New Funky Nation

It remains mind boggling that one of the funkiest records in the period of West Coast rap’s most meteoric rise was made by an extended family of Samoans, but there it is. Boo-Yaa T.R.I.B.E.’s sound was indebted to — nay, obsessed with — p-funk, but unlike Dr Dre and co they didn’t sample it but were backed by a powerhouse band. The imposing bulk of the rappers — always with pigtails, sunglasses and gang tattoos — made for a surreal combination with their dancing ability, and the grimness of the subject matter (“boo yaa” is the sound of a shotgun, and their songs were generally about threat, honour and drive-by shootings) mixed with the utter joyousness of the grooves made for a heady brew too. This, their debut album from 1990, pretty much defines badass.