Paris

Sleeping With The Enemy
Scarface, 1992

Sleeping With The Enemy’s first single opens with a collage of quotes on the US-Iraq war. “The media had become part of the Bush administration,” opines one voice, while another describes invasion in terms of “the right stuff”. It’s easy to forget they were recorded more than a decade ago.

At a time when NWA were glamorising life in the slums, Paris – born Oscar Jackson, Jr – was well-educated and had a degree in economics. He rhymed "seditious" more often than "bitches" and sang, in a subtle dig at his peers and detractors, “I ain’t from Compton, I can’t be fucked around”. He mixed the outrage of groups like NWA and Public Enemy with even-darker beats and uncompromising politics, espousing revolution and explaining structures of economic inequality.

But such militancy didn’t help his career. Paris’s first single was banned by MTV and Sleeping With The Enemy was rejected by every label the artist approached, thanks to 'Bush Killa's graphic fantasies of executing the president and rat-tat-tat beats designed to simulate gunfire. His original label, Tommy Boy, even paid out his contract to get away from it. By the time the album was released – independently and late – political hip-hop was half-way down the throat of gangsta rap.

It’s a pity, because Paris was ahead of his time, drawing on funk- and rock-infused electric guitar loops and beats later familiar to drum’n’bass (thanks to a young DJ Shadow assisting with production). His rhymes and rally cries matched the very best of political rap – arguably Public Enemy’s 'By The Time I Get To Arizona' – and his records are still sampled here and there, most recently by indie stars The Go! Team on 'Huddle Formation'.

After gangsta shot its way to the top of the hip-hop food chain, Paris traded his ‘outraged oppressed’ persona for a job as a stockbroker and nowadays the genre is swamped with bling, bitches and booty. But for a while, hip-hop was both aurally and intellectually exhilarating. When The Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy got around to releasing the well-intentioned 'Television...' a few years later, they couldn’t help but sound cheesy in comparison.