Kurtis Blow - America

Kurtis Blow
America
1985 Mercury Records


The title track opens, and the intro section sounds like a light version of something Tack>>Head would do (it's just tough to match the T>>H beat mechanics and sample science) but once the vocals kick in, we know its Kurtis. At 9+ minutes, it could have been cut in half and been effective. The song is a semi-coherent rant on foreign affairs from the mid-80s perspective. Take that for what you will. The next cut is 1:10 and is too long. It is a generic beat that goes aimlessly save the song title spoken at the beginning....Super Sperm. More like super dumb. This has some of KB's weakest cuts, including Hello Baby, Summertime Groove and the neo-Prince wannabe ballad Don't You feel Like Making Love (any woman who would after hearing this track needs to have her head examined). AJ is Cool sounds good only because it sounds like Grandmaster Flash.

However, it does have one classic cut, later sampled by Nas, If I Ruled the World. For that it is at least an interesting musical historical artifact.

But that is about it.

Kurtis was a pioneer with his very early releases, but by 1985 had lost most of his steam. I would generally skip this and if you really want to get into some hip hop archaeology, pick up his first two LPs (the self-titled debut and its follow-up, Deuce) or get Ego Trippin', which features the classic and goofy Basketball.