Steve 'Flash' JuonBarsha (pronounced “bar-shaw”) is Brooklyn rapper who was signed to First Priority Music around the time Positive K became a household name. As a result his two claims to fame can both be considered a result of that association — a track on First Priority’s “Basement Flavor” album and the album “Barsha’s Explicit Lyrics” that came out on FP subsidiary Bumrush! The album’s title is ironic given the lack of a parental advisory sticker and the fact that Barsha rarely if ever curses except for the word “bitch.” The “explicit” nature of his tracks is “sexually explicit” as he’s singularly focused on “Knockin’ Hiney.”
Now I’m not going to say “Knockin’ Hiney” isn’t a ridiculous way to talk about your sexual prowess, or that he doesn’t unintentionally reflect an era of rap misogyny like a well polished mirror… but I don’t hate it? “But yo, it’s time to drop some math/and I’m about to break emcees in half/So, play like a crackhead and feel the bass/as I whip on your ass like Babyface.” This is like if Big Daddy Kane decided to skip the foreplay and head straight to the bedroom. He’s got the same level of confidence in his delivery on the mic and in the sack. It might be crass but you can’t knock the way he delivers in the recording booth. When he declares himself “Pimp of the Year” it’s actually believable. “I get ruthless, leaving brothers toothless.”
The production on his tracks does a lot of the lifting for him. Audio Two and King of Chill are in control for all 11 tracks, which both plays up his First Priority connections and benefits him in terms of solid head nodding funk. If anything hurts Barsha it’s being a sexually prolific rapper from Brooklyn in 1990 when the aforementioned K-A-N-E already existed. If he reminds me of anyone though it’s a young Kool G Rap, spitting bars on “Brooklyn, Brooklyn” that make me think of “Road to the Riches.”
Punchlines like “I’ll eat you like a cold cut then bust you like a slow nut” legitimately made me laugh and smile, which is a good sign that his lyrics have aged well over the decades. I’m not here to endorse the fact he talks about women like all the most notorious attributes of AMG and Too $hort combined, but I will say that “Barsha’s Explicit Lyrics” feels like a tax write-off for First Priority. I don’t remember ever hearing either of the songs on the lone single, “Who’s the Master” b/w “Internal Affair” before today, and I was stunned to find a music video actually existed. The promotional muscle Bumrush! put into promoting any of this had to make Barsha feel like HE was the one getting bum-rushed.
Everything about this album is exactly what I would have liked back when it came out, but Barsha came and went like a fart in church – a noise that was ignored by everyone around. Even if they smelled it they undoubtedly had no idea who dealt it. This rapper was a victim of bad timing, poor marketing, a subpar record label and sounding just a little too much like the people who came before him. Barsha wasn’t a bad emcee at all and his “Explicit Lyrics” hold up surprisingly well.