Funcrusher Plus

Funcrusher Plus
Studio album by Company Flow
Released July 22, 1997
Recorded 1995–1997 (Corners: 1994)
Ozone Studios, NYC
No Mystery Studios, NYC
Genre Experimental hip hop, underground hip hop, political hip hop
Length 73:52
Label Rawkus Records
RWK 1134 (first pressing)
Rawkus/Priority/EMI Records
0499 2 50063 2 2
P2-50063 (second pressing)
Rawkus/MCA/Universal Records
112 898 (third pressing)
Definitive Jux
DJX177 (fourth pressing)
Producer El-P, Mr. Len, Bigg Jus
Company Flow chronology
Funcrusher EP
(1996)		 Funcrusher Plus
(1997)		 Little Johnny from the Hospitul: Breaks & Instrumentals Vol.1
(1999)
Singles from Funcrusher Plus
  1. "8 Steps to Perfection"
    Released: 1996
  2. "Blind"
    Released: 1997
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[1]
City Pages(favorable)[2]
CMJ New Music Monthly(favorable)[3]
Los Angeles Times[4]
Pitchfork Media(9.0/10)[5]
PopMatters[6]
The New Rolling Stone Album Guide[7]
Spin[8]
Stereogum(favorable)[9]

Funcrusher Plus is the first studio album by American hip hop group Company Flow.[10] It was released on Rawkus Records in 1997.[11] In 2009, it was re-released on Definitive Jux.[6] The album has been recognized as "a landmark independent hip-hop release".[12]

Critical reception

AllMusic gave the album a perfect 5 star rating, and writer Steve Huey stated: "[Funcrusher Plus] demands intense concentration, but also rewards it, and its advancement of hip-hop as an art form is still being felt. It's difficult, challenging music, to be sure, and it's equally far ahead of its time."[1] Jon Dolan of City Pages noted "[Company Flow's] evincing a confrontational critique of 'those signed, big-budget muthafuckas' like none hip hop has attempted since EPMD's Strictly Business."[2]

Andrew Hultkrans of Spin gave the album 8 stars out of 10, commenting that "[the album] deconstructed hip-hop conventions and rebuilt them into a spare, murky, sputtering soundscape."[8] Jeff Weiss of Los Angeles Times felt that "El-P conjured an apocalyptic minimalism -- the sublimated sound of clanging and cluttered train cars, city grime buried beneath cuticles, and the ghostly smoke of burning blunts."[4]

Nate Patrin of Pitchfork Media said: "With the exception of the nocturnal crystalline funk of the Bigg Jus-produced 'Lune TNS' and the frequent scratch contributions from secret weapon DJ Mr. Len, Funcrusher Plus' beats bear the mark of El-P's dusty-but-digital aesthetic, which even back then had the same sort of beautiful-dystopia Blade Runner feel that informed Cannibal Ox's The Cold Vein and his own Fantastic Damage a few years later."[5]

Brian Coleman of CMJ New Music Monthly called it "the most important release of 1997 thus far."[3] Joseph Schafer of Stereogum said, "Funcrusher Plus made for a hell of an opening salvo, and most emcee/producers would envy having such a record in their discography, but El mostly improved upon his work here later."[9]

On October 4, 2011, "Lune TNS" was chosen by NJ.com as the Song of the Day.[12]

In 2003, Funcrusher Plus ranked at number 84 on Pitchfork Media's Top 100 Albums of the 1990s list.[13] In 2014, Complex listed the album at number 86 on the 90 Best Rap Albums of the 90s.[11] In 2015, it was chosen by Fact as number 4 on the 100 Best Indie Hip-Hop Records of All Time.[14]

Track listing

No. TitleLyricsMusic Length
1. "Bad Touch Example"  Bigg Jus, El-PEl-P 3:26
2. "8 Steps to Perfection"  Bigg Jus, El-PEl-P 4:43
3. "Collude/Intrude"  El-P, J-TredsEl-P 5:25
4. "Blind"  Bigg Jus, El-PEl-P 3:42
5. "Silence"  Bigg JusEl-P 3:33
6. "Legends"  El-PEl-P 4:02
7. "Help Wanted"   El-P 2:13
8. "Population Control"  El-P, Bigg Jus, R.A. the Rugged ManEl-P 4:26
9. "Lune TNS"  Bigg JusBigg Jus 3:39
10. "Definitive"  El-PEl-P 5:47
11. "Lencorcism"   Mr. Len 0:36
12. "89.9 Detrimental"  El-PEl-P 1:03
13. "Vital Nerve"  El-P, BMSEl-P 5:01
14. "Tragedy of War (in III Parts)"  Bigg Jus, El-PEl-P 3:49
15. "The Fire in Which You Burn"  Breezly Brewin, J-Treds, El-P, Bigg JusEl-P 5:02
16. "Krazy Kings"  Bigg JusEl-P 4:52
17. "Last Good Sleep"  El-PMr. Len, El-P 5:59
18. "Info Kill II"  Bigg Jus, El-PEl-P 3:48
19. "Funcrush Scratch"   Mr. Len 2:48

Personnel

Singles chart positions

Year Song Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales
1997 "Blind" 44[15]

References

  1. 1 2 Huey, Steve. "Company Flow - Funcrusher Plus". AllMusic. Retrieved April 10, 2015.
  2. 1 2 Dolan, Jon (November 26, 1997). "Company Flow: Funcrusher Plus". City Pages. Retrieved April 10, 2015.
  3. 1 2 Coleman, Brian (September 1997). "Hip-Hop". CMJ New Music Monthly: 51.
  4. 1 2 Weiss, Jeff. "Company Flow - "Funcrusher Plus" (reissue) - Definitive Jux". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved April 10, 2015.
  5. 1 2 Patrin, Nate (May 15, 2009). "Company Flow: Funcrusher Plus". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved April 10, 2015.
  6. 1 2 Newmark, Mike (September 13, 2009). "Company Flow: Funcrusher Plus". PopMatters. Retrieved April 10, 2015.
  7. ↑ N., N. (2004). "Company Flow". In Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian. The New Rolling Stone Album Guide. p. 187, 188.
  8. 1 2 Hultkrans, Andrew (May 2009). "Reissues: Diggin' in the Crates for Untold Treasures". Spin: 95.
  9. 1 2 Schafer, Joseph (January 29, 2014). "El-P Albums From Worst To Best - Company Flow - Funcrusher Plus (1997)". Stereogum. Retrieved April 10, 2015.
  10. ↑ Johnson, Fatima (January 7, 2013). "Respect. Your Elders: Company Flow". Respect. Retrieved April 10, 2015.
  11. 1 2 Bengston, Russ (April 24, 2014). "The 90 Best Rap Albums of the '90s - 86. Company Flow, Funcrusher Plus (1997)". Complex. Retrieved April 10, 2015.
  12. 1 2 McCall, Tris (October 4, 2011). "Song of the Day: 'Lune TNS,' Company Flow". NJ.com. Retrieved April 10, 2015.
  13. ↑ Linhardt, Alex (November 17, 2003). "Top 100 Albums of the 1990s (2/8)". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved April 10, 2015.
  14. ↑ "The 100 best indie hip-hop records of all time (98/101)". Fact. February 25, 2015. Retrieved April 10, 2015.
  15. ↑ "Company Flow - Awards". AllMusic. Retrieved April 10, 2015.

External links

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