Track #3 "Criminal Minded" by Boogie Down Productions

Riding back to Dobbs Ferry, on the radio, breaking news "Scott La Rock" has been shot dead that happen on August 27, 1987, the streets have claimed a gifted producer and DJ also social worker who befriended one of the greatest MCs KRS-One, they formed the group Boogie Down Productions. B.D.P.'s first album "Criminal Minded" elevated hip-hop along with Ultramagnetic MC's and Eric B and Rakim, doing away with simple rhyming bringing social awareness from the streets and openly talking about the "crack epidemic." Beats to dance to and poetry to ponder by KRS-One, no lyric sheets to read, rigorously listening to every word "The Blastmaster" had to say, later as a homeless teenager I met him at the infamous "Covenant House." When I played the vinyl I became a pupil, the bubble that was Dobbs Ferry didn't shield me from enlightenment, and I would often take bike rides to Yonkers and became a spectator watching the agonizing dwellers and the baseheads.

"Criminal minded, you've been blinded

Looking for a style like mine you can't find it

They are the audience, and I am the lyricist

Sometimes the suckers on the side gotta hear this

Page, a rage, and I'm not in a cage

Free as a bird to fly up out on stage."

At 15 years old I felt confused, why are things like this I need music to explain it to me. “Criminal Minded” was a course in social studies and street knowledge those on the outside, and stupid lame adults found the cover violent, it's a mistake us old heads should avoid making but we won’t because that's the merry-go-round of hypocrisy as if we changed things for the better.

"See kings lose crowns but teachers stay intelligent."

"Criminal Minded" by Boogie Down Productions 5 Stars