review - Bahamadia - Good Rap Music

Bahamadia – Good Rap Music Bahamadia is one of those rap legends few have heard of. Electronica fans have probably heard her spit on tracks from the likes of Morcheeba, and IIRC she was on a Brittney Spears remix (!). She’s been more appreciated overseas than in the states, boasting, without irony, that she really is big in Japan.  However, her bona fides were made early in the 90’s in Philadelphia, just before The Roots and neo-soul broke and there was such thing as a “Philly sound.” Her latest LP is quite good, called appropriately enough Good Rap Music. As an MC she’s caught in a netherworld between hardcore fans and pop star groupies. Her songs, dense and uncompromising, appeal more to the various strains of underground cats, Okayplayers, and back packers, (a group of fans and musicians she excoriates on the title cut) than to the pop fans who support female MCs like Missy and Eve (despite the undergrounders’ enlightened stance, how many female MCs do they support?). However, those women aren’t in Bahamadia’s league as a rapper. Her only peer may be Jean Grae. Good Rap Music is filled with songs that harken back to back in the day. She takes us back to the halcyon days of neo-soul and spoken word, like with the finger snap-head wrap tune “Reign” or rocks it hard over a drum machine and two turntables like it’s the early 80’s on “Culture Cut.” Of course with her Philly roots and association with the music scene there, lyricism is going to be a major concern for the MC, her skills displayed beautifully on “Serious II,” full of vivid imagery and introspection. The best cut (a tough call to be sure) is “Thank You,” an ode to moms. Her moms did a great job.