KRS-One – Back To The L.A.B. (Lyrical Ass Beating)

After setting suckers straight with Buckshot
on 2009’s hard-hitting collaboration Survival
Skills, legendary old-school Bronx, NY rapper
KRS-One (Knowledge Reigns Supreme Over Everyone)
tosses another lyrical grenade into the fray
with this explosive six-track EP. Over stellar
beats provided by Da Beatminerz, Freddie Foxxx,
JS-1, and DJ Kenny Parker, The Blastmaster
investigates conspiracy theories on “Teknology,”
calls out sucker MCs (again) on “Never Afraid,”
and disses commercial has-beens on “Wolf.”
His delivery is as raw and biting as when
he first burst upon the underground hip-hop
scene in the mid-‘80s as one-half of Boogie
Down Productions, sporting instant classics like
“The Bridge Is Over.” All of the rhyme-heavy
songs on Back To The L.A.B. (Lyrical Ass Beating)
clock in under the four-minute mark. Over two
decades on the mic has finally taught KRS-One
the importance of brevity.