Intelligent Hoodlum

Performer: Intelligent Hoodlum
Artist: M.C. Tragedy
Distributor: Caroline Distribution

Notes: In the early '90s, after a nearly two-year stint in prison, Percy Chapman released two albums, Intelligent Hoodlum and Tragedy: Saga of a Hoodlum, under the moniker Intelligent Hoodlum. Soon after, he changed his name to Tragedy Khadafi and began showing up on other East Coast rappers' records and making himself known in the underground. His third album, Against All Odds, didn't come out until 2001, a good eight years after Saga of a Hoodlum, and a string of releases followed that. However, Chapman never regained the attention and acclaim he had earlier in his career. In 2007 Nature Sounds reissued those first two records as a limited edition two-disc set, along with some bonus tracks and remixes, and biographical liner notes (which confirmed Large Professor's contributions to the production on Intelligent Hoodlum). This is hip-hop during its golden age, when Nas and Tribe and De La Soul reigned supreme, when the beats were laid-back and sparse, and rhyming about politics and society were just as important, if not more so, than rhyming about women and earning money. As a rapper, especially by today's standards, Tragedy isn't extraordinary, but he has some good lines and good things to say, intelligent and reflective and critical, and his flow is relaxed and smart and fits nicely over the production. Fans of solely contemporary crunk and party rap probably won't find these albums very worthwhile, but heads or even other music enthusiasts looking for what Nas and others have declared as "dead" will definitely find something to pay attention to here. ~ Marisa Brown Intelligent Hoodlum's 1990 debut. The one-time Riker's Island inmate raps of black politics and culture, while finding plenty of room for whimsical observations and some fine vocal flow. Producer Marley Marl of Biz Markie and Big Daddy Kane fame provides the beats and production in fine style: layered, lean, and dope. If you like you old school cuts in the sophisticated Gang Starr and Markie mode, then this collection of hip-hop gold will no doubt be welcome. Add a little De La Soul humor, and you have a solid album. ~ Stephen Cook

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