PUMP IT UP
I recently picked up their second album, The Fat Boys Are Back (1984), and it sure is a lot of fun. Alex Henderson says of the album for Allmusic: “Because the Fat Boys acted like buffoons, some people dismissed them as a mere novelty act. But for all their clowning, the Fat Boys had impeccable rapping technique – the skills that they bring to ‘Yes, Yes Y’all’, the title song [‘The Fat Boys Are Back’], and other wildly infectious offerings are first rate. Much to their credit, this album is fairly unpredictable; The Fat Boys Are Back finds them rapping to everything from sleek urban contemporary (‘Pump It Up’) to hard rock (‘Rock-N-Roll’) and reggae (‘Hard Core Reggae’). The latter, in fact, is one of the most impressive examples of hip hop/reggae fusion to come from rap’s second generation.”
(September 2016)