Once upon a time, during the early stages of the new millennium (2005-06ish), a friend and I went to a hip-hop show at a nightclub in downtown Minneapolis. It was a small venue, maybe a thousand people, but the place was filled to capacity. Standing room only. The show began with a handful of local artists opening up for the main attraction. Rapper after rapper spit muffled rhymes as they amateurishly cuffed the mic and struggled to maintain breath control. The soundman was just as responsible for the show’s poor sonic quality as he struggled to properly maintain the balance between the music and the microphone levels. After an hour and a half of this debacle, a hero came to the stage. He didn’t wear a cape, tights, knee-high boots, or have an emblem stretched across his shirt. Just fresh b-boy attire. Oh, his name. KRS-One.

Immediately, he took control of the stage, demanding excellence. He checked his mic and the soundman until the acoustics were perfected. Then, The Blastmaster commenced to tear shit down, leaving me and the rest of the crowd mesmerized for the next forty-five minutes with his upper-echelon display of emceeing. He performed classics from the BDP era and joints from his solo albums: Return Of The Boom Bap, KRS-One, Sneak Attack, and the subject of this post, I Got Next.

After years of being the main cog behind the production known as Boogie Down, KRS-One began to relinquish more and more of the production duties when he went solo. That trend continues on I Got Next as he handles half of the album, bringing in Showbiz, DJ Muggs, Jesse West, Commissioner Gordon, and Domingo to handle the rest. I Got Next would climb to number three on the Billboard 200 and earned KRS-One his first gold plaque since ending the BDP module. The album would also be his last release on Jive, ending his decade-long relationship with the label.

It’s been a while since I listened to I Got Next, but if my memory serves me correctly, it wasn’t one of his brightest moments. But my memory has deceived me before.

1st Quarter – The Commentary – I Got Next opens with an Alexa-style female voice welcoming the listener to hip-hop culture. And remember: “You are not doing hip-hop. You are hip-hop.”

2nd Quarter – Free Throws – This clip from a live show features KRS-One performing a poem about the rich and the poor and how your state of mind can determine which one you become. It’s a nice little thought appetizer from the Teacher.

The MC – KRS-One sounds like a wise sensei presenting a rhetorically riddled demonstration to his seito on the requirements and virtues of an emcee: “Who am I? (The MC). La-di da-di, I don’t wear Versace, I wear DJs out quickly at the party, who am I? If ya like me, hip-hop is in ya body, who am I? (The MC) When the jam is slow and you need a proceeder, who am I? (The MC) When you need a lyrical leader with oratorical triple features, who am I? (The MC) When you need to rock your three thousand-seat arena, best believe, uh, who am I? (The MC) When you need to get the word on the street with demeanor, who am I? (The MC).” Domingo’s dramatically bleeding string-laden backdrop is the perfect companion to the Blastmaster’s razor-sharp lyrical exhibition. I still love the energy of this record. I’m surprised he didn’t release it as a single.

I Got Next – Neva Hadda Gun – The first half of this features Kris getting off a few rapidly-paced battle bars while bouncing basketballs and chatter linger in the background. Then a short but dreamy deejay scratch session comes on, followed by two more verses from our host, but this time he rhymes over a plane Jane drumbeat. For the second half, Kris uses a raw backdrop and a well-played Chuck D vocal clip to spin a short tale about a rapper who flaunts his wealth and brags about his guns, only to end up paying the price when he gets caught slippin’ weaponless at a red light. I’m not sure why all these pieces were grouped together, but whatever.

Heartbeat – KRS-One pays homage to The Treacherous Three by revamping the instrumental and part of the song title from their 1981 record, “Feel The Heartbeat,” on this one. Angie Martinez and Redman join the tribute as they both get off a verse, along with Kris (Red also hosts the affair with lively adlibs throughout the song). I appreciate the song’s sentiment, but I’d be okay never hearing this song again.

Step Into A World (Rapture’s Delight) – This was released as a single and is hands down the biggest record on I Got Next. Jesse West loops up a snippet from The Mohawks’ “The Champ” that KRS-One uses to completely spaz out on (he also claims not to be obsessed with being number one, even though he mentions it twice during this song). Keva reworks the refrain and melody from Blondie’s “Rapture” for the hook. I never liked this record. Keva’s whiny voice singing those mournful notes is the audio equivalent of chalk scratching a blackboard. Today, I can look past Keva’s dreadful dirge and appreciate what Kris did on record.

A Friend – Showbiz gets his first production credit on the album, sliding Kris an irresistible swinging, jazzed-up groove he uses to rap about the importance of having reliable friends and being one to his own: “We boys, we boys, we can stand on the corner with a hat selling toys, it ain’t about your Benz, I hope it ain’t about mine, my man, I be dissin’ in my freestyle rhyme, gettin’ G’s around the world, I can trust you with my girl, my man, we chillin’ at the jam, what’s the plan? I’m not a yes man, and none of my friends are yes men or women I’m driving, I see my peeps yo, get in, where you fit in, true friends are quick to sit in, the beginning of all trouble, and when your bankroll doubles, Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble, still I got my own space like Hubble.” This is my favorite track on I Got Next and one of my favorite records in KRS-One’s decorated catalog.

