Boogie Down Productions - 1987 Classic Hip Hop Record "Criminal Minded" (YouTube Sound File, Information, & Lyrics)

The Hip Hop 101 - Classic & Real ONLY, Apr 19, 2011

KRS One & Scott La Rock (BDP) With The Album "Criminal Minded"

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Edited by Azizi Powell

This is Part I of a three part pancocojams series on Boogie Down Production's 1987 Hip Hop classic track "Criminal Minded".

This post showcases a YouTube sound file for that track and presents information and lyrics about that track.

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2025/08/boogie-down-productions-1987-classic.html_ for Part II of this pancocojams series. That post showcases the same YouTube sound file for Boogie Down Production's classic track "Criminal Minded" that was included in Part I. That post also presents selected comments from the discussion thread of that sound file.

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2025/08/criminal-minded-double-dutch-jump-rope.html for Part III of this pancocojams post. That post presents a YouTube video clip and a few word examples of the Double Dutch jump rope rhyme "Criminal Minded" that was inspired by Boogie Down production's Hip Hop record with that name.

The content of this post is presented for historical, socio-cultural, and entertainment purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to Boogie Down Production (KRSOne and Scott La Rock) for their musical legacies. RIP Scott LaRock. Thanks also to all those who are quoted in this post.

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INFORMATION ABOUT BOOGIE DOWN PRODUCTIONS (BDP)
From https://www.hiphopscriptures.com/boogie-down-productions-biography
"Boogie Down Productions (BDP) was a hip hop group, originally composed of KRS-One, D-Nice, and DJ Scott La Rock. DJ Scott La Rock was murdered on August 27, 1987, five months after the release of BDP's debut album, Criminal Minded. The name of the group, Boogie Down, derives from a nickname for the South Bronx section of The Bronx, one of the five boroughs of New York City. The group pioneered the fusion of dancehall reggae and hip hop music and their debut LP Criminal Minded contained frank descriptions of life in the South Bronx during the late 1980s, thus setting the stage for what would eventually become gangsta rap."...

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE HIP HOP TRACK "CRIMINAL MINDED" 
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criminal_Minded
"Criminal Minded is the debut studio album by American hip hop group Boogie Down Productions. It was released in 1987 through B-Boy Records. It is considered a highly influential hip hop album[1] and one of the first in the gangsta rap genre.[2]

Since its release, the album has been sampled, interpolated and paraphrased. Its samples and direct influences were unusual at the time, ranging from liberal use of dancehall reggae (as well as the more commonly used James Brown) to rock music artists such as AC/DC, the Beatles and Billy Joel. The album was eventually certified Gold by the RIAA.[3] The songs "South Bronx" and "The Bridge Is Over" ignited the rivalry with the Brooklyn-bred but Queens resident emcee MC Shan and the Juice Crew. Throughout the album, KRS-One gives honor and praise to Scott La Rock for producing the album and he mostly goes on about the importance of originality and being "real" instead of a "Sucker MC".

In 2003, the album was ranked number 444 on Rolling Stone's list of "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time", and was later ranked number 239 in the 2020 edition.[4]

Background

Production on the LP is credited to Blastmaster' KRS-One (Lawrence Krisna Parker) and DJ Scott La Rock (Scott Sterling), with a special thanks to Ced-Gee (Cedric Miller) of The Ultramagnetic MCs on the back cover.

The cover, which showcases Parker and Sterling surrounded by an arsenal of weapons, was hip-hop's first major release to feature members brandishing firearms."....

