Happy 25th Anniversary to King T’s fourth studio album IV Life, originally released May 28, 1995.
A quarter of a century ago, Los Angeles-based hip-hop dominated the spotlight. Thanks in part to artists like Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dogg, Southern California gangsta shit was on top. Death Row Records was running shit. Warren G had one of the most successful hip-hop singles ever. And the G-Funk sound, characterized by slow, synth-driven grooves, was ubiquitous on the airwaves and video outlets.
But when King T (formerly King Tee), one of hip-hop’s original gangstas, released his fourth album IV Life, he journeyed down a different path. The Compton-born emcee had long created music to ride to, and his gangsta bona fides were absolutely impeccable. So while he made an album that would sound great in the car, he didn’t try to pander to the trends. IV Life might be the first, and only, psychedelic hip-hop rider album.
King T is one of the most respected Southern California artists around. He is a top-tier lyricist, as his style influenced everyone from Ice Cube to The Notorious B.I.G. to Rick Ross. He helped bring producer DJ Pooh to prominence, while mentoring and helping to guide the careers of artists like Tha Alkaholiks and Xzibit. He has one of the most underappreciated careers in hip-hop.
Released 25 years ago, IV Life was King T’s first and only album on MCA Records. He joined the label after spending the majority of his career on Capitol Records. In terms of subject matter, King T doesn’t attempt to reinvent himself, incorporating realistic tales of street life with forays into lyrical dominance and creating great music to chill out and/or drive to.
Musically, he switches things up a bit. In the past, he had leaned on DJ Pooh and his Boogiemen crew for production. On IV Life, he relies mostly on Broadway, a producer who worked with the Los Angeles-based Madkap crew, who had started with King T on Tha Triflin’ Album (1993). Working as a co-producer, he and Broadway created a jazz-fusion based feel, which leads to extremely chilled out and often surreal vibes.
The album-opening “You Can’t See Me” typifies this sound, with King Tipsy dispersing his drunk funk along with lysergic guitar and horn samples. Proclaiming that he “runs that old gangsterism on the normal,” he boasts that “with the utmost respect I be chilling / Knocking emcees out cause I’m the best in this building.”
Songs like “Down Ass Loc” are in the same vein, as he recounts his upbringing over a molasses-like piano and flute sample from Grover Washington, Jr.’s “Maracas Beach.” The chill tone of the track resides in contrast to the grittiness of the content, as he explains his gangsta origins in West Compton, or, more specifically “Greenleaf and Central, where n***as get mental,” gang-banging as a means of survival. “A young man with the grown man’s gun,” he muses. “Trying to stay full while he’s living in the slum.”
IV Life does feature some of the best laid-back hip-hop of the mid ’90s, from a gangsta approach or otherwise. “Dippin’,” the album’s first single, is a great tale of cruising the streets of Los Angles on a “hot, hot Sunday,” hitting corners in his Cadillac, hitting switches and flossing on his Dayton rims. The remix for the song, produced by Vic C and also featured on the album, is one of the album’s few G-Funk influenced songs and is honestly superior to the original version. The remix also remains among the best rider tracks of the era, as it sounds sublime by incorporating wailing synths and a jazzy horn sample.
“Way Out There,” IV Life’s second single is hallucinatory in its execution. King T seemingly floats through the Mic Profesah produced track, gliding on the wistful piano sample and chilled synthesizers. He first operates as a Compton-born pirate, sailing the purple seas, vanquishing other nautical enemies. He spends the rest of the track bending minds with his rhymes, taking listeners to the next level of musical consciousness. “So fuck that other shit and grab my hand with all your might,” he raps. “’Cause Imma show you what that West Coast like.”
IV Life goes from fantastical to disturbing on “3 Strikes Ya Out.” Produced by The Beat Terrorists (DJ Moe Love and TR Love of Ultramagnetic MCs), it’s a grim, cacophonous endeavor, with King T describing a bleak hellscape where young Black men are prey for mass incarceration. In the midst of the aural assault, he declares, “I’ve got pages and pages of metaphoric phrases, too complex for the human eye to catch,” and ends the song by observing, “Am I insane or sick in the brain, or do everybody style sound the same?”
“Super N***a” is the album’s sole collaboration with DJ Pooh and the Boogiemen. King T, DJ Pooh, and Rashad each spin humorous tales of working as a ghetto superhero, dealing with wack emcees, producers, and other clowns and hangers-on. He then teams with rapper/producer Nikki Nicole on “Let’s Get It On.” Nicole builds an upbeat yet dreamlike track, powered by distorted bass and subtle horn stabs, while King T raps, “I persist to be the infinite all-time great / I'm told that my name gained weight.”
Parts of IV Life feature King T conveying some unvarnished aggression on harder edged tracks. He teams with his former DJ and Alkaholiks co-founder E-Swift on “Duck,” a knockdown, drag out brawl of a song. “Check the Flow” is rapid-fire rhyme bonanza, produced and featuring SLJ, who these days goes by Shafiq Husayn of Sa-Ra Creative Partners. Back then, SLJ held his own with King T, rhyming, “Cause emcees that luck up need to hush up / Who can’t brush up on their rap style, shut the fuck up.”
The posse-cut “Free Style Ghetto” is one of the best songs on the album, as Xzibit, Breeze, and J-Ro and Tash of Tha Alkaholiks join forces with King T on a smooth Thayod-produced track. Rhyming over a loop of Diana Ross’ “Theme From Mahogany,” they each deliver some of their finest verses. J-Ro gives possibly the strongest performances, rapping, “I learned I had to earn the mic, now's my turn / I got Furious Styles like Larry Fishburne.”
IV Life ends with “Advertisement,” an homage to King T’s awesomeness. “Tha Alkaholik funk in person” speaks about himself in the third person, mostly lauding his drinking proclivities, including his fondness for mixing Tanqueray and Squirt. He also throws in a barb towards Luther “Luke” Campbell, as a shot for dissing the city of Compton during his feud with Dr. Dre (which was a thing).
Sadly, IV Life wasn’t as successful as King T’s previous albums, despite its excellent quality. King T would seemingly land on his feet, however, leaving MCA for longtime friend Dr. Dre’s then fledgling Aftermath Records. It appears for some time that the West Coast O.G. was going to be one of the label’s centerpieces, as he was featured on a pair of songs on The Aftermath compilation (1996).
Unfortunately, he got a bit lost in the mix after the critical and commercial failures of The Aftermath and The Firm albums, even after he recorded Thy Kingdom Come for the label. The album got shelved and was never officially released, leading King T to leave the label in a move he would later call one of the worst decisions of his life. Years later, King T would put out Thy Kingdom Come independently, but it didn’t get the attention that he’d hoped to receive.
These days, King T is pretty much retired. He’s still regarded as an elder-statesmen of West Coast hip-hop, but hasn’t had the inclination to rap as much. Years ago, he felt inspired to rap again after appearing on an album by former protégé Xzibit, but never released his planned final album.
In regard to his discography, IV Life is often overlooked, possibly because it was so different from the other gangsta rap records being released by his contemporaries. But 25 years later, it’s still an ideal album to play on spring or summer days in the car or on the porch. When paying King T his respect due, IV Life is as vital as any other part of his catalogue.
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