Biz Markie

1988 was a golden year for hip hop and Cold Chillin’ put out pivotal, classic albums in that year alone.

To say Biz Markie’s best album is his 1988 Goin’ Off might only upset Biz Markie himself. The Diabolical Biz Markie from 1989 was self-produced and paled in comparison to the album prior for me.

Marley Marl produced countless cuts for Cold Chillin’ around that time and I was in love with anything he did. That bias naturally made me place Goin’ Off on the golden-era pedestal among others from the Juice Crew discography.

As much as I was proud Just a Friend did well on Billboard charts, I was not completely sold on The Diabolical. The 1989 album’s production and sample choices were relatively mid-tempo. With the exception of Spring Again, the album offered little to no dance floor cuts.

It would take me years to realize how creative and somewhat innovative The Diabolical Biz Markie is. Albums like De La Soul’s 3 Feet High & Rising, Paul’s Boutique by The Beastie Boys and even The Diabolical Biz Markie dropped around the same time and even in the same year.

If my previous paragraphs showed you how little I thought of The Diabolical, it should come as no surprise that I have never heard I Need a Haircut with the exception of a couple of tracks. Maybe I'm due for a revision of my opinion of that record as well.