FEATURE:
Vinyl Corner
Monie Love – Down to Earth
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THIS is an album that I have been eager to include…
for some time now. In 1990, I was listening to a lot of great Pop music that incorporated Hip-Hope elements. Not that I would call Monie Love a Pop artist, but there is that accessibility together with something a bit cooler. Betty Boo was another artist who was coming through strong at that time and, looking back thirty years, I think the music still gets to me and makes me feel this real rush. Down to Earth is an album I recall listening to when it came out. It is the debut of the Battersea-born artist who scored a minor hit in the U.S. with the album – the singles, Monie in the Middle, and Down 2 Earth fared better on the R&B and Hip-Hop charts. I think 1990 was such a big and competitive year that it would have been easy for someone as talented and fresh as Monie Love to not get her just dues. You can get Down to Earth on vinyl for a very small cost, and it is one that I would recommend people investigate. Even if you want a nice blast from the start of the 1990s, then this record has you sorted! I will bring in a couple of reviews for the album soon – one positive and the other more mixed – but, at eighteen tracks and running in at over an hour, Down to Earth is an ambitious debut album – it seems that its title is slightly ironic, in the sense Monie Love is putting it all out there.
Of course, most of us have heard the big tracks like It’s a Shame. That song features a sample of It's a Shame by The Spinners (and there are additional vocals by Ultra Naté). Monie in the Middle is a great opening track, and we get a few interesting samples – including I Wouldn't Change a Thing by Coke Escovedo. I do love how there are these great samples sprinkled into songs. They help give these original tunes some familiarity and new contour. 1990 was right in the middle of the golden age for Hip-Hop, where artists were uniting various samples and sounds. If Down to Earth is not as political as some of the Hip-Hop of the time, critic Robert Cristgau noted: “(Monie Love) radiates sisterhood even though she concentrates on the guys, and positivity and tradition”. He also noted: “Set loose on a saturated market, female rappers must overcome overproduction--like the indie rockers before them, they're competing for a store of compelling musical ideas that's clearly diminishing even though its limits will never be determined. But rhymewise--contentwise--they're just getting started. Connected to the street and her family's front steps, Monie's shtick is proud rather than hostile, as in "R U Single," where she sees through a casanova's bullshit to what's "cute and smart" about him: "And don't you getta attitude when I speak straight and blunt/It simply shows you ma brother that I don't front…And she finds way more than her statistical share of beats. Cute and smart--also tough”.
I will introduce a couple more review soon, but I have really fond memories of Down to Earth - released on 30th October, 1990 -; it is one of my favourite releases from that period. At the 33rd Grammy Awards, Monie in the Middle was nominated for Best Rap Solo Performance, but lost to MC Hammer's U Can't Touch This. The following year, at the 34th Grammy Awards, she was nominated for Best Rap Solo Performance (again) for It's a Shame (My Sister) but she lost to LL Cool J's Mama Said Knock You Out. I should have put Down to Earth in Second Spin, as there are some that are not overly-effusive regarding the album. This is what AllMusic wrote in 2014:
“Few British rappers have enjoyed much recognition among American hip-hop audiences. Perhaps the British MC who has received the most attention in the U.S. is the highly talented Monie Love, whose Down to Earth is one of the few British rap efforts released by a major label. With Earth, she managed to convert some American hip-hoppers while maintaining the strong respect she enjoyed in British rap circles. If a comparison to Love's American counterparts is needed, she has more in common with Queen Latifah than MC Lyte -- Love is aggressive and outspoken, but not quite as hard as Lyte. There are some definite classics here, including "It's a Shame (My Sister)" and the wildly infectious "Monie in the Middle." But like so many American rappers, Love spends too much time boasting and not enough time telling meaningful stories. Nonetheless, her strong and interesting technique and her overall musicality make this album enjoyable, though not outstanding”.
In a review that is truer to the quality and appeal of Down to Earth, this is what Entertainment Weekly observed in 1990:
“Everyone’s out to get Monie Love. According to this devastating young rapper’s album, guys in high school hit on her, record producers try to exploit her, and other women have the hots for her boyfriend. But Monie’s no victim. Bristling with confidence, the charismatic British émigré drops her adversaries with ego-crushing insults.
Although Monie’s irritability occasionally curdles the mood, Down to Earth is rooted in positive values: self-respect, self-reliance, independence, and ambition. Her advice to an abused friend is solid; her put-down of promiscuity ends with a warning about AIDS. When she grills a date in ”R U Single,” which holds out the affection of a strong woman as a prize worth earning, her withering inquisition is tempered with praise.
In contrast, her harangue against eating pork may be based in the Muslim faith, but her disgust makes it funny, more like a defiant teen wrinkling her nose at supper. Facing the album’s diverse musical menu — hard hip-hop, sensuous ’70s soul, guitar rock — Monie handles it all, indelibly stamping each track with her spirited personality”.
Perhaps some feel Down to Earth has not aged as well as it could but, as I heard it as a child in 1990 and am listening to it now, I think the songs still crackle and hit hard! I really love the album. It sounds great hearing it as a single experience: listening to every track and enjoying all the different sounds and rhymes being delivered. It us a wonderful album that sounds perfect on vinyl.
I want to finish off by quoting from a feature on Back Seat Mafia, who gave praise to a brilliant debut record:
“The nineties were an interesting time for music in general. The cheesiness of the eighties were going out of fashion, and everyone was talking about Mad-chester. Hip hop was changing too. Whilst in the eighties it was all about the gangs and the guns, a collective of rappers called The Native Tongues were making music with a more positive message. Amongst them were De La Soul, Tribe Called Question and The Jungle Brothers. There was also a couple of ladies in amongst the primarily male gang. Queen Latifa is, who is better known now as an actress and a talk show host, was releasing music of her own. And then there was her protégé Monie Love.
Monie went out on her own with her single ‘Grandpa’s Party’. It was followed up by her debut album ‘Down To Earth’. At last hip hop had some female icons (Neneh Cherry and Salt n Pepa were also having big chart hits) . It would be easy to say that the album was released at the perfect time. But in reality, it was part of the reason that hip hop moved the way it did.
Recently Nicki Minaj sampled female-liberation-nightmare anthem ‘Baby Got Back,’ but turned the sexism in the message to her own advantage. It would no doubt never have happened without the groundwork being laid ‘Down To Earth’ was part of that groundwork. But it wasn’t just the girls she was representing. Whilst she was a woman taking control in a man’s business, she was also a British artist making her way to the top in an American dominated market.
The album spawned a handful of singles. ‘It’s A Shame (My Sister)’ was a huge cross-over pop hit. Whilst on ‘Ring My Bell’ she teamed up with the huge vocals of Adeva to create a more house-influenced floor filler. House music and rap seemed to go hand in hand in the nineties, and Monie was at the forefront of it again, mixing the two styles to create huge chart hits.
Monie is still huge in the states as a radio show host. But this album is no doubt what she will be remembered for. It is a great collection of songs that still stands up today”.
If you can’t grab it on vinyl, then go and listen to it on streaming platforms. Thirty years after its release, Down to Earth remains a stunning album! Some people then and now haven’t really appreciated the wonders of the album. If one cannot truly bond with such a remarkable album then, well…
IT’s a shame (sorry).