H.I.P.H.O.P. – KRS-One invites a gentleman by the alias of El-Toro (who sounds like a poor man’s Freddie Foxxx) to share the mic on this celebration of our chosen genre as our host transforms from Knowledge Reigns Supreme to Killing Rhyme Sessions. This record sounds harder than I remembered it.

Halftime – Commissioner Gordon provides a smooth bop for KRS-One’s PSA on guns and the mental state of the gun user. I like the message, but I wish he used this dope instrumental for an actual song idea.

3rd Quarter – The Commentary – The computerized female voice from the intro returns to give a quick plug for KRS-One’s Temple of Hip-Hop, which you could join by filling out the registration form in the album’s pull-out panel. If you didn’t do it twenty-five years ago, I don’t recommend you try it now.

Klassicks – DJ Cipher takes the listener down memory lane via a medley of some of KRS-One’s greatest hits.

Blowe – Redman makes his second cameo on I Got Next. This time, he doesn’t rhyme but plays the watcher of KRS-One’s one-man channel-changing television (which is pretty well-orchestrated, I might add). He also proudly plays KRS’ son while assisting with the hook. Kris’ verses were quality, and Showbiz’s instrumental was decent, making for an overall solid record.

The Real Hip-Hop – Part II – Part 1 featured a Showbiz-produced instrumental lined with a dense and playful bassline and a Das EFX cameo. Part II uses a dark mid-tempo backdrop, courtesy of KRS-One, that he spits quality bars over. He also invites Mic Vandalz to take care of the track’s final verse. This song was decent, but I enjoyed its predecessor much more.

Come To Da Party – I’ll decline that invitation. I never need to hear this record again. Or any record Anthony Mills is over-singing on.

Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop – DJ Muggs repays KRS-One the solid he did for him on Soul Assassins with one of his vintage blunted boom-bap slaps. Our host uses the dark and frantic canvas to paint a picture from the eyes of a drug dealer who gets snatched up by the Feds to do some informant work, and things get extra messy from there. It’s not one of my favorite KRS-One storylines, but it’s cool.

Over Ya Head – Kris and Commissioner Gordon invite a whole damn horn section to join in on this one. G. Fontenette on trumpet, Keith Loftis on tenor sax, and Dupor Georges on trombone collectively give the track a soothing touch with their brass and woodwind in between the song’s verses. Meanwhile, a bluesy bass guitar loop does the balk of the musical lifting as Kris goes into teacher mode, giving the listener a quick lecture on a whole bunch of randomness. His “Us must trust us” verse epitomizes talking in circles.

Just To Prove A Point – Mr. Parker sticks with the live instrumentation theme from the previous track. This time, he tries his hand at a rock record. Peter Mengede is on guitar, Edward Nappi is on bass, and Peter Hines is on drums, as they back our host, who spends most of the song screaming about an unfaithful lover or friend, or both. Choose your own adventure. Our host’s wife, G. Simone, and Bervin Harris add their vocals to the hook, making this audio atrocity sound more atrocious.

4th Quarter – Free Throws – Like his previous “Free Throws” session, this clip was taken from one of Kris’ live shows. He spits a verse about how Christianity’s inception comes from astrology over the instrumental from De La Soul’s “The Bizness.” I don’t necessarily agree with Kris’s theory (soon, he wouldn’t agree with it either, as he would release a whole Christian album a few years later (see Spiritual Minded)). I did find it intriguing and appreciate the art of putting it all together.

Step Into A World (Rapture’s Delight) (Remix) – Though not listed in the album’s liner notes, I Got Next ends with this Bad Boy remix of the album’s biggest record. The Hitmen build the backdrop around a clip from The J.B.’s “More Peas” as Kris and Diddy share the mic, exchanging bars. Keva’s back for the remix, and her vocals still sound annoying as shit. I always thought this was a weird pairing: the king of consciousness meets the king of materialism. Random thought: I wonder if Kris ever attended one of Puffy’s freak-offs.

KRS-One is a top ten emcee in my book, and he checks all the major statistical boxes to back it up. With four gold-selling albums under his belt, he’s had commercial success. He has classic singles and albums, all of which speak to his longevity. He’s battle-tested (ask MC Shan or X-Clan), and more importantly, he’s a lyrical monster who could probably still out-rap your favorite rapper even as he approaches sixty years of age. While his GOAT status is undeniable, even legends have off days. Or albums.

KRS-One starts “2nd Quarter: Free Throws,” telling the crowd, “I want to add authenticity to your tape.” Authenticity has never been a problem for the South Bronx emcee. Since “The Bridge Is Over,” KRS-One has been one of the realest ever to grip a mic. He’s never pretended to be gangsta but naturally kept a hardcore sound, mixing consciousness with confidence and a little bit of conceit. KRS-One’s pen is still sharp on I Got Next, but he sounds a little unfocused and insecure about his placement in the game, giving us way more Blastmaster and not enough Teacher. The lack of focus seems to carry over to the production as it doesn’t consistently hit as hard as some of his previous projects, severely feeling like it could use a boost from Premo’s boom-bap.

Ironically, I Got Next would be KRS-One’s last relevant project. It isn’t a bad album. It has some legitimate slaps (see “The MC” and “A Friend”) and some other decent material (and one atrocious experimental moment). But if I were to sum up I Got Next, sticking with KRS-One’s basketball theme, I’d say it’s the equivalent of Jordan’s two seasons with the Washington Wizards.

-Deedub
Follow me on Instagram @damontimeisillmatic

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