Reviews (page 3 of 8)
2.4 2x decent enough. On way and in ATL on way to OAK for all hands Sacramento
Very good, one of the best I’ve heard on here.
3.5 plenty to like here.
This sounds like a fresh experimental rap beat dj innovative album. Never heard it but its a great sampling class for beginners. I liked it and although not for heavy rotation its good to listen to learn and know what was evolving into music in 1983
Knepigt. En del sköna "låtar". Men tydligt att det är hopkok och samplingar som i sig inte är klockrent. Spretar åt massa håll också. Men det är ändå en skön känsla nästan rakt igenom.
Även om Malcolm verkar ha snott det mesta och inte förtjänar särskilt mycket cred så tycker jag att det här var trevlig lyssning och jag förstår vilket avtryck den gjort på hiphopen, särskilt eftersom man plockar upp en hel del mer samtida referenser till denna. Samplingarna och sättet han samplar på känns nästan modernt, vilket imponerar med tanke på när den kom. Stark trea.
more eclectic and random than expected. I knew he was into rap back in the day. I was like listening to the radio in Grand theft Auto
5/10 – Mediocre
This sounds both ahead of its time and very 80s at the same time. Everything good about this album is most likely due to the original musicians and Trevor Horn.
Did Malcolm McLaren write this list?
2.0 - Weak
Did not really care for this one’s substance regardless of the appropriation claims people had been making. No original raps, not very interesting production
The songs I liked most on the album were still pretty mediocre. This was a strange album to be sure.
Bit all over the place and definitely taking music from all over the world. Surprised this was released in 1983, definitely sounds newer.
All over the place, but somehow works.
Stolen trash
What is this shit
This album is creative, interesting, and fun.
Listened Before? N Wait... this was made by a nearly 40-year old (at the time) white guy? No thanks. Added to Library? N Didn't add a song.
McLaren’s usual exploitation shtick. Some of the stuff he stole for this was pretty good, listen to that instead.
Alright 3/5
Fresh from his appropriation and commercialisation of punk, Malcolm appropriates and commercialises African and Cuban culture. This is essentially an Art Of Noise album with Malcolm as "creative director", whatever that might mean. Forgettable, unremarkable.
It’s amazing how good the stuff that other artists do on here is and how fucking ass his stuff is. This also spawned the abysmal British white guy does parody hip hop song that was basically all over the UK until like 2007
I guess for 83 it’s kinda decent
It feels like a kind of cynical rich guy cashing in on music he heard at shows.
quatsch 2/5
I can see the future
I see the influence, too all over the place for my taste
I was absolutely ready to give this a three, but Duck For The Oyster is just so stupid. This does some interesting things, but I’m not sure I would really return to it with all the radio call-ins between the songs. Favorite songs were Buffalo Gals, Jive My Baby, and World’s Famous.
This album felt very disjointed to me...hard to really explain it was just...not good.
Очекував повеќе.
Very strange stuff... I like the first song but the rest is very so and so.
Even for early 80's rap/hip-hop, this stuff is cheesy.
Quack
It sounded indeed like ducks made this
Felt like noise
WHY
Nope
3.5/10
Interesting album
Endelig noget der var helt sit eget og unikt. Har gemt åbningsnummeret og synes der var nogle højdepunkter, men det var også lidt skørt nogengange. Et album der mixer lyde fra både afrika og sydamerika og har eftersigende bragt hip hop indflydelse ind i britisk kultur. 3.5
The music was catchy and enjoyable but the history behind this album was not.
Mad as a box of frogs but brilliant anyway
Problematični klasik ranog sempliranja
I didn't mind this.
Sigh... Let's ignore the fact that Malcolm McClaren is a complete piece of shit, and that this album is 100% appropriation of black and latin music with little to no credit given to the actual creators and performers. Even what he has curated here is mediocre at best. This era has so many better examples of EVERYTHING represented on this album. Thought I might enjoy this, but it's embarrassing and infuriating.
Cultural exploitation - the album. Didn't even like it, too confusing for my taste. And the way this guy just puts his name on other people's work is disgusting.
3.5
3.5
I guess this might have been a bit influential but it is a chore to get through in this day and age.
Different
It’s fun but kinda all over the place. Then apparently all of this are uncredited ripoffs, not helping
The Malcolm McLaren who recorded this mess is the kind of guy who would come back from a Jamaican holiday wearing cornrows
80s hip hop. The album mixes up styles from South Africa, Central and South America, the Caribbean, and the United States, including hip hop. Loads of samples and beats. World music influences.
A lot of people have rated this low on the basis that McLaren is a jerk and cultural appropriator. I didn’t know any of that going in, and from what I’ve read, it sounds like he was more of a lovable jerk than say, Ryan Adams, who I just reviewed before this. I mean, dude was affiliated with the Sex Pistols and said aloud (rather than kept the notion a secret like 98% of other artists here) that he intended on making money through his music. Everybody steals from everybody. Eminem would pay homage to this- two trailer park girls go around the outside (I’d never known what that line was all about- now finally, clarity!). All that being said, my impression from the music alone, going in fresh, was that this was awesome. This is wild, crazy, and fancy free. We go from hip hop to Africa to some weird hallucinatory cartoon cowboy rodeo thing. I will put this on again. This is one worth the vinyl collection. And to the haters who can’t get their head around why this should be here, chill bro. We need more insanity and unbridled creativity like this in our world.
Day791 - worlds famous is a pretty good one but this is a little too old school for me
Ryan Coogler made Sinners bc of ppl like this. Big gentrified mess 3.4/10
How the hell did this "bring hip hop to a wider audience in the UK"? If anything I'm surprised it didn't make British hip hop even less popular. Yea this is complete bullshit that can barely be considered hip hop in the first place. Favorite track: World's Famous 1.5/5
I suppose I can understand why this album was included on the list, it was ground-breaking in the UK at the time. But McLaren's rapping is awful, the mixing is ragged, it's a dumb mess. Worst was the use of African musicians without giving them due credit. That's basically stealing, isn't it?
I didn't like this much, so it's not getting a good review. Interesting that this predates Graceland, though.
Un cas intéressant ! C’est un album influent qui a contribué à faire connaître le hip-hop à un nouveau public. Y’a des samples intéressants venus d’un peu partout. C’est un album de hip-hop (ou de proto-hip-hop) qui arrive en 1983, bien avant les plus grands noms du genre. Musicalement, c’est très sympa quoiqu’un peu décousu. Mais ça a été fait par l’arriviste à qui on devait déjà les Sex Pistols. Vu comme le mec s’est approprié le mouvement, la sincérité de sa démarche en produisant cet album est plus que douteuse. Mais ça reste un album plutôt sympathique.
