Raw Like Sushi

Buffalo Stance still slaps, but the rest is a little same-y

Just ok

If the 80s ever had a typical sound it's this stale bubblegum pop.

An interesting mix of 80s pop and hip hop. Kind of enjoyed the listen, but probably not something I'd visit again. Rating: 5/10 Favorite Song: Buffalo Stance

reminds me of that one scene in "teenage witch"

Top Album. Woman power. Richtige 80s beats.

Smooth and catchy music that is really easy to listen to. Something I wouldn't be surprised to hear often on the radio when it was released. Neneh has a great voice and the mix of slower and faster songs made listening through the album from start to finish really easy. Definitely some songs I will come back to.

nop, I cannot even comprehend how it can be at the same level as Madonna or Prince

energetic

5/10… new jack swing / 80s Dance / *1989

Like Soul 2 Soul, I had heard of this one mostly as being a footnote in the history of Massive Attack in that Cherry was one of their biggest supporters in the early stages, including helping fund the recording of Blue Lines. As such, Raw Like Sushi ends up being one of the last examples of the pre-trip hop wave. In Soul 2 Soul's case, that left it feeling dated, but here, it still manages to feel fresh and exciting.

Buffalo stance is a bamger. I don’t know if anything else was a single but some worthy candidates. Listened to the remixes too. A lot of fun. A low four bc the reality is that I’m unlikely to listen to the whole thing any time soon but I will certainly cherry pick some tracks.

Went way harder than I thought it was going to.

Hyvää mieltä, paras hippihoppi albumi tällä listalla imo.

Tää ei lähteny mulla yhtään. En tykänny saundimaailmasta ja biisit oli omaan makuun enimmäkseen ärsyttäviä. Tuntuu oudolta antaa tälle eka ykkönen, mut jotenkin se tuntuu oikeimmalta just nyt. Vähän mietin kyllä että oliko tää todella huonompi kuin jotkut kakkoset mitä oon antanu, mut ehkäpä mä käyn vielä päivitteleen niitäkin jossain välissä.

Hetki meni miettiä että mistä niin tuttu, mutta sehän olikin toki Youssou N'Dourn 7 seconds! Muutenkin suurin anti oli valitettavasti mielenkiintoinen sukupuu (mm. että Eagle-Eye Cherry on Nenehin velipuoli) ja esim. osallisuus trip-hopin ja Massive Attackin syntytarinassa. Itse albumi pärähti käyntiin ihan jees, mutta kuihtui nopeasti haaleaksi ysäripoppi tuulahdukseksi. Propsit ruotsalaisesta hip-hop/rap pioneeriudesta Lontoosta käsin! Taas yksi albumi jossa albumiradion eka biisi ihan eri artistilta herätti takas musan pariin et "Hei täähän on kiinnostava biisi! ...Aaa"

Aikamoinen matka. :D Tavallaan hauska mut tosi outo ja kuulostaa kyllä hyvin vahvasti aikansa tuotteelta. Mistä tää on listalle tupsahtanut?

Meh.da tanto pop michael jackson y despues rap. Nose raro

I bought this album years ago, but for some reason didn’t like it much at the time apart from the singles. But I was wrong, it’s great.

Such a dated sound and the rapping is painful. This new jack swing/late 80s r&b sound has aged poorly. I don’t really understand what about this album is essential listening. Has this influenced anything in music?

Olipas korkeintaan keskivertoa musiikkia

craptastic…!! it was radio crap back then as it is now… nothing redeeming.

Very of its time. Kinda fun tho.

Somehow this has never really been my thing. I do wonder if it were recorded today how it would sound.

Some albums are called timeless, like Abbey Road. This album is almost the exact opposite—it is firmly cemented in 1987–89. The production, the beats, and especially the rapping make it impossible to separate from that very specific moment in music. If she had just stuck to singing, this would probably be a 4 for me. I like her voice, I like a lot of the lyrics, and I like the in your face punchiness of some of the songs. But the late 80s rapping style is featured on most of the album, and while it probably sounded fresh at the time, today it dates the music more than anything else. There's a 4 star album buried in here for me, but I can't quite get past how much of it sounds like a time capsule. 3 good stars

Hells to the yes. This album has on it the first record I ever bought. A trip to Woolworths with my mum to spend my pocket money. I was 6 years old. I wanted Buffalo Stance but bought Kisses on the Wind and that’s fine. Mum took me again the next Saturday. I still have those records today (37 years later). Absolutely delighted to listen to this today. She’s a legend and this just sounds so fresh.

