Thursday Throwback! Akinyele- Checkmate (1993)

Before Akinyele blew up in ‘96 with his anthem of many a strip club DJ, “Put it in Your Mouth”, he had plenty of street cred. Along with a debut LP (the equally sex-driven Vagina Diner, almost impossible to find a copy of nowadays), and guest appearances on the records of everyone from New York who mattered in the early 90s. One of my favorite tracks from Ak’s first LP was “Checkmate”.

I’ve covered quite a few Large Professor-produced tracks recently in the TT section, so one more can’t hurt us. “Checkmate” is centered entirely on a bassline riff that opens Miles Davis’ drugged-out, early 70s fusion masterpiece “Tribute to Jack Johnson.” (Which I was actually unaware of until buying the Miles LP last year and recognizing the lick instantly).

Not only are the beats serious, but I love the contrast of Ak’s humor on top of them! “I make punk rappers studder, ya ya ya ya YO, I bring out the Das Efx in a motherf@#ker” (Side note: Das held his own despite how many people HATED on him back then for all that tigitty-tongue-twisting stuff he used to do.)