Review: Toally Insane - Back Street Life

Artist: Totally Insane
Album: Back Street Life
Year: 1995
Label: In-A-Minute Records

Hailing from East Palo Alto, Totally Insane consists of Ad Kapone and Mac-10. They hit the scene in '92 with "Direct From The Back Street" on the legendary bay label "In-A-Minute" who had artists such as I.M.P., Dre Dog and RBL Posse signed in the early '90's and in my opinion released some of the best albums ever recorded, not just in the bay but in the planet such as RBL's "A Lesson To Be Learned and I.M.P.'s "Back In The Days". It's groups like these along with the more known bay rappers like Short and Spice and also some of the more unknown artists putting in the hard yards like Chunk and Sean T who have paved the way for the way the bay went in the '90's. Unfortunately I haven't heard as much mad shit out of the bay in the last few years as before, although there are still some mad artists still pumpin' out some gems like those C.I.N. boys from Richmond..... Incredible.

Anyway as for the album at hand, it starts off with "Follow Me" a smooth laid back track about his neighbourhood, it's not the dopest track on the album but a nice way to start the album. Basically the next five tracks are all pretty sick they all have a nice beat with perfectly placed lyrics rapped over them with 4-Ever probably being the stand out one of them, track 7 "Neighbourhood Rockstarz" that features Money Marc, Scoot Dogg and Backstreet Mentality is definately the best track so far with all the rappers complementing each others style.

The next 3 tracks "Murder, Death, Kill", Playaz & Hustlaz" (ft. 11/5) and "The 4-1-1" are all smooth crazy tracks but the next one "Total Insanity" is the sealer, featuring Dre Dog and Hennesy (11-5) it's another case of title track burns. The album ends with "The Bad Hand Too" and "G-Shit" which are both def and "Back Street Life" thats a little bit too laid back for my liking. Overall I think the album is pretty fuckin' incredible, if your into those smooth bay beats with even smoother raps over them you'll love it and it's one of those albums that doesn't need features on every track to sell it. Unfortunately Mac and Ad can do slightly better as their previous two albums prove (although I know people who disagree) but you'll have a tough time finding a group that can bust into a verse as good as these guys. One other thing I love about this album is that it's released on wax with full picture cover (why arn't they all?).

MP3's:
Totally Insane - 4-Ever
Totally Insane ft. Dre Dog & Hennesy (11-5) - Total Insanity

Rating: 4 Daytons out of 5