Down by Law (MC Shan album)

Down By Law
Studio album by MC Shan
Released	August 8, 1987
Recorded	1986–1987
Genre	East Coast hip hop
Length	45:03
Label	Cold Chillin'/ Warner Bros. Records 25676
Producer	Marley Marl
MC Shan chronology
Down by Law (1987) Born to be Wild (1988)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]

Down by Law is the debut album by East Coast hip hop artist MC Shan. Released at the height of the Bridge Wars, a feud between artists from ) started by South Bronx's KRS-One responding to the Queensbridge anthem "The Bridge". The album contains the diss track, "Kill That Noise" in response to The Bridge Is Over. The album is produced by Marley Marl. It was the only Cold Chillin'/Warner Bros. album that was never initially released on CD by its distributor. The album was not released on that format until 1995, long after the 5-year distribution deal with Warner Bros. Records ended. By this time, Cold Chillin' distributed its material independently, mostly from its back catalog. This CD pressing would only be available for a limited time and went out of print for a few years. It was then re-released in 2001 as MC Shan: the Best of Cold Chillin', which featured all the tracks from Down by Law (except "Another One to Get Jealous Of") with a few additional non-album tracks. This version is now out of print as well. In 2007, it was re-released again by its new owner, Traffic Entertainment, in expanded form as a double-disc set with bonus tracks.

Reception

In a contemporary review, The Washington Post stated that the album's "sound is not particularly innovative, Shan creates a wiry visceral groove on such tracks as "Kill That Noise" and "Living in the World of Hip Hop""^[2] In 1998, it was listed in The Source's 100 Best Rap Albums.^[3]

Track listing

• All tracks produced by Marley Marl

Chart positions

References