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LYRICS - "CRIMINAL MINDED"
(Blastmaster [MC] KRS-One (Lawrence Krisna Parker) and [DJ] Scott La Rock (Scott Sterling)

[Intro]

Boogie Down Productions will always get paid

We'll take the wackest song and make it better

Remember to let us into your skin, 'cause then you'll begin

To master rhymin', rhymin', rhymin'

 

[Verse 1: KRS-One]

Criminal minded, you've been blinded

Looking for a style like mine, you can't find it

They are the audience, I am the lyricist

Sometimes the suckers on the side gotta hear this

Page, a rage, and I'm not in a cage

Free as a bird to fly up out on stage

Ain't here for no fronting, just to say a little something

You suckers don't like me 'cause you're all about nothing

However, I'm really fascinating to the letter

My all-around performance gets better and better

My English grammar comes down like a hammer

You need a style, I need to pull your file

I don't beg favors, you're kissing other people's—

I write and produce myself just as fast

Keep my hair like this, got no time for Jheri curls

Attracting only women, got no time for little girls

[Refrain]

'Cause girls look so good, but their brain is not ready

I don't know

I'd rather talk to a woman 'cause her mind is so steady

So here we go

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[Verse 2]

I'm not a musical maniac or b-boy fanatic

I simply made use of what was upstairs in the attic

I've listened to these MCs back when I was a kid

But I bust more shots than they ever did

I mean this is not the best of KRS, it's just a section

But how many times must I point you in the right direction?

You need protection when I'm on the mic

Because my mouth is like a nine millimeter windpipe

You're a king, I'm a teacher, you're a b-boy, I'm a scholar

If this was a class, well, it would go right under drama

See, kings lose crowns but teachers stay intelligent

Talking big words on the mic, but still irrelevant

Especially when you're not college material

Wake up every morning to your Lucky Charms cereal

DJ Scott La Rock has a college degree

Blastmaster KRS writes poetry

I won't go deeper in the subject 'cause that gets me bored

It's a shame to know some MCs on the mic are frauds

Saying styles like this to create a diss

But if you listen, who you dissing? 'Cause I am a musician

Rapping on the mic like this to me is fine

'Cause if I really want to battle, I will pull out a nine

You can see that Scott La Rock and I are mentally binded

In other words, we're both Criminal Minded

[Verse 3]

We're not promoting violence, we're just having some fun

He's Scott La Rock, I'm KRS-One

Never off-beat 'cause it don't make sense

Grab the microphone relaxed and not tense

You waited, debated, and now you activated

A musical genius that could not be duplicated

See, I have the formula for rocking the house

If you cannot rock a party, do not open your mouth

It's that simple, no phony cosmetics for your pimple

Take another look because the gear is not wrinkled

The K, the R, the S, the O, the N, the E

Say a rhyme for '87, not no 1983

Well-versed to rehearse, in my rhymes I might curse

Originality is first, but the suckers get worse

Allow me to include, I have a very stable mood

Poetic education of a high altitude

I'm not an MC, so listen, call me poet or musician

A genius when it comes to making music with ambition

I'm cool, collected with the rhyme I directed

Don't wanna be elected as the king of a record

Just respected by others as the man with the solution

An artist of the '80s came and left his contribution

On wax, relax, there's twenty-four tracks

After years of rocking parties, now I picked up the knack

Because everything that flows from out my larynx

Takes years of experience and bottles of Beck's

I cannot seem to recollect the time I didn't have sex

Is it real or is it Memorex?

I'm living in a city known as New York State

Sucker MCs gotta wait while I translate

I hang with real live dreads with knowledge in their heads

People with ambition and straight up musicians

Although our lives have been so uprooted

I haven't included, you can all get zooted

So take each letter of the KRS-One

Means Knowledge Reigns Supreme Over Nearly Everyone

You look at me and laugh, but this is your class

It's an all-out discussion of the suckers I be crushing

So now you are awakened to the music I be making

Never duplicated, and also highly cultivated

Don't get frustrated 'cause nothing has been traded

Only activated, it came out very complicated

Not separated, from my DJ

You see my voice is now faded

I'll see you folks around the way

[Outro]

Criminal minded

Criminal minded

Criminal minded

Criminal minded

https://genius.com/Boogie-down-productions-criminal-minded-lyrics

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This concludes Part I of this three part pancocojams series.

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