“How can you be an artist and not reflect the times?” – Nina Simone
Return Of The Boom Bap doesn’t always get mentioned when KRS-One’s contributions to the game become a topic of discussion. Hell, KRS-One and BDP don’t even get mentioned enough in my book but that’s another article for another day. But the 1993 release contained more than its share of strong cuts, including “Sound Of Da Police” as one of the LP’s singles.
Produced by DITC’s Showbiz, “Sound…” typified the album in a nutshell. True to the title, all the tracks on Return… were boom bap to the fullest, loaded with hard-hitting drums and driven by social and political commentary. I don’t think KRS was so much of visionary that he could see into the future and create songs like “Sound Of Da Police” and “Black Cop” that would still retain relevance today. What’s happened since ’93 is not so much has changed with the way the boys in blue do their business. We’ve only begun to advance in the most minute ways now that body cameras and more cameras period are catching officers doing dirt that at one time was only being broadcast to the nation through the microphone’s of MCs.
Those watching eyes still aren’t enough to stop the what seem like weekly reports of another brother or sister catching a headcrack from cop. That’s why we’ll always need songs like “Black Cop” and “Sound Of Da Police.” It’s also why we need new voices to pick up the work The Blastmaster and other rap goliaths started.
