from the LP Funk Da World, Bad Boy Records, 1994Although the flow is a little shaky in parts, Craig Mack’s burner here took the hip-hop world by storm when it dropped, announcing a new harder-edged sound for the East Coast & simultaneously giving the world its first real taste of P.Diddy’s (then just Sean Combs) Bad Boy Entertainment. The mellow, sample-based beat still looks back upon the golden era, but the vibe feels different somehow, as if he’s saying, ‘man, you can be fresh on the breaks and still come hard’. Although the rhymes could have used a little more attention, ultimately it comes together nicely, his deep-throated swagger matching what he’s spittin, “…my flavor be the badder, chitter chatter, madder than the Mad Hatter; I bet you my shit come out fatter, got the data, to turn your body into antimatter…boy, I flip, boy, all the time, 'cause boy, the rhyme you're kickin' ain't worth a dime…”
