Vulgarity in art is a contentious topic. Some believe in the free expression of art with no stipulations, some believe art should be censored to their own standards. Renowned artists such as Eminem and Frank Zappa have weighed in on the topic before, being on the side of free expression. The Parents Music Resource Center, formed 1985, on the other hand, were more on the side of censorship. They were a group of Washington Wives, led by Tipper Gore, devoted to making art more accessible for children. This goal was accomplished by having the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) add the now iconic parental advisory sticker to more explicit releases.
The first of these releases to get the modern black and white version of the sticker we know today was 2 Live Crew’s Banned In The USA. Before 2 Live Crew would have this honor and run with it, however, they made the album being discussed here, Is What We Are. This album accomplishes 2 major goals, the first of which was being a major help in pioneering the dancey, party oriented, TR-808 driven hip-hop sub genre, Miami Bass. A sub-genre that would go onto influence dance artists like Chase Icon, as well as influence other rap subgenera such as Trap and Crunk. The second was being a Slim Shady LP-grade step forward for vulgarity in music. Even though many of the ideas both lyrically and sonically are not as groundbreaking as they once were, it is still easy to see why Is What We Are started up one of the most important hip-hop groups of the 20th century.
So despite all the discussion around the influence this album had on Miami Bass and all the discussion on vulgarity, the album starts with a pretty standard mid school hip hop track that never gets vulgar, 2 Live Is What We Are (Word). Opening the song the emcees do the emcee thing of introducing themselves, which makes sense considering as this was their first album. After this, DJ Mr. Mixx is introduced, and with him a slick DJ scratch intro, accompanied by a lunging drum rhythm with a heavy bass drum and a light splash cymbal. The song then truly begins with a loud, quick guitar chord and this easy to follow, slower Beastie Boys/Run DMC type flow, with Brother Marquis delivering bars that might as well say “yep we’re totally 2 Live Crew and whatnot” with how introductory and non-descript they are, for 2 verses no less. On the third verse, Fresh Kid Ice just establishes he’s a ladies man, proclaiming that women “fill with desire“ when he enters a room, among other things. Throughout the verses, the aforementioned eclectic guitar chord hops in every few bars furthering the Beastie Boys similarities. Ending the track is a bit of wild and involved turntablism with Mr. Mixx DJing his heart out, with scratches in perfect rhythm to the rest of the track, setting the DJ stage for the album. 2 Live Is What We Are (Word), while still somewhat enjoyable due to the influences it borrows from, is still somewhat derivative of better mid school hip hop released around the same time and prior.
This is in complete contrast to the follow up track We Want Some Pussy. This is where the album really gets its bearings in my view, and feels far more distinct. It opens with hard rocking electric guitars, a booming bass drum, as well as a static synthesized kick. This beat works incredibly well, with all the aforementioned moving parts creating momentum for the boys to charmingly and hilariously proclaim their desire for sex over it. Luke Skyyywalker leads the charge and they literally yell
“Somebody say ‘Hey, we want some pussy’
(Hey, we want some pussy!)”.
It is one of the catchiest hooks on the album and leads well into the verses. This is where the album starts to get dirty, considering the first bars on the verse are Marquis describing a situation where he plays a game called “Amtrak” with his homies, in which they wax girls behinds, and it only goes into detail from there. Ice’s verse is more about slick punchlines than strict detail, but he does deliver one of the best bars on the album, ending his verse telling a woman,
“You know what to do, ’cause I won’t say please
Just nibble on my dick like a rat does cheese”.
It’s clever, hilarious and almost quaint in its simplicity. It has the same nostalgic feeling a as a Saturday morning cartoon, just raunchier. One small nitpick I have with the track is that while the production is more interesting than the opener, it never really changes throughout, only being slightly faster on the hook. Not too bad of an issue considering the song doesn’t even touch three minutes.
With We Want Some Pussy, the Miami Bass parts of the album had come in, sort of. 2 tracks in and there is yet to be any of the TR-808 drum that is so heavily associated with the genre. Get It Girl changes this, drastically. After a turntable driven intro from Mr. Mixx, a gong rings and the TR-808 is played in extremely rapid succession. A booming bass drum comes in adding some rhythm to bob your head to, and then Mixx adds in the driving vocal sample for the chorus that simply goes “Get it, get-get it, get it, get-get, get it girl”. There’s even synchronized, fast claps added into the mix during some parts of the verse. It has energy and truly represents what Miami Bass is about. The lyrics are on the simpler side again, with Ice and Marquis trying to steal a man’s partner across both verses. Less entertaining than We Want Some Pussy but still boundary pushing in its vulgarity, with Ice spitting that he’s “your freak” to the woman in question in the first verse.
Sonically, Get It Girl represents a lot of what the rest of the album does right, which is mainly being fun and a major catalyst for Miami Bass. Like how Throw The D is a song that describes a dance ala Cupid Shuffle or Crank That Soulja Boy, over more subtle TR-808s. It’s of course sexual like most of the rest of the album, part of the dance involves having to “go berserk” and let your hips “do the work”. The track even adds in a section for crazy fast and slick turntablism , as well as one for mechanical, futuristic synths towards the end, back to back. I’m an avid lover of futuristic synths, so I enjoyed this. This is different from Beat Box… Remix which is a bit of a slower jam but the TR-808 is louder. But the only track after the opener that I would argue doesn’t feel like a Miami Bass track is Cut It Up, which is less interesting as a result for the most part. Lyrically it’s a love letter to Mr. Mixx. which is cool, but again, doesn’t really push the envelope like the rest of the album and is just a more standard mid school hip hop cut.
The album closes on what might as well be an end credits theme, Mr. Mixx On The Mix!! . This is legit just Mr. Mixx playing around with sections of the rest of the album, which is cool and made sense for the time, but almost feels like filler at the end of the album in some ways. With using parts of the album, he uses the TR-808s too, which is cool. The issue is there’s not a whole lot to say about it in my eyes other than that. It’s a nice closer but it doesn’t do anything particularly interesting with the sounds of the album that hadn’t been done on those songs.
Thankfully, despite some relatively weak tracks bookending the album, and the general fact that later music would heavily expand on the lyrical vulgarity and Miami Bass sound this album helped establish in popular music, I liked Is What We Are as a whole. It is an interesting Case Study on how the heaviest vulgarity in music used to sound compared to where it is now, as well as a jumping off point for Miami Bass and generally more dance-oriented hip hop. Despite not being completely impressed by the album, I still appreciate 2 Live Crew, for the boundaries they pushed for the music I enjoy today.
7/10