I don’t really know what to say. I enjoyed it but what it is. Seems to be a lot of stolen sounds and culture….
sorry but TWO tracks from this going top 10 in the UK is the funniest thing i ever heard. obviously this is 'problematic' in the ways that MM didn't credit any of the musicians he sampled and worked with... interesting because the world famous supreme team are so foregrounded which says something about how he engages with cultures and which he finds more palatable... very strange and interesting album and I guess it got me thinking about Graceland which i think is way more offensive especially considering Paul Simon broke the cultural boycott against apartheid in South Africa to record it... anyways the music i thought was really awesome and reading more about MM it seems his politics were solid and good.. on his wiki it says his last words were: "Free Leonard Peltier"... so shout out my guy LOL
It gives me mix feelings.. Some times I like a track and then I don't anymore.. Not a bad one by any mean but not sure I will relisting to it 3/5
Tudo ao mesmo lugar ao mesmo tempo
Curioso e experimental
Pretty decent! Interesting sound.
Some worldly sounding music mixed with some hip hop. I recognize some parts as samples from other more current artists (you know what I mean!). Can’t seem to know what it wants to be
Not enough quacking, but this is still pretty cool!
WHAT WAS THIS WHAT
Malcolm McLaren sucks as a person, but at least he was able to introduce some folks into these varied sounds. The album itself is messy and all over the place, and it’s far from great, but there are a few catchy tracks scattered throughout that make it at least somewhat interesting.
I'm sure it was groundbreaking at the time but, out of context, it just sounds like a weird 80s experiment. Not sure what parts of this Malcolm McLaren was actually responsible for; seems to me he just coerced a bunch of regional musicians into a recording studio and mashed it together with modern music of the day.
The hip-hop track "Buffalo Gals" is an amazing collaboration between clothing store owner Malcolm McLaren and former Yes lead singer Trevor Horn but the rest of the album is off-brand Afropop that'll make you wish you'd bought the real thing instead.
An odd album, impressively ahead of its time but also there’s a can of worms here that makes it hard to approve of
Not my cup of tea
A culturally important piece of media that is far more interesting to talk about than to listen to. Malcom McLaren's whole schtick was selling brits on approachable but "exotic" music.
This album feels like flipping between channels on the GTA V radio trying to find a good song and yet never finding anything for 43 minutes straight. This album is a very novel idea of meshing together so many different sounds in an attempt to reach a loud of different audiences, but when those sounds being tested are even more niche for the time of this album's release than the already very niche genre of Turntablism you already know this won't appeal to very many people. This project is kooky and bizarre in a lot of ways I feel are very exclusive to the time and era this project came out and could never be effectively replicated in today's day and age. I did not get any sort of satisfaction or enjoyment out of this album and I truly don't think anyone will unless they are mentally stuck in the 80s and even then I don't think many people enjoyed this then either. Just a very strange project to deem as "essential" when it is one of the furthest projects from that on the entire list.
Real Phil Spector vibes. A window into 80s "world music," as told by some random British guy. Lacks cohesion.
yea i dont know. didnt like it. felt like every catchy bit was diffused by something weird or goofy. plays like a gta radio station without the songs, only the host insterstitials and weird parody ad breaks. best sounding thing was Double Dutch
Rating: 1/10 Fuck this guy! He didn't write or compose or produce any of the music created on this record and as a super early example of turntablism this thing might have been influential to Beastie Boys and whatever else after it, but the whole story of this album is lame as fuck. True turntablists and plunderphonics artists put in such heavy work to transform the art they're using into something unique and interesting. This dude just appropriated international sounds and styles and didn't pay any of them for the work they, not he, actually put into this album. And I really don't think anyone gives a shit about this album anymore, if they ever did
So this album was very varied, and kind of fun, pretty random, and instead of annoying me it mostly just confused me. I don't know what it's supposed to be and I'm not looking that up either, instead I'll just say it was an interesting little collection of hip hop country ambient tribal gospel "songs". The opposite of a great closer, Duck For The Oyster was dumb 4.6/10
This was an odd album that took me on an eccentric journey. I dont know if it was my cut of tea or not. Working on expanding my horizons.
Non il mio genere. Sbaglio o è stato stampato da Eminem (Runny outside??)
So bizarre but very fun. Can’t say I’d reach for any of these individually but as a group they work really well because of the radio show format, which I really enjoyed.
had to do a deep dive on 'world's famous supreme team' radio show, the nation of gods and earth, and 5 per centers. really interesting time in American history and a ton of artists i like were influenced by people who lived in this time 3/5
buffalo girls go round the outside round the outside
My rating 2.6. It’s fine
Of its time I guess, a couple of reasonable tracks but not enough to warrant a listen or being on this list
This was so weird and fun. I don't really get how it was made/produced... a lot of uncredited artists I guess? Very fun listen though!
I mean its kind of a bop idk maybe im just in a weird mood
Had one song that I really enjoyed, but the rest wasn't my type of music.
God this fucking sucked. Appropriative and annoying. The only decent elements of this did not even originally come from McLaren. Obatala is a nice track but now that I've learned about Malcom McLaren, it can not save this rating and I feel none the wiser.
2. dos.
I'm sure there are some interesting bits to this but it really didn't work for me.
Something plunderphonic about it, in good and bad ways. Who is McLaren ripping off on this track. Still a fun worldly sound, and actually pretty cool. 3.5 rounded down Heard before? Some Owned: No 48/209 (22%) Will I get: No
While I didn’t hate every individual part, I didn’t care for the way they were organized into this eclectic mix of an album. Or the filler in between.
Man plunders music from all over the world then passes it off as his own - is this the most British album of all time? Catchy tho
Baffled by the choice of this album over any of the Art of Noise albums, who worked on this album, but were much more influential on their own records. It was the Art of Noise albums that were essential to long term music history, not the lame Malcolm McLaren. I would argue that his girlfriend Vivienne Westwood was a much more influential to the popularity of punk and new wave than anything that McClaren personally did by himself. But Art of Noise was influential to how everyone writes and records albums all the way up to today. I respect the artists who were sampled on this record, but do not respect Malcolm McLaren's bullshit take on their efforts. This album has no place on this list. And it does not exemplify hip hop at all much less the good to great hip hop from the 1980s.
basically a compilation album of a bunch of random types of music so he can pretend he predicted it. Sounds like a mike myers rap album (Not a bad thing!)
Eeeeeerrrrfffffiiiiittttttt. En sumt gaman.
