A.D.O.R. - Let it All Hang Out

This video was M.I.A. on YouTube for several years, which is a damn shame, because it is one of the hottest unsung songs of the 1990s. (The rest of the album is nothing special, FYI, so if you are downloading, you can stick to this track.)

A.D.O.R. supposedly stood for "Another Definition of Rhythm," and I never really knew whether I was supposed to call him "Adore" or "Ay Dee Oh Arr." It would have been super awkward if I ever met him.

The video is standard, boilerplate early 1990s stuff. Lots of streets and alleyways. Slow motion, black and white shots of New York's urban denizens running from some unknown pursuer. A bunch of girls in bandanas and safety-orange bubblegoose jackets are like A.D.O.R.'s personal cheerleading squad.

And it wouldn't be a Pete Rock remix if it didn't have a) horns in the instrumental, and b) Pete Rock talking ("uh-huh, that's right") all the way through the song. [Note to P.Diddy, you didn't fucking invent that or the remix: Pete Rock did.]

Apparently A.D.O.R. only really had one hit in him, but damn if it wasn't a good one.

C'mon, feel the vibe from the rhythms to break the devil's ties
A feeling of good times, musical highs
Rhythm, harmony, soul skills and that
put together for the master plan is surely to attract
The people it take, the speakers to quake, the points to make
The A.D.O.R. posesses what it takes
To make it feel good, the way it should
Give me the mic and Pete Rock and you know I could
Straight up getcha all, UHH, all night long
It feels too right, too strong to be wrong
Let's turn it up, full blast, and make it last
Yo I'm thinkin bout the future, fuck the past
With the beat that's pumpin
To get the people jumpin but sayin somethin
Do you know what, I'm talkin about
When I tell you to express yourself
And let it all hang out

King Just - "Warrior's Drum"

When this song first came out, I thought it was fantastic. It's got a hot bassline and that kind of awesome "Hey-ya, hey-ya, hey-ya, HO" chorus. Then I bought the album and it was some serious garbage.

But this song is great. One of the underground one-hit wonders of my generation. If you were into rap in 1994-95, you remember this song. The great thing about it is that King Just somehow managed to get himself seemingly affiliated with the Wu-Tang Clan (who were about as hot as it got back then), even though he had no connection whatsoever. This is clearly a result of him throwing around the "Shaolin" moniker to refer to his being from Staten Island. The Wu were the only people really calling Staten "Shaolin" but they didn't have a copyright on it, so why wouldn't someone from that neighborhood capitalize? I'll bet the mere mention of "Shaolin" accounted for half his record sales.

Still, great song. The video? Eh....Though there are more hockey jerseys than I ever expected from a video by a rap guy that wasn't Maestro Fresh Wes.

And there's a thousand MCs lined up against the wall
Timber! They all gonna fall
Hassan chop, yo i can't stop
Givin you that off the wall hip hop
To ya ear, make ya wanna cheer
Hallelujah, ch-ch grrrr, now i'm in second gear
Yo, i'm out of here, to get the mo' tical
From the meth-tical, hit the budd' tical
Know i'm headed to the hotel
But i'll be pokin and strokin
Yo the hair, got tical, got a n***a open
Hey daddy, who them those over there?
Shaolin soldiers, huh, wait a minute, no one told ya
That i'm the n***a, that they call stompy
Who got the looks of a killa dead zombie
I take 'em off, sure fast cannin ya tour
They couldn't catch my style if i was a baseball
Bases loaded, and i got my back gun
Blaow, boom, bang, oh s**t a home run
AHHHHHHHHH... yo, the crowd goes crazy
Bring it, if you want, cuz you really don't amaze me