It's mostly really really boring. Slow, sleep-inducing, no climax. Some rap parts are kind of cool though.

So 80s it hurts, and not in the fun way. In the cringe, oh-god-this-is-unbelievably-lame way. Lyrics are laughable, and the album feels more like a parody of this era of R&B and rap than a true representation of it. I will not be listening to this album again any time soon.

I enjoyed this as a blast from the past! My girlfriend at the time was a Neneh Cherry NUT!! As a result, I have some pretty awesome memories to this album!

This has a few good elements, but ultimately feels cheesy and dated with the production. I have a bit of a soft spot for early to mid 90s hiphop/dance, this feels like its heading in that direction, but I didn't end up really getting into it.

3★/5 10.03.2026

Hey! It's Eagle-Eye Cherry's sister! So synthetically cheezy. That Z is there for a reason. It's that cheezy. Only thing that saves it, is it's fun. Interesting lyrics but so insanely dated. 2

4/5 just for Buffalo Stance

Reeks of the 80s. First few songs are good then it tails off significantly.

This was a “fine” album to me. Some songs I really liked, some I thought were bad, and most were fine. This is not really my genre so I enjoyed the foray. Favs Kisses on the wind Inna city mama Heart

*Agressively* 80's and agressively mid, in the true sense of the word (not the 'mid = bad' way). While there are better hip-hop albums and better R&B albums than this one, I can appreciate Raw Like Sushi's inclusion on the list. The influences moving forwards and backwards are well felt. A lot of that boom-bap production you hear on Rakim produced albums (I'm thinking specifically of Paid in Full when Nenah goes to her more rap-centric tracks) is prominent throughout. I'm hearing a fair amount of Salt N Pepa influence as well. The use of loops, synths, and samples is pretty heavy-handed, but there's enough variety in the genres that Neneh touches to keep it fun enough. Fun sidenote: I can draw a direct line from Kisses On The Wind to Bop To The Top from High School Musical. Inspiration strikes from the strangest places sometimes. Lyrically, a mixed bag. The overall impression I left with was that this was a very poppy album content-wise. Some of the songs got pointedly specific sometimes, especially the 'wrap it before you tap it' sentiments in The Next Generation, but you got some moments of honesty in Inna City Mamma and Love Ghetto as well. Confident delivery, if a little clunky flow-wise by today's standards, but we can attribute that to the infancy of the genre. Rap hadn't had a chance to evolve past the more basic rhyme schemes yet. This is an album that you strip for parts and repurpose them into something better. I respect it. 5/10 Favorites: - Buffalo Stance (kind of an earworm) - Inna City Mamma - The Next Generation (anachronistic today but funny nonetheless) - Outre Risque Locomotive

After so much rock it was refreshing to have a change up. Buffalo Stance is a fantastic track to get things started. Neneh’s flow is quite good and rhyme scheme complements it well even if it’s somewhat elementary, but it’s 80s hip-hop so that’s expected. The next few tracks touch on different subjects that feel a bit more personal in the three track run of Inna City - Love Ghetto where Neneh talks about the cruel reality of the inner city. The Next Generation is a creative take on the squalid aspects of giving birth and taking care of children. In these tracks the production does its job fairly well mixing boom bap with various different styles and sounds. From the airy synths, bubbly keyboard riff and vinyl scratches in Buffalo Stance, NYC blues in Inna City Mamma, scratched jazz and Apache drums in The Next Generation, and the smooth synth pop in Love Ghetto. The album hits a lull after Heart and stays in that rut up until the end until we get a fun sassy rap face off to end the album in the song Bitch. Overall sounds very 80s especially for a hip hop album. Fun at points, leaves something to be desired in others. Neneh doesn’t hit a home run but it’s a solid double. Favorites: - Buffalo Stance - Inna City Mamma - Heart - Bitch Rating: 6/10

Dated but fun

i was listening to this in the gym, so at first i thought that ah well, at least this has a good beat. by song 6 i was kind of done with this. i don’t think i dislike it quite enough to give it a 1, but its a near thing.

