Captain Rapp ‎– Bad Times (I Can't Stand It)

An amazing 1983 12" out of L.A. ~ Early socially conscious rap, along the lines of Grandmaster Flash's "The Message", but even more powerful and much rawer. Speaks on issues we all still face in the world: gang banging, murder, inner city poverty, the emerging AIDS epidemic, and much more. These issues are not exploited or glamorized for commercial appeal (like too much of what passes for hip hop nowadays) and he never takes a moralistic stand on it. He has a very God-like quality to his verses. Many lines border on the prophetic: "Weather plays havoc on the eastern states, floods, hurricanes, and you can't escape".... "doctors afraid to treat the victims of aids"... even speaks on the Pope's push for solidarity against the US invasion of El Salvador...

All this set against a killer early Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis electro flavored track, with a beautiful hook. Sounds very modern minus the long instrumental breaks in between verses!

This song would be a perfect 10 out of 10 to me but i have to drop it 1 point because the gated reverb effect on the vocals is way too thick, although it blends well with the production overall, it makes it difficult to catch the rapid fire rhymes.

I don't know, sometimes when i hear some of these old school raps I almost feel like these guys were from the future. Amazing.