Innovative Life: The Anthology 1984-1989

Before Ice-T and N.W.A. dominated Los Angeles hip-hop, the sound of the city was distinctly more uptempo and electro-indebted — a West Coast counterpart to the sounds of Soulsonic Force and Arthur Baker that brought together g’s and new wavers alike to rock with crews like Uncle Jamm’s Army. Arabian Prince was positioned somewhere between those two worlds — he was an unjustly under-remembered founding member of N.W.A. who also produced J.J. Fad’s deathless electro classic “Supersonic” — but Innovative Life positions him as one of the scene’s most joyfully infectious funk futurists, and jams like “It Ain’t Tough” and “Situation Hot” are the things that Lockers dream of.