This was a bit disappointing. I know buffalo stance but hasn't listened that closely, but it is brilliant, the rhythms are great, the vocals are alright, the rhythms of the vocals are pretty great, but the real magic is in the synth riffs that drop in and all mix into each other creating a glorious shiny electronic backdrop. There is a rising riff in particular that I really enjoyed. Then the rest of the album happened and it had the rhythms, but they got a bit samey after a few tracks, and the vocals were sometimes good, sometimes pretty corny, but alright... But the synths weren't there. Other instruments were there in bits, but none had the impact those shiny synths had so it was all pretty disappointing, but I didn't hate it all, so it's a fairly mid 3.

I don’t remember her and I’m not a fan of this genre, but I liked her energy and she seems to do this music as well as others at the time. 2.5 stars.

This is bad. I remember making fun of Buffalo Stance when the song was released in the late 80’s and it has not aged well. I’m truly not sure why this album was released and I’m even less sure why it is a part of this 1001 album project.

This is not something we needed to be subjected to. She would not have been signed without the famous last name. Listening to the album is like eating at a buffet restaurant - most things seem fine and even look good at first glance but nothing is actually tasty enough to go back for a second helping.

This is really bad 80s R&B. So bad that it shouldn't even be referred to as R&B. I will instead refer to it as New Jack Swing. That sounds like a crap genre, and this is a crap album. But as bad as this album is, and as bad as the song Buffalo Stance is...after 37 years I needed to know....what the hell is a Buffalo Stance??? Meaning of the Stance • The Physical Pose: Visually, a buffalo stance means standing with your arms tightly crossed and giving a sideways, defiant look (a pose often seen in early hip-hop culture and popularized by groups like Run-DMC). • The Attitude: Neneh Cherry explained to The New York Times that it is "an attitude you have to have in order to get by." It represents female strength, street smarts, and sexual self-defense against insincere people or "gigolos" trying to flash cash. I regret learning this, and my apologies for sharing.

Much of the hip hop from this time just feels so dated. This one isn’t an exception. Buffalo Stance is still catchy.

Manchild and Buffalo Stance are classics and I’m a sucker for a bit of scratching, but too much of this album sounds like generic late 80s pop. There are far too many synth beats for my liking. Better in the memory than in actuality

Out of the two songs I knew on this album, “Buffalo Stance” is brilliant; “Manchild”, not so much. And then the rest of the album is an array of incredibly 80s sounding songs that have not aged well, either in terms of their sound or, in some places, their lyrics. Some were rather catchy, some not so much, but all of them had more synths than even I knew what to do with. I feel I should hate it more than I do, though…

I can pinpoint the exact moment this album lost me. It was during The Next Generation (which was awful) when she said "And you wonder right if they've forgotten or if they just can't remember that they ever were small one time". That's the same thing, Neneh. I was going to excuse you, as I didn't think you wrote the lyrics. But you did, so I'm holding you responsible. Other than Buffalo Stance and Manchild, I have no nostalgia attached to these songs, which means there's nothing much to balance out the 80sness of the instrumental and the, in places, absolutely dreadful lyrics (for example, from Heart: "I thought you were my friend, God, you're just so digital girl, You're like one of those cabbage patch creatures"). There are a few of songs I didn't mind, so this escapes the dreaded 1 star, but this really, really wasn't for me. 2/5

Generic pop

Not my music. Other than Manchild not much else worthwhile. I did listen till the end. They say it's good for your cognitive functioning to listen to a wide variety of music. 1001 Albums must be terrific then.

Nope, I don't like this one. way too long and honestly don't love the style. kind of like a knock off of Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2.

Even if I was a girl in the late 80s… I still don’t think I would have liked it. 1.4

Definitely not good, but more fun than I expected. Certainly “of a time.” The bigger problem is the length. 67 minutes is too long for this kind of album. It suffers from the same problem as the Britney Spears album. 4/10 Acceptable

Imma do the buffalo stance. Nah but after buffalo stance the rest of the album was underwhelming so to say.

