I was recently digging through the archives in search of tracks for inclusion on the next volume of If Awesome Were a Compact Disc. It gave me the long overdue opportunity to revisit the quintessential hip-hop album of my youth, Stone Cold Rhymin' by Marvin Young (aka Young MC).Somewhere between my 8th grade and freshman year in high school, I had dubbed a copy of Stone Cold from my friend Eric's cassette tape of the album. During a day when misogynistic lyrics and gangsta rap were becoming the preferred listening of midwestern white boys, the infectious grooves of songs like 'I Come Off,' 'Roll with the Punches' and the radio hit 'Bust a Move' helped protect my innocence and kept me young (pun very much intended). Young's lyrics were fun and often a bit goofy ("with the funky fresh rhymes comin' outta my gizzard,") but they rolled across 70's funk samples and bass lines provided by the likes of Red Hot Chili Peppers' Flea in such a way that would have my head bobbing long after the groove was over. I would often show off my own skills by reciting the album's 50 second track "Fastest Rhyme" for friends. I'd like to say it won over quite a few ladies. I'd like to say it, but the claim really wouldn't hold much water.
Though he won a Grammy for his hit "Bust a Move" and co-wrote hits such as "Wild Thing" and "Funky Cold Medina" for Tone Loc, Young MC never really produced anything of acclaim after the success of Stone Cold Rhymin'. Seventeen years later, I'm listening to this gem from my youth over and over in my car and I'm unashamed of the funky fresh rhymes coming out of my own gizzard. I am ashamed however that I just typed that sentence.
