Happy 25th Anniversary to Show & A.G.’s second studio album Goodfellas, originally released May 30, 1995.
Rodney “Showbiz” LeMay and André “A.G.” Barnes are one of the great, if underrated, hip-hop duos. Throughout their career, they’ve recorded no-frills, skill-based hip-hop music. Goodfellas, their sophomore album, released 25 years ago, has the durability of a Northlake boot (A.G. wasn’t one to rock “corny-ass Timbs”) and the verbal and musical power of a Glock 9MM.
Showbiz and A.G. made themselves known with their debut Soul Clap EP (1991) and Runaway Slave (1992), their first full-length. Along with Diamond D and Lord Finesse, the tandem were the founding members of Diggin’ in the Crates (D.I.T.C.), a crew committed to creating dusty, sampled-based hip-hop. Over the years, the roster grew to include such legends as Fat Joe, O.C., and Big L (R.I.P.).
Though Runaway Slave is a universally respected classic, Goodfellas should be held in the same regard. Goodfellas exemplifies the quintessential mid-’90s East Coast hip-hop ethos and showcases the pair’s continued artistic growth.
A couple of things changed for Showbiz on Goodfellas. First, he shortened his stage moniker to “Show.” Second, he stepped away from the microphone, solely assuming the role of a producer. “I wasn’t serious at [rapping], and since I wasn’t going to be serious doing it, I’d rather not do it,” Showbiz said in an interview with Unkut.com, adding that he wanted to stick to his role and preserve the one emcee/one producer dynamic that first got them their record deal. “So I wanted to stay in my place and not overstep my boundaries,” he said.
Show’s increased focus on working in the studio led to even iller beats, as he handles almost all of the production across Goodfellas. He digs in the crates, combing through often 15 to 20-minute jazz epics to find just the right section or note. He then manipulates these samples to create both smooth grooves and rugged, head-knock hardcore shit. As a result, Goodfellas features some of the best production of the era. It’s made to be played booming out of a jeep, while rewarding those who listen to it through headphones.
But Goodfellas is solely a production-driven endeavor. A.G. has said that while Runaway Slave was “directed” by Show, Goodfellas was his own opportunity to “step up” and become the frontman for the duo. A.G. rises to the occasion, and is better than ever on the microphone, rhyming with renewed fire and improved verbal ability. He holds down large portions of the album on his own, occasionally backed up by members of the D.I.T.C. collective and the Ghetto Dwellas.
Show & A.G. demonstrate their improved skills and chemistry on tracks like “You Know Now” and “Check It Out.” Both tracks exhibit hallmarks of the album, with A.G. delivering hard-scrabble rhymes over dense jazz-infused concoctions. Few producers are as good as Show when it comes to controlling the feel of a sample by putting together a rugged drum track. Both of these songs highlight A.G.’s undeniable strengths, as he rhymes with renewed fire on “You Know Now,” rapping, “Artificial mic handlers get broken, I’m potent / Shit that I be quoting be having brothers open.”
Goodfellas is best known for “Next Level,” its first single. Both the O.G. version and DJ Premier’s remix of the song are featured on the album, but it’s the latter that really shines. Not that there’s anything wrong with the original version, but Preemo’s “Nyte Tyme” remix is in the top five of remixes that he’s ever done, which places it in very elite company. It’s pure jazzy hip-hop perfection, contrasting Preemo’s immaculate flip of the smooth bassline and guitar from Maynard Ferguson’s “Mister Mellow” with A.G.’s no-nonsense rhymes. Amongst visions of “blinking lights, track boards, and fat mics,” he boasts, “Stop bluffing, ’cause you ain't saying nothing, G / And start ducking, I’m the A to the fucking G.”
A.G. later throws in a dig to the Lords of the Underground, promising that “Fake lords? They get strangled with mic cords / Taking beats from my LP for sure ain’t healthy.” The source of the beef here is two-pronged. First, A.G. is having the back of D.I.T.C. family member Lord Finesse, who took issue with LOTUG using the “Mr. Funkee Man” moniker (see: Finesse’s 1992 album Return of the Funky Man). Second, A.G. wasn’t happy with the group’s remix for “Chief Rocka,” which used the same bassline as Show & A.G.’s “Hold Ya Head” on Runaway Slave.
The “Next Level” remix is part of a passage near the middle of Goodfellas where Showbiz cedes production control to some of the other producers associated with D.I.T.C. and the crew. First is “Add On,” which features Lord Finesse on the track and the mic. He excels on both the musical and lyrical end, but the beat combines perfectly chopped horn notes and a drum track into immaculate head-nodder. Later, Roc Raida, the innovative DJ that performed most of the scratches on the album, puts together the subdued “Time For…,” where A.G. balances when to go for the throat and when to chill out and pursue female attention.
Goodfellas takes an even rougher turn during its second half. The posse cut “Got The Flava” captures this increased forceful energy immediately, as A.G. is joined by the aforementioned Ghetto Dwellas collective. D-Flow is the MVP of the song, rapping, “Word, straight up and down, crab emcees get crushed / I’ll leave your style cramped, my crew can’t be touched.” The song also ends with a fairly random six-bars from Wu-Tang Clan’s Method Man. The mini-verse is decent enough, but sounds like he just happened to be in the studio at the same time the song was being recorded and hopped on at the last second.
“Neighborhood Sickness” continues with the aggressive energy, as A.G. trades verses with the gravelly-voiced Party Arty. Over a pounding piano sample, A.G. delivers another of his best performances on Goodfellas, rapping, “Got to set it, G, to let ’em know my pedigree / If your skills ain’t rap, then perhaps you should let it be.”
The gritty feel continues on tracks like “All Out” and “The Medicine,” even though Show slows the tempo considerably. Both tracks creep along, charged with a brooding energy that’s made even more sinister by A.G.’s verbal dexterity. A.G. later takes a brief foray into storytelling with the foreboding “I’m Not the One,” where he gets the best of a former friend who attempts to rob him.
The album closes on a more chill note, showcasing two of Showbiz’s more lush productions. First is “Got Ya Back,” where A.G. teams up with another member of Ghetto Dwellas, Wali World. The two go back and forth, trading lines over a slightly sped-up piano sample. The song is as laid-back as “Neighborhood Sickness” is brolic.
“You Want It” is, in my opinion, Show’s production masterpiece. It’s the best song on Goodfellas and features one of my favorite beats of all time. A.G. is joined by D.I.T.C. cohort Diamond D, who “soar[s] through the sky like a dirty city pigeon” over a complex and sublime backdrop. Show layers ethereal horn samples, chopped piano, and a resonant bassline over a crisp drum-track. The track practically shimmers as A.G. raps, “I'm on the humble, and not afraid to rumble / With those who wanna outlast the jungle, they tumble, I run through.”
Goodfellas doesn’t try to be anything that it isn’t. It’s pure, raw, sample-based hip-hop crafted by a producer and emcee just trying to make some true school shit. As a release devoid of pretensions and chock full of skills, it’s one of the best hip-hop albums of 1995 and still knocks as hard as the day it came out.
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