Fifa music

I don't know, this was alright. It's no surprise to anyone that I'm not a fan of the 80s schtick, which this is rich with -- but beyond that, I just feel like there isn't much personality, or unique voice here. It feels to generic to me. It probably felt generic then too. But now it feels dated as well. Honestly I didn't hate this, just not a great listen. Fave tracks: - Buffalo Stance - Manchild - The Next Generation - Outré Risqué Locomotive - So Here I Come

It was just fine.

If I were a teenage girl living in 1989, I might really like this album. But I’m not. Y’ know what I mean?

When I read Robert Del Naja co-wrote "Manchild" I thought, "Oh, that makes sense." Very cool chord progression and melody. Buffalo Stance is a banger.

Not my genre but not unenjoyable

89 is early enough, but can start to see the cultural shift coming. The silliness of some of the Lyrics got me to smile a few times

nostalgic love for buffalo stance. leave the rest behind.

Quintessential 90s hiphop/soul/RnB. Attitude. Smooth. Awesome.

Buffalo Stance - 73 Manchild - 77 Kisses On The Wind - 74 Inna City Mamma - 76 The Next Generation - 62 Love Ghetto - 67 Heart - 76 Phoney Ladies - 78 Outré Risqué Locomotive - 67 So Here I Come - 66 Raw Like Sushi - 68

Very cheesy. I like cheese it’s the greatest food ever This album isn’t the greatest ever though

This is not my favourite music and it hasn't aged well.

80s rap has that stilted quality that doesn't age great, but this was pretty good.

Not for me.

Fresh sound for 1989.

Kinda punk. Wasn’t super into it.

Awful... somehow this reminded me of Liz Lemon

Some bangers here Fave track: Buffalo Stance

Buffalo Stance is hella nice. 3/5

better than Prince

Yeah sure. Not without charm. Ok. It’s ok.

I think I love this, in spite of myself and "chocolate, bananas, donut and salami." Bursting with personality and idiosyncrasy and crucially, hooks. Every time I felt myself letting the 80s-ass production (derivative or innovative? old heads, enlighten me) production wash over me, I was snapped back into the groove by some inspired, sincere, silliness. Still wondering how a can baby be "two sixths Chinese," though.

i wasn't impressed with this much when it came out and my opinion hasn't changed. the best thing neneh cherry did (along with her husband) was fund and encourage massive attack and portishead starting out. 2/5

Ich finde an diesem Album sehr beeindruckend, wie selbstbewusst sich Neneh Cherry als Schwarze Frau Ende der 80er in einem musikalischen Gebiet bewegt, was noch eher männlich dominiert ist. Meine Lieblingssongs vom Album sind …. Eigentlich mag ich alle? Aber besonders gefallen mir buffalo stance, manchild, inner city mama und outre risqué locomotive

Album 312. Raw Like Sushi — Neneh Cherry (1989) Terrible pop album that adds hip-hop and electronica to the album just because it feels cool. Albums like this are the reason why hip-hop is not my favorite genre in summary stats of the challenge. Total shit 2/5 No liked songs

trying to do a lot of stuff but not doing most of it very well. Couple fun tracks. Cheesy 80s hip hop.

Onpas taas vähän hankalasti arvioitava albumi. Tämä on niin kasaria, että ajoittain fiilis on jopa koominen. Hauska albumi, jolla on itse asiassa aimo nippu hyviä biisejä mutta rehellisyyden nimissä mahtuu levylle ihan täyttä paskaakin. Yhtä kaikki, soundimaailmasta tulee lapsuus mieleen ja mm. Mc Nikke T, siitä nostalgiabonuspisteet. Jää ehdottomasti positiiviseksi kuuntelukokemukseksi. 3/5

Absolutely terrible. I’ve heard like 3 hip hop albums from this era and they all have the same flow, vocal style, drum beats and terrible school-keyboard-esque samples. I’m sick of it already and I’ve only heard it a handful of times.