Sometimes interesting world music/hip hop fusion that often ends up just hokey
First record I couldn't make it through. I really tried, but it was actively killing my mood, and eardrums.
fascinatingly eclectic but generally danceable. the interstitial material isn't great. real shame they put the white dude's name on it, it feels like almost more of a collaboration / compilation album
this was a bit bonkers but i loved it
Feels more like cultural appropriation than a fusion of musical styles.
This is a really interesting record. As a huge Wu-Ta g fan this sounded familiar to me. It took awhile but I was able to pick out the moments that RZA used either in whole or as inspiration for his records. I like the mixture of sounds and styles and the segments with The Supreme Team enough want to listen again.
first song was nice and chill, and the album overall had a couple of moments where I thought it was pretty nice. Overall though I did not like this
This was just weird, not a fan. Stand-outs - Obatala - Buffalo Gals - Legba
Really not what I expected, which was more angry punk and shouting. I liked a lot of layering that was happening throughout this album, and it was overall a fun listen.
Very surprising?! This is so 80s. Which is not a bad thing. A bit too much talking but this was a fun listen.
I am fully aware this is appropriated music without due credit to many of the artists, but I did really enjoy this (not so much the constant talking) which I wasn't expecting at all. The album itself is incredibly creative and upbeat and I particularly liked hearing Buffalo Gals because of how it inspired Eminem's Without Me.
Felt weird that all of these white guys were using such cultural music and not giving any credit. The concepts were interesting but I don't think the execution was the best, especially the singing.
It was sort of like a musical collage. It kept me guessing. I liked some of the latin-sounding songs in the middle. It was quite a journey of an album; I don't know what to rate it, but I'll be generous and give it a four since it did something so unique. I would not listen to this not in album form, which is a big plus from my point of view.
It’s no Graceland.
2.5
I thought it had interesting beats.
There was a moment around the early 80s where punks and punk-adjacent made second-hand hip-hop/afropop records (Mick Jones' Big Audio Dynamite, Captain Sensible's "Wot", much of Joe strummer's solo output) of varying degrees of quality and authenticity. I'm not sure Malcolm McLaren was even in the room when any of this music was assembled by Thomas Dolby and Art of Noise. Like the aforementioned, though, it is undeniably catchy stuff. I want to hate it, but I will have "Buffalo Gals" in my head for the rest of the day.
Malcolm McLaren is an interesting figure. People joke that in the Sex Pistols, he essentially created a punk rock Boy Band (they have a point); a few years later he stole Adam Ant’s backing band to create Bow Wow Wow, led by a hypersexualized 13-year-old girl. I see him as a not entirely benevolent Loki-type marketing impresario. Here he steps into the role of producer-musician and delivers an arty post-punk album of adventurous, laissez-faire sonic collage. I like it. It’s a fun and interesting pastiche of disparate sounds, audio snippets and musical styles, delivered by what would become The Art of Noise. McLaren wasn’t the first punk act to dabble in hip-hop — both The Clash and Blondie had already done that — but I think it works, and the genre was still mostly foreign to white audiences in 1983. He did, however, beat Paul Simon by several years to the charms of South African township jive (and then got sued for not crediting any of the musicians). The two singles are dumb but infectious, but closer “Duck For the Oyster” is irredeemably annoying and should have been cut.
Yeahhhhhh that last song..... what.
Some of the songs are good, but the radio patter in between songs and the weird way the radio host calls women "females" ruined it for me.
What the duck is this?
I didn’t mind some songs but then I read he didn’t credit any of the artists so that’s a shitty thing to do isn’t it Malcolm?
the hiphop is a little too gritty
Music for crazy people
Нихуя се менеджер секс пистолз че делал
DNF. Fuck this Best Song: N/A Rating: 1/10 Stars: 1
I'm not a fan of his style of singing/rapping, it's off-putting and uninteresting. Everything else about this is pretty fire, though. It's a r ally fun fusion of a lot of different sounds and styles. Some of it gets a little weird, bordering in bad, like "Duck For The Oyster". But overall a really fun listen with bonus points for innovation and bold decisions. Favorite Song(s): Double Dutch
Some good variety here. It's irreverent and silly at times, which generally appeals to me, but this album just doesn't really.
Completely unknown and completely surprising. This is such a fun album. A lot of world sounds and hip hop for this being a white guy from the UK, but so be it. Can't deny the fun.
In its way, kind of a brilliant bit of sampling and borrowing to make something surprising, fun, fluent, and way ahead of its time. Not everything works, and McLaren's narcissistic refusal to credit any of the musicians involved, or any of the inspirations, is contemptible. Still, it holds up as an album, not just an odd cultural artefact.
based on the first song, i would have never guessed what the rest of the album was going to sound like… based on the first and SECOND song, i would have never guessed what the rest of the album was going to sound like… by the 5th track i had given up on trying to figure it out and just sat back and enjoyed the ride.
🐥🎸
Wow, this was totally unexpected. I have no idea what I thought it was going to be, but it definitely wasn't what it turned out to be. Initially I thought it was early rap or hip hop, but it deviates from that into a delightful blend of different world cultures. Very pleasantly surprised.
strange but decent
Odd album, but I personally really liked it. But I can't really give it any higher than I did, since it isn't my favorite genre and the oddities were a bit too much in the end. 3/5
That was really cool. Listened to it a couple of times.
I get that this was made by a white dude from the UK, but I was tapping my toes throughout. Fun record.
Can't take thiss seriously..doesn't deserve to ve here though a couple of catchy tracks.
I had no expectations of this and even then they were not met. I am not even sure what this was, a blend of hip hop, Latin music, and general world sounds I think.
It’s like a caricature of an album, as if someone went on vacation to an exotic place, fell in love with the music there, and then rushed home to create something that mimicked the sounds of their trip.
White Boy Listens To World Music once:
I suppose a case could be made that I HAD to hear this album before I died. But I think I could argue just as effectively that this is 45 minutes of my life I'll never get back again. I'm leaning toward overrating it slightly just because of its exuberant mixture of various sounds and musical influences. But truly, I can't imagine I will still remember this two weeks from now.
Like the Art of Noise but somehow worse.
Duck Rock, indeed.
Not my thing
wtf was that
It's a bit weird but i like it, not quite 4 but i'll still give it
Honestly this was fun
1 star because fuck this guy.
