Underhated:
Black Moon – Enta Da Stage
Let’s be honest here : beyond the classics like Who Got The Props, Enta Da Stage, I Gotcha Opin and How Many MC’s this has always been a fairly dismal record, hence the amount of superior remixes it spawned. There’s no shame in that – plenty of albums we cherish only have a handful of hot tunes nestled in between a whole heap of flotsam and jetsam yet, puzzlingly, Enta Da Stage has somehow elevated itself above (far superior) cult favorites like Akinyele’s Vagina Diner into the canon of genre-defining 1993 classics which returned NY to rude health following the dominance of Cube, Dre and Death Row alongside Midnight Marauders, 36 Chambers, Buhloone Mind State and Return Of The Boom Bap.
There is a grain of truth to this : where Doggy Style pounds with technocolour L.A brilliance, Enta Da Stage is a tinny sludgefest which sounds as if it were recorded somewhere deep within an abandoned train Brooklyn tunnel with a dictaphone. And this is considered a good thing why exactly? 36 Chambers has a similar raw lo-fi aesthetic but the difference is that still bumps something fierce, is shot through with a sense of urgency and is full of great songs. Enta Da Stage, on the other hand, is a hodgepodge of generic shouted hooks and muddy jazzy beats which couldn’t be more sluggish unless it were a post-xmas Fat Joe bowel movement beyond the 4 standout tracks.
Perspective, people. 3 superb singles and a stellar title track does not a New York classic make and, honestly, if you spent 1993 listening to dreck like Make Munne and Powerful Impak at the expense of Doggy Style, vintage Cube like Check Yo Self remix and Ghetto Bird or Above The Law’s magnificent Black Superman then please take this oppurtunity to hang your head in shame.
Underrated:
Big Daddy Kane – Looks Like A Job For…
Okay, okay. So you absolutely insist on spunking over 1993 albums with only a handful of great tracks made by Brooklyn rappers. Fine. Then why not heap praise on the only BDK album post-1989 any self respecting rap nerd needs to own instead of the dodgy Black Moon debut? True, that shit remix of the superlative ‘Nuff Respect Due is the definition of pointless but Rest In Peace and Chocolate City with Scoob ‘n’ Scrap, the best track the flat-topped Brooklyn triumvirate did together, are up there with Kane’s most distinguished moments.
Lyrically, Kane is every bit as stylish here as he was in his golden-era pomp and you imagine those Brooklyn-born BDK accolytes Christopher Wallace and Shawn Carter were studying closely when this dropped that summer. While Easy Mo Bee (who, at his best, was Marley’s real successor) is only credited with having produced 3 songs on here, it’s fairly obvious he was behind the boards for tracks Kane himself took credit for, such as the highlight The Beef Is One, and it’s that and the aforementioned Rest In Peace which you imagine had Biggie knocking on Mo Bee’s door begging him for more-of-the-same when enlisting him to helm Ready To Die.
How U Get A Record Deal is the most known cut and was a pleasant if slightly generic thumper (remember : Dwyck was still hittin’ at this point and How U.. sounds positively pedestrian in comparison) and the rest of the album was a so-so affair but here’s the 4 songs we think make this album a bargain bin must-have for any self-respecting BDK fan and worth reappraisal if you want to drool over patchy Big Apple albums containing a mere grip of brilliance from the ‘93 era.
11 responses so far ↓
1 Hidden Identity // Mar 12, 2009 at 6:45 am
Nah, Enta Da Stage kills BDK. Enta was the dawn of an exciting new school, BDK was still wrongly basking on former glory, anything by BDK released before ‘Job For’ is obviously > than Black Moon but Enta takes the crown on this battle.
2 bob ross // Mar 12, 2009 at 12:16 pm
I agree with the article. Enta The Stage was a letdown considering how good Who Got The Props and the b-side was.
3 brian beck from wisconsin // Mar 12, 2009 at 1:55 pm
The Beef Is On > anything by Black Moon or any BCC artist.
4 i the t // Mar 12, 2009 at 2:46 pm
at street level black moon were the realness. it gave criminals a sense of
purpose.
but their appreciation didn’t come at the expense of
doggy style and i’m not sure why you suggested it should.
as for bdk, i can’t explain why but to me long live the kane was his only album.
5 brian beck from wisconsin // Mar 12, 2009 at 3:07 pm
I remember it differently as lots of purists who were in love with Black Moon and Wu absolutely hated Doggy Style and anything from the west which didn’t sound like traditional east coast rap at the time.
6 g yem // Mar 14, 2009 at 9:54 am
enta da stage is a classic. those shouty chorus are what makes it son.. evil D is one of the greats too,,,
7 End Level Boss // Mar 14, 2009 at 5:03 pm
You lot are fucking nuts. These are both dope albums start to finish. The only thing worth mentioning is that the vinyl pressing of ‘Enta’ is piss poor.
8 BIGTIM // Mar 25, 2009 at 7:47 pm
WTF!!
You guys been sniffing thinners back of the Arndale 93 style!?!
Enta Da Stage is a stone cold classic, a defining moment in Hip Hop history.
Don’t tarnish that shit, cuz you need to write something in your wack ass blog…
How many albums period do you know you can listen end to end without skippin tracks? Especially from that era, was all about the 12′ single. Stack Blackmoon’s early singles up against most other artists at the time and they were killin it!
Evil dee was on fire!
Come on fellas…
9 Drew Huge // Mar 26, 2009 at 6:28 am
Exactly, the singles were good. The album is boring. And don’t call our blog names. If you’re reading and responding to a blog you’re calling ‘wack ass’, you need to be doing something more constructive with your time. I’m sure if you hunt hard enough you’ll find a blog whose views coincide perfectly with yours.
10 BIGTIM // Mar 31, 2009 at 4:30 pm
You missed the point I was making Drew.
As for me calling your blog wack, maybe that was an over reaction on my part,
but if you gonna write shit like that in a public forum, about something I / a lot of people hold dear you’re gonna hear about it, after all thats wat the comments section is for, right? Debate.
Don’t diss / belittle me personally for it. Your blog is up for critique like any other.
11 i know rap my man // Apr 17, 2009 at 8:04 pm
this record is mad classic, the production styles are simple but that’s the point of it, if you don’t make beats or you aren’t a beat head stay away from rap that’s not big on lyrics…vagina diner better than enta da stage? c’mon man, as my man dmx would say, “yo stop frontin and use ya head.” btw i can tell you don’t listen to a lot of beats if you think make munne is dreck…sonically genius production, the way mr walt flipped the bdp sample for the background vocals…the way the electric piano hits…it’s raw and it’s got a specific vibe and character to it. just like the sub level bass on niguz talk shit…the i got cha opin original (the bassline is slowed down from something like 130 bpms..if it doesn’t make your neck snap you don’t have a pulse probably)…i’ll give you that lyrically it wasn’t near 36 chambers or even the infamous but damn the beats make that shit not count. see slum village jay dee era for another example of this..peace
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