Enta da Stage

Enta da Stage heralded a new era in New York hip-hop. The colorful styles of De La Soul and A Tribe Called Quest had given way to a darker, meaner strain of rap music. Even the clothing had changed. Black Moon ended the era of neon jackets and African medallions, as Enta da Stage came with a strict new dress code: Timberland boots and black hoodies. To match this new urban militancy, the production team of DJ Evil Dee and Mr. Walt (a.k.a. Da Beatminerz) crafted a sound that had no precedent in hip-hop; it seems to emanate from some subterranean bunker. Each song is crafted from a stack of desaturated funk and jazz records that have been sucked of everything but a rumbling core of bass and drums. Even as the music insulates itself from the outside world, the diminutive MC Buckshot attacks the mic with his ire piqued and his teeth bared. “Burst in flames, turn the mic into bloodstains / Any thought I think, you blink and drink death” (from “Niguz Talk S**t”). Utterly unconcerned with rocking the party, or hollering at the ladies, Enta da Stage deals only with the details of its own darkened mindstate. It is one of hip-hop’s most vivid psychological tours, as electrifying as it is harrowing.