This really seems like an album that you should either love or hate - but I somehow land at around a 2.5, I think I just don't understand it. The opening track was fantastic, it sounded like solid video game music. But then it goes down this strange concept of listening to a hip hop - Afropunk radio station, and the songs were sometimes interesting with good beats and variety, but also strange and disconnected? And there are moments of the album where I become genuinely annoyed, like certain repeated phrases on Buffalo Gals and Duck For the Oyster. What sounded like a very polarizing album is just a 2/3 for me
Surprised to say I'm enjoying this. "Sex Pistols guy does hip hop-infused weird experimental stuff" was not a promising pitch. Listening notes: -What the hell? Eminem sampled *this* for Without Me? -The weird kinda calypso track is interesting. This is definitely an eclectic album -Okay the latin dance segments mixed in here are fascinating. What a strange lil album -But he doesn't really take enough time for there to be a realized vision here Review: Weird album. Glad it made the list, but content to mostly forget about it now.
I think it's easy to create a sonic sampler album when like this when you're committed to straight up stealing sounds from other cultures in the hopes of desecrating them all and turning them into cheap marketing gimmicks.
Three stars for trying something truly new; one star for doing so in the most morally dubious way imaginable; one star for containing 'Duck for the Oyster; one star for not even being nearly as good as Paul Simon at ripping off African artists. I'm not sure what that averages out to, but I think two stars will do.
Man, I just can’t with the cultural appropriation here. Some of the songs sound great, but my understanding is that that’s primarily thanks to the uncredited artists of color who aren’t named Malcolm McLaren….the songs where McLaren is most present are the worse ones. Apparently the album is an important historical document in the introduction of hip-hop to a UK audience? Yeah cool, I still can’t say it merits inclusion on this list. Or, at the very least, there should be an asterisk next to the artist’s name. Not coincidentally, McLaren is also the exploitative “architect” of the Sex Pistols (i.e., the guy who put them all in a band together and decided how they should dress, then took near-total credit for their success and talent even though he was basically just their marketing department). This album is the same type of exploitative shit, but with hip-hop and South African and Caribbean music instead of punk. McLaren is like a pretentious curator in an art gallery where all the names on the artwork are crossed out and “Malcolm” is written in crayon. BOOO.
Not what I was expecting.
Lacked cohesion
It might be cultural appropriation but it's also fire
not sure what Malcolm was trying here but it didn't workb
This may be influential but that doesn’t mean it’s good. It feels messy and incomplete.
“Personnel” section of the Wikipedia page on this one is fucking hilarious. Uncredited. Uncredited. Who gets credited? Oh I see, the English guy. The Portuguese guy. The “Mclarenettes” (excuse me while I go and vomit). Malcom McLaren: “impresario”. Lmfao. And all this on top of 87 uses of “female” as a noun referring to a human being. Wow. And the end result is not even particularly enjoyable to listen to. Lmfaooooo
Inventive and fun, will need more than one listen. The story behind it is wild.
I could see myself listening to this at a resort, would make some crazy hip-hop samples
Once upon a time, MTV was cool...now it's just dead.
Very interesting listen. Afro-Carribean feel.
Pretty stupid album that has no place on a list like this. Yes, there are some interesting world music songs and I understand that it had a big influence on introducing rap to the UK. But what's unforgivable is McLaren's "singing" or spoken word that torpedoes every song. If he had had somebody else do vocals these songs would be much better. And the DJ thing gets old very quickly. Why the hell is this album on here?
This is meh, kinda fun and I get that its on here for what a novelty it must have been, especially in the UK in the early 80s. But its got to lose at least a star for me for how irrelevant it feels. Is anyone who's not doing this generator listening to this in 2026? And the fact that he gave no credit to a lot of the artists he threw on here sucks too.
Could this be the best music album ever recorded by a music manager? I say this in both the best and worst ways possible.
Went over my head but I recognized where Eminem got his line from
I didn't realize until halfway through that this was the same Malcolm McLaren that managed the Sex Pistols and New York Dolls. Weird that he felt he should do this too. This record is pretty trash. It sounds like an out of touch white guy's idea of what 'ethnic culture' would be. Like, who did he make this for? If this had come out now it would be immediately pegged as racist, culturally appropriated garbage. And that is pretty much exactly what it is. Would this be on the list if this guy didn't manage the Sex Pistols? Probably not. I suppose it's supposed to be a novelty record so maybe I judge it a little less harshly because of that? 2/5
One of the funnest albums this generator has given. I really enjoyed it and was surprised about the mesh of different sounds. McLaren is like an 80s Fatboy Slim and would definitely listen to this again.
First thoughts. Uh oh. I've avoided this since I saw McLaren on TV in the 90s claiming he invented hip hop. But that's the point of this, right, to listen to something you wouldn't necessarily choose and be challenged. 4/5 for the music, -10,000 for not giving the musicians on this the money and credit owed.
Didn’t think the music in itself was that bad but as it happens one Malcolm seems to be the scum of the earth so won’t be listening again.
1. McLaren is a horrible person 2. Idk what I'm listening to here. 3. What did McLaren actually do here in terms of production? All vocal/speaking sections are definitely not him, and none of the sounds were created by him because it's mainly sampled/plagiarised. The second half is better, but I will not accredit that to McLaren
Craaaazy album. Tour of west africa, south america, central america. hilarious DJ interludes, I enjoyed. Fav is between Punk It Up and Jive my Baby, the latter probably just beating it out. 4/5.
Was not aware he made music. Bizarre. Not sure how to classify this one.
Well that was a surprise. Almost didn't listen after that PIL album. It pains me this predates the Beastie Boys, very much wanted to call it a rip off. Good job Malcolm!!
Weird, the genres of the songs were all over the place
Upsiii. Da ist wohl aus Versehen ein total beschissenes Album in diese komische Liste gerutscht - schon wieder … 🐣 bald kann ich das Buch bzw. die Liste wirklich nicht mehr ernst nehmen - halte es für unwahrscheinlich, dass ich bis zum Ende dabei bleibe. Ich schätze, es lässt sich an jedem Tag eine Platte finden, die eine hier gelistete verdrängen kann.
Nette Idee für ein Album, ungeschickt umgesetzt.
Much better as a world music album than a hip hop album. Fairly fun.
I have no idea why anyone would choose this album for the list. The music is occasionally interesting, but not interesting enough to merit being here. 2/5
This album feels like an exercise in how to make the most annoying music possible. 0.5/5.0: Unlistenable
i was actually enjoying the world music aspects of this album until learning about how the actual creators of the music went uncredited and didnt receive any royalties. the other components of this album were straight up bad and annoying. not to mention, the last song, duck for the oyster might be the worst thing ive heard through 581 albums on this project.
