Shock of the Hour
| Shock of the Hour | ||||
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| Studio album by MC Ren | ||||
| Released | November 16, 1993 | |||
| Recorded | 1992-1993 Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
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| Genre | Gangsta rap, political hip hop | |||
| Length | 40:19 | |||
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Executive producers
Additional producers
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| MC Ren chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Shock of the Hour | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |
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| Chicago Sun-Times |
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| Entertainment Weekly | B− |
| Los Angeles Times |
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| The Source |
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| Rapreviews | (8/10) |
| The Village Voice | D |
Shock of the Hour is the debut album by rapper MC Ren, released November 16, 1993, on Ruthless Records and distributed by Relativity Records.
After the success of his debut EP Kizz My Black Azz, a following album was promised for an early 1993 release. The EP, which had gone platinum after two months, was released as a promotion for the upcoming album, to be titled Life Sentence. However, in the middle of the recording of the Life Sentence album, MC Ren suddenly joined the Nation of Islam and converted to Islam with the help of his DJ and friend DJ Train. With a different outlook on the world, MC Ren scrapped the Life Sentence album, changing the name to Shock of the Hour and started to record new songs for the album. However, he kept some previously recorded songs and used them for the first half of the album, while the second half contained songs recorded after he converted to Islam, resulting in thematic differences between the albums' halves, not unlike Ice Cube's 1991 album Death Certificate.
When listening to Shock of the Hour, the album plays as two separate albums. The first half were songs recorded before MC Ren joined the Nation of Islam. This half deals with social issues like ghetto life, drug addiction, racism and poverty. The lead single, Same Old Shit, strips away any pretense of glamour around the gangsta lifestyle and outlines the brutality, paranoia and violence at its core. The second single, Fuck What Ya Heard, tells people not to listen to rumors and to be critical on what they hear. Also featured on the album is One False Move, which is a diss track aimed at Tweedy Bird Loc.
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Wikipedia