will be a much more interesting experience, at least musically speaking, than what I’ve checked so far. So, without further ado, let’s get into this.
First track, 4 Ever My Beat, confirms my suspicions right off the bat. The beat and vocal styles, while still firmly within that mid-80’s format, are much more interesting due mostly to the processing: luscious delay, reverb and chorus effects create a much wider and warm soundscape, complete with some pretty good scratching and beatmaking, which gets even more impressive when you remember this was made in a time when sampler were not yet the ubiquitous technology they became in the 90’s, but rather some expensive and semi-rare pieces of equipment that hadn’t yet made their way into the core of hip-hop production. Lyrics-wise this is pretty much that true and tested braggadocious shit-taking we’ve been seeing for some time now, in a pretty well-structured way with short catchy verses and scratchy choruses; also notable are the different flows and deliveries showcased by the group members, who go in an out of each other’s verses in that semi-theatrical way we’ve seen in previously reviewed titles. Lyrics aren’t incredibly impressive so far but there are some pretty fun parts such as “That you boogie to the sounds of the drums/ stimulated by the sound of my voice, yea, ya ready to cum” lmao. All in all a pretty good opener, high-energy but not too hyper, and just the right amount of funky.
My Rhyme, track two, is obviously about the group’s unparalleled ability at rhyming, how it gets them fame and chicks and etc. Most verses are still somewhat short, just eight bars long, which works pretty well with that back-and-forth style we’re seeing here, and indeed the rhyming here is a cut above what we’ve seen so far, with some pretty intricate and almost abstract parts, even if the general scheme is still that old A-A-B-B. Also notable is how this beat, as well as its predecessor, is considerably slower than what we’ve seen on Radio and Raising Hell, with clearly distinct verse/chorus/hook sections, something that wasn’t that present so far; it also features some off-kilter, almost industrial-sounding tones all throughout, in contrast with somewhat more organic drums. Pretty interesting I’d say, and another testament to Prince Paul’s well-deserved fame.
Just Say Stet also has a very interesting and well-made beat, which combines some sinister synths and basses with scratching in order to create a minimalistic, atmospheric, almost ominous beat that seriously belts. Rhymes are still good but somewhat less impressive — however, the way they blend with the instrumental and the little production details on this one is a notch above the former two, I’d say. Some nice beatboxing solos all throughout, which is also a plus in my book. Yeah, this already started good and is now getting even better! Faye is kicked off in an even more off-kilter and minimalistic manner, with this almost deconstructed beat while Daddy-O shouts some people out with a kinda sad attempt at jamaican Patois, which then evolves into a slow, sludgy beatbox verse by Wise (no, I don’t know how to explain how beatboxing can be sludgy, you’re gonna have to listen to it yourself), while Daddy-O raps this unhinged, slightly stupid and frankly nasty little story about how him and his boy Wise met this Faye girl who went out for some drinks with them and eventually coaxed them into a threesome. Much notable are both the different little vocal inflections and tones they use, which both enrich the storytelling manyfold and keep the song’s one big verse sonically interesting, and the fact that this song is about one continuous narrative, something that’s a big defining characteristic of hip-hop in general but wasn’t that common in ’86 as far as I know. Some very nasty bars on this ones, such as “after she got a little tipsy I gave Wise the look/ cause we could smell Faye’s tuna fish starting to cook”, and some very creative parts where Daddy starts singing some little gospel-ish and reggae verses with the accompaniment of an unexpected but welcome funky slap bass. This one’s really great too — flowing and rhyming is great, story is silly but engaging, and the amount of different musical resources present here is frankly astounding.
Next up is 4 Ever my Mouth, a little 19 second beatboxing interlude, and then onto Rock De La Stet, this album’s mandatory rap-rock tune. Gonna be honest, at first I thought I wasn’t gonna like this one as much, kind of expecting a repeat of Run-D.M.C., but goddamn, this one is leagues above. Very interesting production that doesn’t let the guitar riffing and soloing get old, along with some wacky song structuring and decidedly dancehall-informed synth stabs, and as well as the other ones, the production in this is incredibly 80’s-sounding, as well as concise and well-finished. Rhyming and flowing remains consistent, which rounds this one up nicely and leaves a good taste in my mouth as we quickly head on to Go Stetsa I, track number seven.
Beat on this one is faster and feels a tad more old school, which is confirmed by its little funky horn stabs and Furious Five-sounding flow; still, of course there are production details that would never be found in these earlier records and sound decidedly innovative. Scratching, as always, takes a central role on this one, both in little sounds here and there and in making entire sections of the song. Another good one, as expected. Man, this album is a blast! I’m loving it!
Track number eight, On Fire, features some fast 808 drums that sound almost trap-like. Truly ahead of their time, these fellas! Relentless scratching and incredible sampling in between sleazy, laid-back verses — except for the last one, which is suddenly fast, aggressive, and obviously braggadocious, just like pretty much every other verse in this album so far. Up next is Bust That Groove, where Prince Paul, who’s already been putting on quite a show so far, takes it even one more step further and occasionally interject in the verses via little scratched vocal cuts, almost if he was an MC himself; also present are his ubiquitous scratching and cutting he’s been doing since the beginning of this joint. As stated before, the flows on this joint, while not by any means incredibly different and revolutionary, are decidedly a notch above the ones we’ve been seeing so far — more diverse, rhythmically in tune with the beat in more subtle ways, slick when they need to be but still carrying great energy.
Next up is Paul’s Groove, the tenth and last song in the original release of this album. Another trap-sounding beat, this time with a frankly jarring, reverbed spoken word-ish intro section to the verse, which is excellently written and rapped; maybe the best one in this joint. As always, Prince Paul manages to surprise us multiple times with unexpected, creative, almost experimental elements on the beat such as deep metallic stabs and relentless. At just two minutes long, this one makes me wish it was longer :hmm: but it’s nevertheless a fitting closer for this record.
That does it for the original release, but the version I got downloaded has three bonus tracks which are unsurprisingly also very good. First one is this busy remix of 4 Ever My Beat, followed by a choppy remix of Go Stetsa I which might be even better than the original to be honest, and finally this one called A.F.R.I.C.A., which draws even more heavily from reggae and dancehall influences production-wise, as well as some heavily political lyrics; not that that takes away from its funky, groovy and very pleasant vibe. Paul’s Groove was already a perfect closer and made me perfectly happy, but these extra three are great as well and I wouldn’t change a thing about them; the cherry on top of an already previously existing cherry, if you will.
As attested by my ceaseless gushing over it, this album is incredible, hands down my favorite so far and it’s not even close. I was already familiar with Prince Paul’s excellent body of work, and this one just attests his excellence even more, as well as the quality MCing present all throughout. Honestly I wish I could write more about it, but honestly there’s not much more for me to write about unless I start methodically going through minute details, and that’s very unnecessary I feel. So instead I’ll just leave it with a very good impression and strong recommendations; it’s hands down my favorite so far.