I appreciate the incorporation of African music, but after reading other reviews, I'm not sure how ethically this was done. Wouldn't listen to this again, but maybe I should stop reading reviews before I listen to the albums! Just found out he was married to Vivienne Westwood, I appreciate the taste Also love organically discovering samples that I didn't know about before
There's a lot going on in this record, and a lot of it isn't good. Interestingly, the record resembles a radio station, but it misses the mark when trying to focus on a single form of sound. Favourite Track(s): Buffalo Gals Least Favourite Track(s): Soweto
A funny record that should brighten your day!
The concept and vision of Duck Rock are really impressive but the backstory of the plagiarism and exploitation completely sours the record. Best treated as a compilation of various artists, ignoring the evil manager slapping his name and lyrics on the record. Great to use as a jumping point into genres like mbaqanqa and merengue (and the actual artists behind the songs) but functionally distasteful listening.
Cool to hear the music that influenced Eminem. Also, very dynamic sound. It was all over the place. Not enough melody though.
Listens: 2 Standout Tracks: Buffalo Gals, Double Dutch I can't really make heads or tails of what this is supposed to be. proto-hip-hop influences, along with a lot of percussion beats and rhythms? Sort of reminded me of Nightmares on Wax. It was like listening to a disc jockey live on the radio in the 80s or 90s - not that I have any personal experience with that. This album is apparently somewhat responsible for popularizing hip-hop in the UK in the 1980s. And then, of course, the thing I personally recognize the most is the fact that Eminem sampled/remixed Buffalo Gals on Without Me (The Eminem Show). I am pretty sure I also caught another sample; subtle: Deltron 3030 sampled the background beat in El San Juanera on their track New Coke (which is more of a skit than a song).
Fun album, bit incoherent musically but I guess it is an interesting medley of 1983 hiphop, puerto rican and south african music?
2/5
Decent
This was alright, I’d never heard of the artist before but had heard of a couple of songs 🤣
What the hell did I just listen to? I knew Malcolm McLaren was utterly crap as a person and an impresario, but to credit him with "bringing hip-hop to a wider audience in the United Kingdom" according to Wikipedia, seems way too much. I mean, Derek B. did a whole lot more for hip-hop and rap in the UK than this persona non grata. Add to that the fact that he never paid any royalties to the South African and Caribbean artists, who made this album at least a kind of appreciable, and the utterly lame rap, the '80s production by Trevor Horn, and the pirate-radio samples that were supposed to make this a genuine experience, and you've got all the ingredients of an incompetent, unimpressive, and totally misplaced album on this list. 1/5
Very enjoyable and somewhat iconic (even if some of it was thieved).
It’s fine and all, but it sounds more like a sample album or a tech demo than a collection of actual music.
12/25/25. Merry Christmas! Pretty interesting one to get on this day, feels nostalgic in a weird way with the radio station cut-ins throughout. Enjoyed the catchy samples and rhythms presented, and sounds like a soft introduction to hip hop to an unfamiliar crowd.
Songs are good but I don’t think McLaren is what makes them good. Probably better examples of NY radio shows and South African music.
Uma metralhadora giratória sem pontaria. Atira pra todo lado e não acerta em nada. Perda de tempo.
Interessante geschiedenis deze man, de originele culture vulture? Een paar nummers van hem zijn ontelbaar keer gesampled, dus er zit wel wat tussen.
Groovy music. Background sorta thing
Well, to put a positive spin on it, Malcolm McLaren is a compiler of different styles of world music, some of which later became their own genre (e.g. Hip Hop, when it was still good in the 80s). It's an interesting idea on paper, but the execution is just done in a totally uninteresting way. Especially, I don't think that the aforementioned genres got their rise to prominence because of this album, and so, nothing good has come from the album. It's a wasted effort. 2/5
Uno de esos discos, no poco abundantes en esta lista, que se siente que envejecieron terriblemente. Sí, seguramente su experimentación sorprendió en su año, pero escucharlo hoy resulta un tanto insoportable. Tiene un par de tracks medio chistosos, pero en general me la pasé deseando que terminara lo antes posible. Me he topado aquí con discos experimentales que tienen casi 50 años y se sienten tan sorprendentes como seguramente lo hicieron el día que salieron. Pero con Duck Rock, creo que el chiste se le agotó al siguiente día de haber salido.
I had no idea what to expect and I wasn't disappointed. This was way ahead of its time. I expect something like this from Negativland or a trip hop DJ in the mid to late 90s, not 1983 This thing is all over the map. It's pop, it's hip hop, it's world music.... it's brilliant. I can't believe it fell under my radar for so long. Honestly Duck Rock is the kind album I want to be introduced to with this 1K1 Albums project. This one's a winner.
Wow. This is bad. It's cultural appropriation at best and plagiarism at worst. But even beyond that, it's just put together terribly. A few of these tracks would be ok on their own, maybe on albums by the artists it was appropriated from. I see a lot of comparisons to Graceland. I guess they are both 80w albums with "World" influences. Paul Simon at least made the appearance of working with the artists he narrowed from. He also has talent, which is very much lacking here.
So many sounds, genres and styles all mashed together to produce a totally unfocussed piece of work - mostly junk.
Honestly this was weird as hell, but really fun to listen to! 3.5 stars
Why does it have such a low 2.65 rating?? Okay, sometimes it's stolen, but fuck copyright. Copyright is shit. Besides, that’s a great album created by a sick person. Why sick? Who the fuck comes up with the idea to mix all of this and hip hop in a radio program wrap?! How many genres you want? Yes It feels like Columbian ex-Medellin cartel narco who's still on coke and moved to LA, learned what hip-hop is on TV and wanted to make an album with as many genres and music all around the world in a wrap of hip hop radio program. WTF The listening experience of this like Compton with Bronx interrupting Mexico City and trying to take over control. Legba track is like aliens invading Colombia, but in the end American black LA gangsters saved everyone. I want to relisten to it, especially Jive My Baby, while riding a cabriolet in the San-Fernando Valley. 3/5 —————————————— Liked: — Merengue
First time listening... I'll admit I liked way more than I thought I would.
I kept expecting to hate this but I made it through the whole record and for reasons I’m not in touch with actually… enjoyed it? Even the cheesy MC/DJ stuff. I don’t think it was nostalgia because this wasn’t my thing back in the day. It’s was far better than most of the 80’s hip hop in this list.
This was a strange blend of world music and early hip hop. I could have done without the fake call in show bits. As strange as it was, it kept my interest.
I didn't connect with this and found it to be somewhat annoying. I didn't find the mashups of different genres to work for me.
