Reviews

Let’s get one thing understood right out of the box: these guys are NUTS!  They are crazy, silly, and insane geniuses who see no boundaries to their contumely and farce, and damn if they don’t make me laugh out loud and almost piss myself.  “Straight Outta Newport” the debut album from the Welsh octuplet, Goldie Lookin’ Chain, is a fatuous diatribe on the rap business, especially gangsta rap, the hype the media creates, and the inevitability of gullible society to eat it up.  They actually make a mockery of the rap business and many of its moguls, but at the same time they showcase their talent as rappers and writers, all the while giving props to the rappers who came before them, and who they obviously listen to and love. 

GLC have a definite connection to the early years of rap, particularly the 80’s when rap was just beginning to take off and become a huge entity in the music industry.  Influences such as Erik B & Rakim, Boogie Down Productions, and EPMD are easily found throughout the album, as well as current artists such as Snoop Dogg and Eminem, and at times they throw out props to such artists.  The title and cover are a parody on NWA’s “Straight Outta Compton.”  For those wondering, the UK release of this album was titled “Greatest Hits” and featured a different album cover, but the lineup of songs is exactly the same.

However, it would be a mistake to try and take these guys seriously.  As a matter of fact, they don’t want anyone to take them seriously.  Their whole endeavor is to have fun, be foul, and make people laugh, including themselves.  Each song is laced with obscenities, toilet humour, sexual humour, comedy and satire, drugs and drinking.  They take bits of the music industry, as well as some things outside of the music industry, and make them into a parody.  In the song “Guns don’t kill people, rappers do,” a farce on the political belief that music makes people violent, they state, “It’s like Cluedo, Murder One/P. Diddy, J.Lo in the nightclub with a gun,” and “I wanna rap, I wanna rhyme/Heard it in a song, now I’m into gum crime.” In “Self Suicide,” a song about how most artists become more famous and make more money after they die, they write, “Jesus was nailed up to some wood/2000 years later, book sales are still good.”  It is clear these guys’ purpose is a comical and satirical one.  Also on the album is a song titled, “Your Mothers Got a Penis.”  Nuff said.

Conversely, the songs are well produced and the sampling is tastefully done.  There are many fantastic beats, tracks, and hooks, fused with sensational grooves and even some disco rhythms.  This is the kind of stuff you can blast out your car window while rolling down the street in the summer.