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.