Pretty fun stuff but too much of the same thing. RYM: N Saved a song: N

This is a pretty good one too! Gotta go back

En ineens zit ik weer in groep 8. Deze muziek had ik heeeeeel lang niet gehoord en ik wist ook niet dat het Neh Neh was (haar naam was voor mij verder alleen aan de collab met Youssouf blijven hangen). Vrij commerciële hiphop dus, die rond 1990 kennelijk ook door Hollandse basisschoolkiddo's werd geluisterd. Toegankelijke Euro-blijheid uit een ingeblikt keyboard (met ongetwijfeld een kritisch randje) is weer eens wat anders, maar drie kwartier van dit spul is ook wel genoeg. We ronden de score voor de aardigheid maar naar boven af.

Na twee kunstzinnige uitspattingen op één dag is een toegankelijker plaatje als dit welkom. Buffalo Stance is, met de switches, samples, rap en beats, een typisch Turn up the bass geluid. (Al stond het er nooit op.). Neneh schat ons luisteraars laag in en stelt ons voor aan de hihat en de tambourine. Dat tempert mijn verwachtingen. Onterecht, want eigenlijk is dit nog best een geinig in elkaar gedraaid nummer. Manchild lijkt vervolgens de start van triphop. Wiki leert mij dat één van de mannen van Massive attack hier een grote rol in had. Ja, dat hoor je. Deze twee nummers samen naar meer. Maar helaas. Het kruit is verschoten. Het is hierna vaak een soort een kruising tussen een matige En Vogue en een matige Madonna. En dan duurt het album lang... Met de eerste twee definiërende nummers, wil ik geen onvoldoende geven voor het album. Maar heel ver zit het er eigenlijk niet vandaan.

Poeh, dit vind ik dus enorm gedateerde 80s muziek. Niet dat new wave of andere drumcomputermuziek uit de 80s niet gedateerd is, maar hier hoor ik dus precies teveel van die periode zo rond 1990. Te geproduceerd, te veel neppe drumcomputers met nog eens een extra blik bliepjes en geluidjes. En dan die semisoulvolle RnB die ver weg is afgedreven van de oorspronkelijk rhythm & blues waar die afkorting ooit voor stond. Nee dit is niet zo aan mij besteed. De hitjes gaan nog wel enigszins, maar de rest heeft de tand des tijds al helemaal niet doorstaan. Dit is niet rauw zoals sushi, maar een halflauwe pint zonder koolzuur.

This is somewhere between a 3 and a 4 for me, partly because Buffalo Stance wasn't as good as I remembered but I also thought the other songs were quite good.

This checks some boxes for me but I just didn’t enjoy it

Meh, not really diggin this. Don't care for most 80s rap though so it was doomed from the start

super 90’s album, this girl from london?

RATING: 9.5/10 HIGHLIGHT: Buffalo Stance LOWLIGHT: The Next Generation

Oof, this one's a stinker. I'm positive this made this list because it's such a product of its time. It's the MOST 1989 pop/rap album I've ever heard. The lyrics felt like they were written in a lab by people who had heard of the genre and only watched American sitcoms. It's so insanely stereotypical to the point of being cheesy. You could imagine this playing on a b-rate movie set in a PG-13 NYC setting kids drama. Hard pass on everything here. 1/10

Not into it

I don't think I needed to listen to this before I died. 1.5/5

Not bad, not great, ima tu dobrog grobova, iako je malo trashy na trenutke and not in a good way. Ali sve u svemu, kul. 3/5, 5/10

This record is kinda hip-hop but feels more like dance-pop, which means it isn’t going to be my favorite kind of thing. There are some interesting synth and percussion ideas here and there, though. And I really like her voice, but unfortunately I kept hoping that this particular record would expand its boundaries a bit the way I remember hearing on some later record that she did that I picked up in the mid-90s, but, this one didn’t stray too far. I have to admit I just didn’t really get into it.

Reminds me of Michelle Rodriguez movie characters for some reason

Not really my thing

Ok I was giving this album the benefit of the doubt due to age, even though it does sound like a pile of songs rejected by Salt and Peppa, that was until I got to the song The Next Generation. The lyrics to The Next Generation sounds like song written by a Qanon conspiracy nut, plastic surgery on babies? WTF? I could no longer take her serious as an artist after this song.