UMAR BIN HASSAN: Be Bop Or Be Dead
Axiom/Island
Umar Bin Hassan is a New Yorker who fronted the legendary predecessors of
rap, the Last Poets. Be Bop, his first solo album, consists of damn
good hiphop played by an astounding line-up of musicians over which Hassan
recites his poetry with every b it of vigor and passion that he had in the
70s. In fact, three of these tracks were written back in the the Poets'
early years. The rest are this year's compositions, but every bit as
militant and insightful. Images like "a crown of castrated black dicks",
"niggers fuck ankles when they run out of thighs", and "Rosemary's baby
pissing in my face" color Hassan's acidic commentary on the
African-American experience. Wowzers! (Nathan McClintock)
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