Malcolm McLaren – *Duck Rock* (1983) An in-depth, track-by-track tour of the most joyfully problematic record ever cut in a London basement. --- ### 1. Context & Cast - **Executive “concept”**: McLaren, fresh from dismantling punk with the Sex Pistols, decides the next frontier is “music that hasn’t been colonised by rock”. - **Studio brains**: Trevor Horn (Art of Noise) builds the beats on the Fairlight; Anne Dudley arranges strings; J.J. Jeczalik chops tapes; Thomas Dolby adds synth gloss. - **Un-credited stars**: Mahlathini & the Mahotella Queens (South Africa), the World’s Famous Supreme Team (NYC), plus half a dozen township guitarists and go-go percussionists whose names never appeared on the sleeve. --- ### 2. Lyric Sheet (what there is of it) McLaren doesn’t “write songs”; he pastes square-dance calls, pidgin Spanish, playground chants and radio-drop slogans over other people’s music. The words function as tourist sign-posts rather than narrative: - **“Buffalo Gals”** – square-dance commands (“round the outside”) become the first hip-hop couplet most British kids ever heard. - **“Double Dutch”** – jump-rope rhymes traded with Mahlathini’s Zulu growl; language as jump-cut. - **“Soweto”** – almost no English; the Queens’ township melody is left untranslated, exoticised. - **“Duck for the Oyster”** – hoedown square-dance clichés delivered so straight they circle back to surreal. **Verdict**: Lyrics are collage, not confession; they age best when they stay phonetic and meaningless. Whenever McLaren tries to “mean” something (“Punk It Up”) it curdles into self-mythology. --- ### 3. Music – the good bits he didn’t actually play The sonic blueprint is early-80s crate-digging before crate-digging had a name: | Track | Core Loop | Added Spice | Why it still slaps | |-------|-----------|-------------|--------------------| | Buffalo Gals | 1979 NYC breakbeat “Pump It Up” | Fairlight stabs, square-dance caller | First UK record to scratch in real time; Eminem samples it 19 years later | | Double Dutch | Mahlathini guitar figure + Queens call-and-response | Horn’s Linn-Drum claps | Township funk at 110 BPM = proto-graceland with grit | | Soweto | Straight lift of the Queens’ 1977 single “Thatha S’thandana” | Dudley’s string pad (one overdub) | Still the happiest 3-minutes of township pop ever pressed | | World’s Famous | Supreme Team radio show | Live skip-proof scratch | Pre-figs De La Soul’s “Doin’ Our Own Dang” skit aesthetic | | Duck for the Oyster | Appalachian fiddle 78 rpm | Chipmunk-pitched vocal | So stupid it becomes avant-garde | **Production tricks that became templates** - Micro-sampling voice as percussion (years before Art of Noise’s “Close to the Edit”). - Segue-way radio drops => DJ Shadow / Prince Paul album continuity. - World-music + breakbeat = blueprint for “worldbeat” 1986-92 (Soul II Soul, Massive Attack). --- ### 4. Themes (intended & accidental) **Intended**: Global jukebox; punk’s DIY applied to the whole planet; “authenticity is dead, long live collage”. **Accidental**: Colonial tourism; white mediator profits off Black bodies; credit lines as reparations. **Meta-theme**: The album *is* its own controversy – every listen forces you to decide whether pleasure justifies plunder. --- ### 5. Influence – where you still hear it - **Hip-hop**: First top-40 UK home-grown “rap” record; opens the door for Cookie Crew, Monie Love, Soul II Soul. - **Pop**: Paul Simon hears “Double Dutch”, books Ladysmith Black Mambazo for *Graceland*. - **Electronic**: The Fairlight programming DNA runs through Art of Noise, Trevor Horn’s work with Frankie Goes to Hollywood, and later big-beat (Fatboy Slim samples “Buffalo Gals” live intro). - **Visual**: Boom-box cover art becomes clip-art for 80s B-boy flyers; Supreme Team comic-style drops pre-date Gorillaz. --- ### 6. Pros & Cons in 2025 ears | Pros | Cons | |------|------| | Still the most genre-per-minute fun you can have in 40 minutes | McLaren credited as “songwriter” on tracks he neither wrote nor performed | | Introduced township mbaqanga and NY scratching to suburban UK kids who thought “rap” meant “Rapture” | Mahlathini & the Queens were paid session fees, not royalties; lawsuit settled out of court | | Horn/Dudley production = master-class in lo-fi sampling, tape edits, and drum-machine swing | McLaren’s vocal moments are tourist-level embarrassing (“Punk It Up”) | | Track-to-track segues feel like a mixtape, predates De La Soul by 5 years | Last track “Duck for the Oyster” is unlistenable novelty that nukes the album’s second side | | Artwork & logo (by Dondi White) is hip-hop history you can frame | Album ends up classified as “novelty” in most shops, undermining its innovations | --- ### 7. Bottom line Listen with uBlock on your conscience: the good bits are *great*, the bad bits are a teaching moment. Stream the African-rooted tracks (“Soweto”, “Double Dutch”) on repeat; buy the Mahlathini originals when you’re ready to tip the scales toward justice. *Duck Rock* is neither masterpiece nor scam; it’s a Rosetta Stone showing how fast Western pop can mine, remix and market the globe – and how long the bill takes to arrive.
WTF is this? When did he do this? And why?
# Album Name: Duck Rock # Artist: Malcolm McLaren # Rating: 1/5 # Comments: Absolute dog shit. Not sure about all these comments saying he ripped off the black genre's as his own. He obviously picked the wrong content. # Top Tunes: # Would I listen to it again? No
Wow this is terrible!
Had no idea what to expect, and enjoyed myself quite a bit. An interesting mix of stuff to listen to.
A random selection of samples put together into a rancid gumbo that is sure to get the limbo party jumping! we might even see a white boy try to breakdance! This works best as the backing music for a group of roller-skating buskers in the Florida Keys who milk an unimpressive trick for a long period of time in order to get the maximum guilt donations at the end. Chango is rolling in his grave. Get this away from me. 0 HIGHLIGHTS: X-Games crashes compilation 2013 (VIOLENT)
01) Obatala - 7,0 02) Buffalo Gals - 7,0 03) Double Dutch - 7,5 04) El San Juanera - 3,0 05) Merengue - 6,5 06) Punk It Up - 6,5 07) Legba - 5,5 08) Jive My Baby - 5,5 09) Song for Chango - 5,0 10) Soweto - 5,5 11) World's Famous - 6,0 12) Duck for the Oyster - 4,0 TOTAL: 5,75 (58/100) Current ranking: 632/758
this is the most early 80s sounding hip hop/DJ albumm I've heard. Some tracks are fine but any with Malcolm's actual voice in them are oddly unsettling
Just OK.
