Make The Music With Your Mouth Biz [PA]

Before the "human orchestra" Biz Markie's debut album, Goin' Off, came out, Prism Records (which became Cold Chillin' in 1989) released the rapper's EP, Make the Music with Your Mouth, Biz, in 1986. Twenty years later the label remastered and reissued that classic 12", adding to it seven live tracks recorded in 1987 at Club Uptown in Worcester, MA, plus "Biz Beat," which shows off both his beat-boxing skills and his sense of humor (throwing in a line from the Meow Mix commercial, for example). As the original EP can be hard to find (though it was repressed in 2002), this album is a convenient way not only to hear the standout title track, but two songs that didn't make it onto Goin' Off, "They're Coming to Take Me Away (Ha Haa)" and "A One Two." Most interesting, however, are the live cuts -- a rarity in hip-hop -- which, though the quality suffers occasionally (generally because someone is too close to the mic), do an excellent job of conveying Biz's energy, showmanship, and goofiness. With help from fellow Juice Crew members T.J. Swan and Big Daddy Kane, Biz spits his way through the show with enough enthusiasm that you can practically see him leaping around the stage. Is he the best rapper ever? No, but he was never trying to be, and even though songs like "Protection" and "XXX-Mas Freestyle" are rather crude, they're also entertaining and fun. Make the Music with Your Mouth, Biz is not only an important introduction to one of rap's most spirited performers, it's an important look at hip-hop's earlier days, too. ~ Marisa Brown|