The ladies of
J.J. Fad
will forever be remembered for their one and only hit,
"Supersonic,"
and rightfully so, yet their debut album of the same name does have its merits, especially in retrospect.
Supersonic
is very much a product of its time and place, namely 1988 Los Angeles, which, of course, brings to mind
Straight Outta Compton
-era
N.W.A
, whose production team (
Dr. Dre
,
Yella
, and
the Arabian Prince
) is notably at the helm of this ten-track album. Here,
Dre
and company don't look to the future of West Coast
hardcore rap
as they concurrently did on
; rather, they look back to their respective mid-'80s West Coast
electro
beginnings. This
old-school
style of beatmaking suits
MC J.B.
Baby D
Sassy C
well as that's precisely the style of their rapping, not to mention their lingo ("time to come correct," "cold gettin' stupid," etc.) and fashion sense (peep the wonderful cover photo -- spandex, stopwatches, gold chains, big sunglasses, bigger hair, etc.). There unfortunately aren't any lost gems here on
that rival the magnificence of the title track, but there's a great cut-up instrumental remix (
"Eeenie Meenie Beats"
) along with some impressive rhyming and plenty of amazing
-
rap
beats. Along the way you'll frustratingly have to endure some awkward
pop
-isms, chief among them the sung hook of
"Way Out"
and the entirety of
"Is It Love."
If you can overlook these moments, or better yet skip over them, there's a bounty of
delights here, not to mention the party-starting title track. Not an album to be taken too seriously,
remains a fun novelty that deserves the occasional revival, even if only for the sake of slight amusement. ~ Jason Birchmeier