Bad
it's fine i guess, just not my vibe. Seeing other reviews, yikes. I don't get why the list would have this and not something actually important to hip hop? weird. the only reasons i'm not putting this as 1 is because I'm trying to save those for things I absolutely hate.
Not sure what I was expecting, but it wasn't this. Don't take this the wrong way. I actually enjoyed this funky, fun jam album! It's a good buffer between rap and rock I've been getting.
Looking at the reviews for this album, I had not a clue that this "artist" stole much (if not all) of his work from black artists. Knowing that did sour my opinion of the album a bit, but I will try to keep that out of this review. Overall, this album could prove to be very fun. It did get me moving at some points (which I credit to the people who actually made the songs, not McLaren), but it wasn't super consistent. I'd be vibing with one song and the next I would be in an entirely different realm of music. While I'm not fond of the blatant stealing from black artists, this was an okay listen. I didn't hate it.
What I got from an album called Duck Rock is about what I expected. Eclectic and unusual. The inclusion of so many kinds of world music is commendable and interesting, but it sure didn't make for a uniform listen. At least it was different from anything else on this list?
Well, I learned one thing today: Eminem interpolated material from "Buffalo Gals" for "Without Me". I had no idea. But in all seriousness, this was an interesting album. I didn't necessarily love it, but I was intrigued by a super white British guy's interpretation of hip-hop and world music fusion. His material is often too clashing and intentionally avant garde for my liking, but the moments where the various Caribbean, Latin and Black American inspired sounds shine through, it seems fairly obvious that he understood the assignment as far as working with these genres go. And by "working with these genres", I basically mean "taking them from their source cultures and then taking credit"... Anyway, I was intrigued by this album, but ultimately it didn't really land with me. I saw the vision, but the vision seemed to be "scatter as much world music in as possible". Would have liked for things to feel more cohesive and less of a hodge-podge, and for god's sake, AT LEAST credit the people you took this music from.
Like the radio interlude or rather then procession of the radio show in the songs. Obatala, Legba, are the two favs.
Not plain awful, more like raisin I'-d-rather-have-something-else.
Sjukt album. Allt från avslappningsband där man bara väntade på delfinjudet, lite härlig skratching, lärarrap och exotika. Tycker ändå det var lite småkul men kommer nog aldrig lyssna igen.
Bråkigt och iband helt galet, men lyssnade tyvärr inte så fokuserat så den fick TRE VARV! Fortfarande inte bra, men Punk It Up har NÅT!
Inget emot tidig, lite gladlynt och campig hiphop, men varför lyssna på det här när man kan lyssna på sugarhill gang eller grandmaster flash? Inget emot diskant afrikanskt gitarrplock, men varför lyssna på Graceland från temu när man kan lyssna på Graceland? Värst är det väl när McLaren själv rippedirappar.
Vad hände här egentligen... Kan det här ens klassas som ett album... Måste vara det fulaste omslaget jag sett... Och det sämsta namnet på ett "album"... Aldrig igen...
80-talet var så fackat…
80-talet strikes back! Tänkte ett tag att "jag gillar ju lite sväng" men den världsfrånvände britten i örat tar för mycket plats.
Weird and fun
eh not really my jam, a bit of a mix of sounds but none of them really landed well.
Nice groves
Wow I'd never heard of this album at all...unless you count the reference from Eminem's "without me". I really enjoyed this but feel like the whole radio show concept actually really detracts from my enjoyment of the listening experience and I would have loved this even more if it was just an instrumental world beat crossover album. Still a lot of really cool African inspired rhythms and sounds on this and it even predates Graceland by several years. So definitely ahead of its time/influential. Excited to see what else this guy did in his discography.
My garbage can makes sounds more pleasing than this record.
Musically this is a fun album. Some good sounds and vocals. It's a lot of fun. However I am not a fan of Malcolm McLaren's shtick. He was a guy who was happy to use people and appropriate to gain notoriety and fill his own bank account. So a bit of an oddity for me. A fun album put together by a dick head.
This turned out to be nothing like what I expected from the Sex Pistols’ former manager. Great fun and all over the map stylistically.
Holy cultural appropriation Batman! I can see why this would have made a splash at the time bringing a colourful mix of hip hop and world music (and oddly, a bit of country) to British listeners, but we all know McLaren was a right so and so for taking credit for the work and talent of others. This feels more like an eclectic DJ set or someone switching between radio stations than a cohesive album, but it is interesting. Probably not interesting enough to merit a second listen through tbh, although I did get a little buzz from recognising the Eminem hat tip. Disappointing lack of ducks
Officially the worst album I've ever listened to.
This would be "World Music" if the world in question was full of old sunburnt drunk white Englishmen. Disgusting.
Worst album of all time
This is fucking dogshit
Fun record. You can hear how much influence he had on later performers.
I skipped this originally as I bloody hate the man. In doing so I happened to look at some of the reviews and background so it only compounds my hate. Stripped of the man and the exploitation though, this was generally interesting enough, listenable and enjoyable. Largely due to all the people it ripped off though.
i think it was my mistake for listening to this on a day where i couldn’t really care much for new music, so i’m probably rating this harsher than i should. anyway, this is a no from me.
I don't know what I expected here, but it wasn't this. I think I expected hip hop and it felt more like Latin or African beats with some djs talking between the tracks and then a couple of tracks were they mention barn dancing. The world music beats were pretty nice, the rest of it was also on there. There was a bit Eminem has referenced, so I guess maybe it's influential in a world I'm not part of. It was fine.
It’s giving orientalist mish mash unfortunately. Looked up Malcolm McLaren afterwards and it seems to be an accurate picture of the artist. Better sampled by other musicians
I don’t know. . .
More interesting as a historical document than an album. But, cultural appropriation aside, not without its charm.
This was a good surprise - very different to what I expected from a guy i associates with punk savagery.
Quack Stone.
What an odd album. Mostly, it's some fairly risible cultural appropriation, but there are odd bits of quite joyful instrumentation and music. The opening two tracks in particular are very strong. But it definitely feels like Malcolm has nicked a lot of early hip hop ideas and is bringing them back to an extremely white British sensibility.
Pretty cheeks album. I didn’t hate the first few tracks. Very avalanches vibes. It became hard to listen to. Maybe I just don’t love “world music” that much. I can appreciate the notion that this album introduced hip hop to the UK, but that doesn’t outweigh not crediting artists in the album.
