This album starts the sad story of D-Boy Rodriguez. If you don’t know he was murdered but we will cover that when we listen to his last album. For this album we will cover his rise. D-Boy Rodriguez (Danny Rodriguez) was raised in the church by parents that had a keen interest in teens lost on the streets. Though they had a church in PA they often preached on the streets of New York. That interest in street teens led to Danny’s interest in the music of the streets. Danny’s sister also became interested in the street sound and went on to have a couple albums after Danny’s passing. I don’t understand much of the story of how this project started but somehow Tim Miner was able to talk Frontline Records into taking on Danny. A subsequent visit to the studio which included Tim Miner and Tommy Sims and this album was born. While yes there were other Christian rap albums out at the time This one had a more mainstream sound than the others. As such it did quite well and Frontline was happy to release a second one. In my opinion the highlight of the album is “Church Hoppers” which touches on a topic I don’t think anyone else has ever covered. The track is hilarious and may be the first Christian track to use a sample of secular song. In fact it might be the first sampling in the industry period. Sampling just wasn’t big yet in secular or Christian markets. The album actually peaked at No. 35 on Billboard’s CCM album charts but needless to say Christian radio was not ready for this sound in early 1991 so it received almost no radio play. Here again we have an album that is not in one of my favourite genres but it is a great album. Even if you don’t like rap I think you should give this one a listen.
Tracklist
1 – Plantin’ A Seed – 3:47
2 – Church Hoppers – 3:55
3 – Pick Yourself Up – 3:53
4 – When I Strut – 4:36
5 – Doggin’ The Devil – 3:30
6 – King David – 3:56
7 – It’s A Disease – 3:40
8 – G.O.D.S. Possee In Effect – 5:30
9 – Stompin’ Satan – 2:54
Credits
Art Direction – Ed McTaggart
Backing Vocals – Cindy Cruse, Ronnie V.
Engineer – Brent Jeffers, David Ebensberger, John Wirtz
Other [Grooming] – Kimberlee Couts
Photography By – Michael Seeley
Producer, Engineer, Bass, Recorded By, Mixed By, Keyboards [Keys], Drum Programming, Guitar, Backing Vocals – Tommy Simms
Producer, Engineer, Bass, Recorded By, Mixed By, Keyboards [Keys], Guitar, Backing Vocals – Tim Miner
Written-By – D-Boy*, Tim Miner, Tommy Simms
Companies, etc.
Phonographic Copyright ℗ – Frontline Records
Copyright © – Frontline Records
Distributed By – The Benson Company
Published By – Broken Songs
Published By – Pretty Mondo Stuff
Published By – Birdwing Music
Produced For – Blade Productions
Recorded At – Knightlight Studios
Mixed At – Knightlight Studios
Mastered At – Nimbus
