The year was 1992. By this time, we’d been exposed to a limited variety of reality rap, AKA, gangsta rap. Then in April 92’, Spice 1 released his self-titled album Spice 1.
I was a senior in high school counting down the days until graduation; I drove a 1987 Plymouth Horizon with two 10 inch woofers and about 6 or 8 midrange(s) and tweeters throughout.
By this time I had 5 years of experience building speaker boxes and about 2.5 years of experience installing car stereos. In short, my shit sounded good; the balance of highs and lows was the subject of many conversations. #Crisp
And then I laid hands on this new Spice 1 cassette. I popped it into the JVC Pull Out, and turned up the volume a lil…and that’s when that all too familiar George Duke (Reach for it) bassline kicked in on the first track: In My Neighborhood.
I knew within seconds that the song would get much play in my ride. The song ended, and then the next song came on: 187 Proof. It had more bang than the previous song…and the word play and story telling…my God!
Just when I thought it couldn’t get any better, the third song came on: East Bay Gangster (Reggae). I had planned to rewind the cassette back to the 1st song, but each next song was so good that it made me forget about the previous one.
To make a long story longer, Spice 1’s entire first album was a true banger. This was the first time that I liked EVERY song on an album….and it wasn’t just me. This was a “Neighborhood” thing…Everybody in the hood was bumpin this ish.
Ahhhh, the memories….
This has been a #TeamWoods moment in Black History.
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