Should interesting, listenable music be put aside when it turns out to be largely appropriated? I don’t know, but…
First two songs were kinda cool but I didn’t really like it at all.
I don't see this entering regular rotation, but it felt interesting as a document of a time.
The manager of the Sex Pistols apparently gets inspired by hip hop beats in the early 80s and music from a whole bunch of different countries (mostly Latin America?) and makes this very weird, eccentric dance record that Eminem borrowed from at the beginning of “Without Me”. Did I get all that right? This is far better than it has any right to be.
It's not unlistenable just annoying as fuck to listen to
This was crazy old school hip-hop and more.
Annoying
This was an interesting one. I think I liked the...middle of the album the best. But given the history and background, now that I've read up on it, I don't think I'll listen to it again.
Favorite Track: Jive My Baby
boy. there's some real potential here. some really great instrumentals. and then this dumb asshole opens his mouth and starts sing rapping. the world music here should in all rights be pretty good, but having this guy who has the affect of an obnoxious white guy who can't take anything seriously makes this whole album feel like he's spitting in your face. at least paul simon seems like he appreciates the international music he regurgitates. i don't even know what the point of this album is when most of the time it makes you feel like you're witnessing a huge asshole being a quirky annoying british guy over what is some talented backing tracks. it actually pisses me off. if it wasn't for the quality of the music he is leeching this entire album, this would easily be a 1.
Loved it
yeah.... i get it, 1001 albums, its supposed to be diverse and enhance your view on music.... this just makes me wish another album was recommended and i can get my 50 minutes back
Pas mon genre musical
Two great songs. Two okay songs. The rest was boring to me.
1.9 Oof. What a strange one. On the one hand, I admire the effort. On the other hand, everything landed flat. It's as though someone was taken back in time and tasked with recreating the atmosphere of switching through the radio stations on GTA vice city, but without the talent to really nail any genre specifically. Strangely the first track was very AFX'y (surely that's been remixed at somepoint), but after that floated through a range of genres that I have no real interest in.
This was definitely a cool discovery from the album generator. I’m surprised I wasn’t already aware of it. You can tell this was made during the early stages of hip hop just by how much it explores outside the traditional boundaries of the genre and doesn’t feel restricted at all. For anyone who loves and appreciates the breakdancing, DJ, and producer side of hip hop, this album will hit the spot. It has rapping, but it’s not dominated by the MC, and if anything, the rapping feels more like a space filler. What really stands out is how the whole thing plays like a pirate radio broadcast, with a strong worldbeat influence, live DJ mixing, turntablism, and those radio style talk overs with call in guests interacting throughout the mix. It’s a really unique album for its time.
That was... interesting. Not bad, not good but interesting. I would listen to it again.
på den ene side er kombinationen af tidlig hiphop og world lidt interessant og unik, på den anden side er hele albummet næsten kun repetitive samples så ved ikke hvor essentielt jeg synes det er. elsker den er noteret for at "bringe hiphop til storbritannien" som om det land nogensinde har bidraget noget som helst til hiphop udover en meget kort bølge i 2002-2004 ca
Måske et af de mest UK-brained valg til listen overhovedet, hvilket ik siger så lidt. Lyder mest som at lytte til en enormt irriterende radiokanal i tre kvarter, og produktionskvaliteten på det egentlige musik var meeeh langt det meste af tiden. Lille 1er.
Smells like blacksploitation...
Awful, some genres are meant to be separate. I listened to a couple of his top 10 to see if he could redeem himself but he failed
Awesome!
This felt like a schizophrenic attack this whole album. Not for me. Did not tickle the tism
Not impressed, will not be listening again
I won’t be reminiscing about any of these songs on my deathbed but they were whacky enough to keep me entertained for 40 minutes.
Not terrible enjoyed more than expected but nothing great. Bit different from Sex Pistols days.
It’s a no from me 👎
Even the good songs are annoying.
I gotta say - a lot of unexpected turns. Music was pleasant enough
What a discovery!
A hilarious, early attempt at mashup. It screams “eccentric gives music a try”, but hey, it’s not that bad, and in general it’s well-received to be included on the 1001 albums list, which could use much more weirdness.
This was a bizarre but fun album. How can joyful African and Carribean reggae jams NOT be fun. Mix it with some early hip-hop and a "framing" structure of each track being played on a New York morning show or something - complete with call-in listeners. Definitely an interesting listen on my morning commute. This was the era when all these "World Beat" styles mixed with post-punk and new wave, much moreso in UK than USA. I was pleasantly surprised to see Trevor Horn's involvement in this production. It kept me listening. I could see playing this as background music at a party - but really, that's about it. An enjoyable spin.
Another one that falls more into novelty
Cultural appropriation in music form. It's a good mash up of an album - it's a shame that McLaren didn't credit any of the musicians he sampled and used. If we're being kind, it's a musical curio - important in the development of sampling and introducing hip-hop to a larger audience, but that's about it. Best Tracks: Obatala; Double Dutch; Punk It Up
It’s the Cheetos cheetah performing an after school music special.
Started out ok but got progressively worse.
What the fuck is this mess
If this album were any good, I'd be conflicted on how to rate it, as Malcolm McLaren is a serial appropriator of musical sub-cultures who attempted to capitalize on whichever cool new thing came wafting through his window. Thankfully it is not.
I did not like this one bit. I suspect McLaren just stole a bunch of music from other artists and stamped it with his name on it.
This was a pleasant surprise and something I had never heard before yesterday. As I mentioned in the chat, the fact that Eminem referenced Buffalo Gals blew me away. My favorites were that song, Double Dutch, and Punk It Up. As far as the cultural appropriation goes, I will outsource my thoughts to the Robert Christgau review from 40 years ago: I wish he'd thought to mention which specific Africans contributed to which specific tracks. Culture may be collective, but (in this culture) wealth ain't.
Preconception going into this: MM was a music impresario who put the Sex Pistols together. Cool! Result of listening: Well, that was different than I expected, but not terrible. Parts were pretty catchy. Guess it's on this list because it was influential in popularizing Afropop or world music or the like. Maybe South African music particularly -- I caught a reference to Soweto. It does seem like it may have been delivered without giving any credit to the actual musicians on it.
4/5 - I honestly could rate this anywhere between a 2 and a 4. I’m going to go on the high end, because despite the backstory, writing credits, etc, it feels like an important album for the time, and I enjoyed at least half the songs, and wouldn’t mind listening again. The whole project makes you think about how much music is borrowed, stolen, imitated, and pasted together to create new art. I’m not gonna untangle that with my insignificant rating here.