Here is a dose of some proto-hip-hop, spoken word gangsta funk called Hustler’s Convention from the year 1973. Lightnin’ Rod, the group behind this masterpiece, was comprised of an all-star studio funk band that included Kool and the Gang as well as proto-MC/Last Poet Jalal Mansur Nuriddin who paved the way for gangsta rap and hip hop with his gritty rhymes and hustlin’ flows. The album is essentially a long drama that establishes strong, bad-ass characters that get caught in crazy ghetto dilemmas. United Artists Records 1973.
