Steve 'Flash' Juon“Brooklyn to Compton… I set it off like Al Sharpton.”
Despite having mentioned “United We Slam” in my review of Timbo King’s solo album “From Babylon to Timbuk2,” neither myself nor anybody else I’ve worked with in 30+ years of reviewing rap albums had covered Tim’s debut. Side note — it used to bother me when someone said Wu-Tang Clan was “old school” because it was before their time. Back when “Enter the Wu-Tang” came out they were the cutting edge of East coast rap, and “old school” to me back then was Kurtis Blow, Kool Moe Dee, Sugarhill Gang, and so on. Now that it has been over 30 years since either album came out I realize two things: I’m fucking old, and if you call either release “old school” it’s fine. Unless you’re over the age of 27 “United We Slam” came out before you were born, and if you’re not over 32 there’s little to zero chance you remember Tim at all.
I’m not bringing up the Wu-Tang Clan by coincidence. Were it not for Tim’s affiliation with the Wu through groups like Black Market Militia, there’s a chance he’d have been forgotten altogether. It wouldn’t matter how many years ago “United We Slam” came out. The passionate fan base the Wu built up has resulted in even the most obscure releases having been indexed somewhere, reviewed or otherwise. Every so often I pull up one of those lists and see what I haven’t covered yet. Why? Because it’s fun. I enjoy these deep dives into Wu minutia. I also think that Harris “Hbomberguy” Brewis said something that rings true with me — if we don’t document these things when we have the chance, the history is in danger of being forgotten entirely.
The duo of Spark 950 on production and Timbo King on the mic was probably doomed to failure from the beginning by being on Scotti Bros. Records. The label isn’t even around today but back when it was still active in the 1990’s they were better known for being the label that gave “Weird Al” Yankovic his big break and the home of 80’s rock group Survivor. They clearly had aspirations of capitalizing on the popularity of rap music, but tended to wind up with one hit wonders rather than hip-hop acts with longevity. The irony is that 950 & King might have been the duo to break the mold for Scotti Bros. “Nuff Ruffness” has the swagger and boom bap of New York City rap down pat but promotion for the two started and ended with this single.
“United We Slam” does have a problem though that has nothing to do with their label being cheap. The release suffers from the 90’s hubris that plagued rap records called “excessive skits.” With only 11 tracks total, nearly 50% of that material is not actual songs, resulting in a release that’s under a half hour total. Come to think of it that may be a result of Scotti Bros. being cheap. I suppose you don’t need as much recording studio time for meaningless skits, and if you’re renting by the hour you want to get in and out fast as fuck. That still doesn’t excuse “Ice Cream Flavor” though. Unlike Raekwon’s song this doesn’t sound like an ode to fly shorties — it’s literally just Timbo King rapping about how much he likes fudge and how he gets “wicked with walnuts.” Did the Fat Boys write this?
It’s a silly track that seems out of place for an album with a single called “Nuff Ruffness” followed by a skit called “Definition of a Nigga.” Matter of fact it doesn’t even belong on an album with a parental advisory on the front. I don’t hate the song. It’s fine. It just illustrates that beyond a bad record label and bad marketing, Spark 950 & Timbo King were making decisions that were out of step with their contemporaries at the time. Yes — you get props over here for going your own way — but you went so far in that direction you lost the very audience you wanted to reach. The irony is that it took his solo album “From Babylon to Timbuk2” for me to really appreciate Timbo King as an emcee. He gets lost in the (chocolate) sauce in groups, even if the only other person in his group is the producer.