Release Date: 09/12/2000

In the 1990s, numerous East Coast rap groups were influenced by the innovative Wu-Tang Clan, who brought a fascination with Asian martial arts films to their hardcore hip-hop. If West Coast gangsta rap was comparable to black exploitation films and the 2 Live Crew's sexually explicit Miami bass music was the rap equivalent of a porno flick, Wu-Tang was hip-hop's answer to a Jackie Chan or Bruce Lee movie. Eventually, there was a backlash against all of the groups that jumped on the Wu-Tang bandwagon, and that wasn't good news for the Wu-Tang-influenced GP Grain, which called itself the GP Wu when it recorded Don't Go Against the Grain for MCA in 1998. The CD became a victim of that backlash, although GP member Pop Da Brown Hornet carried on and went solo with 2000's The Undaground Emperor. Not surprisingly, Pop steers clear of martial arts imagery on this album, which isn't a fantastic listen but demonstrates that he has strong rhyming technique. The Staten Island MC spends most of the album bragging about his rapping skills and articulating why he feels that rival MCs are inferior; you have to admire his technique, even though the boasting wears thin after awhile. The CD's most memorable moments come when he turns his attention to social issues on tunes like "Black on Black Crime" and "Stand Up" (which samples Isley Jasper Isley's 1985 hit "Caravan of Love"). Pop is a hardcore rapper, but hardcore doesn't have to mean violent and profane. In fact, he brings a generally positive outlook to this decent, if limited, solo debut. ~ Alex Henderson, All Music Guide

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Release Date: 09/12/2000
Genre: Rap