Music / Schoolly D (Album)

Original cassette cover

Full album artwork inside.

"All you rock and roll lovers, we're knocking you out

Because that is what rap's all about."

— "I Don't Like Rock 'N' Roll"

Schoolly D is the debut album by Gangsta Rap artist Schoolly D, released in 1985. It was released on his own underground label Schoolly D Records and later picked up by Jive Records. It features the underground hits "Put Your Filas On", "P.S.K. What Does It Mean?" and "Gucci Time".

At the time "Schoolly D" was notable for tackling Darker and Edgier themes and using more explicit and vulgar language in Hip-Hop, effectively paving the way for the Gangsta Rap genre.

Tracklist

1. "I Don't Like Rock & Roll" (5:56)
2. "Put Your Filas On" (7:16)
3. "Free Style Rapping" (6:52)
4. "P.S.K. What Does It Mean?" (6:32)
5. "Gucci Time" (6:10)
6. "Free Style Cutting" (5:16)

All songs from this album would later be featured on the Greatest Hits Album "The Adventures Of Schoolly D" (1987), with several bonus tracks.

Personnel

• Schoolly D: vocals
• Code Money: DJ

What the Hell Do These Tropes Mean?

• Answer Song: "I Don't Like Rock 'N' Roll" is an answer song to Joan Jett's "I Love Rock 'N' Roll".
• Badass Boast:
  • "Gucci Time"
  You always in my face sayin' "Schoolly School, man
  How the fuck didja get so cool, man?
  Never ever seen you play no fool"
  Cuz I use that microphone like a plumber use a tool
  • "I Don't Like Rock And Roll"
  You left your girl, but you know I stole her
• Bowdlerize: The title track says "What Does That Mean?", but we can clearly hear Schoolly sing "What The Hell Does That Mean?" on the record.
• Deliberately Monochrome: The drawings on the cover are in black-and-white on a yellow background.
• Design Student's Orgasm: The doodle art on the album cover.
• Dirty Rap and Gangsta Rap: "P.S.K. What Does It Mean?" has been cited by Ice-T as the first song in this genre. It was the first to mention gang violence, drug use, pimps and whores, but in a boastful way.
  Took a little trip to a fancy bar
  Copped some brew, some j, some coke
  Tell you now, brother, this ain't no joke
  She got me to the crib, she laid me on the bed
  I fucked her from my toes to the top of my head
  I finally realized the girl was a whore
  Gave her ten dollars, she asked me for some more
• Epic Rocking: All tracks are longer than five minutes, with "Put Your Filas On" being the longest: 7:16.
• Face on the Cover: Schoolly D drew himself on the album cover.
• Hurricane of Puns: The Moral Guardians who dislike Schoolly D on the album cover are drawn as literal "blockheads" and "squares".
• Intercourse with You:
  • "Put Your Filas On"
  And then I met a fly lady, you're lookin' real slick
  And then I take you in the back, I give you a kiss
  And then I kiss you in the places that I just won't miss
  • "Gucci Time"
  F-U-C-K-I-N-G
  Tarzan and Jane does it in tree
  Adam and Eve, Birds and the bees
  Everybody do it but the suckah MC's
  Roxanne did it to UTFO
  About a sucka nigga down callin' a ho
  I say baby doll, can ya meet me in the black?
  We do it from the front, and we do it from the back
  But don't, don't do it, cuz niggas are sly
  They ain't got no job, they be down with the mob
  And the only thing you'll doin'
  But the only thing you'll get is burn, baby burn
• Ironic Nursery Rhyme: "Gucci Time"
  Baa baa black sheep was a little whore
  Can't run hack cuz she gave herself some more
  Give her a dollar, to make her scream and holler
  Put my head under the bar and she made me wanna call
  Reachin' in my pocket, and pulled out my gun
  Shot her pimp in the head, motherfuckah fell dead
  But now she's in jail in a ten year bed
• Misogyny Song: "Gucci Time"
  Buy me a wife to do my dishes
  I keep ya in stitches
  Ya hangin' in kitchens
• Murder Ballad: "Gucci Time", where Schoolly D shoots a pimp in the head. "PSK-What Does It Mean?" subverts this, by having him pointing a pistol against some man's head, but suddenly he gets a better idea:
  Got to the place, and who did I see?
  A sucker-ass nigga trying to sound like me
  Put my pistol up against his head
  And said, "You sucker-ass nigga I should shoot you dead"
  A thought ran across my educated mind
  Said, man, Schoolly D ain't doing no time
  Grabbed the microphone and I started to talk
  Sucker-ass nigga, man, he started to walk
• N-Word Privileges: "P.S.K. What Does It Mean?" was one of the earliest rap songs to use the N-word in rap, with Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five preceding him with the song "New York, New York" and Ice-T with "The Coldest Rap", both from 1983.
• The New Rock & Roll:
  • "Put Your Filas On"
  Don't give a fuck about what you heard
  First name Schoolly, last name D, word
  80 dollar shirt and my 100 dollar sneakers
  Gemini mixer and some PB speakers
  Turnin out parties everywhere that we go
  And peepin all the hoes at the end of the show
  I say one thing, he says another
  What's that word you be sayin, muthafucka?
  I guess it's alright, man, I don't care
  But I might scare your mama out her underwear
  • "What The Hell Does That Mean?" is a huge Take That! at the people who feel rap is dangerous.
• Product Placement: "Put Your Filas On" and "Gucci Time".
  • "I Don't Like Rock And Roll"
  Sippin' Coqui 900, make me feel allright
• Recognition Failure: "I Don't Like Rock 'N' Roll"
  Whassup man, you sayin' Prince? Say Prince?
  It's Schoolly D., man, we rap!
• Sampling:
  • "I Don't Like Rock 'N' Roll" has samples from "I Love Rock 'N' Roll" (1981) by Joan Jett, "Change the Beat" (1982) by Beside, "Say It Loud" (1968) by James Brown and Schoolly D's own "Gucci Time".
  • "Put Your Filas On" is built from samples by "Change the Beat" (1982) by Beside and "Different Strokes" (1967) by Syl Johnson.
  • "PSK - What The Hell Does That Mean?" samples "the official adventures of..." from Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five's "The Adventures Of Grandmaster Flash On The Wheels Of Steel" (1981), "The Decoys of Ming the Merciless" (1966) by Jackson Beck; as well as "Change the Beat" (1982) by Beside.
  • "Gucci Time" samples "Tough" (1982) by Kurtis Blow and "Fresh" (1983) by Fresh 3 MC's.
  • "Free Style Cutting" is sampled from "Jam Master Jay" from Run–D.M.C.'s Run–D.M.C. (Album) (1984), "What Are We Gonna Do?" by Ultimate 3 MC's (1984) and "Change the Beat" (1982) by Beside.
• Self-Titled Album: "Schoolly D."
• Shout-Out:
  • During "I Don't Like Rock & Roll" the line "say it loud: I love rap and I'm proud!" is rapped, a nod to James Brown's "Say It Loud: I'm Black And I'm Proud".
  • "Gucci Time" namedrops Tarzan, Jane, Adam and Eve.
  • "Gucci Time" would be sampled by Beastie Boys on their album Licensed to Ill (1986), only one year later.
  • "P.S.K. What Does It Mean?" was sampled by Public Enemy during "Pollywanacracka" from Fear of a Black Planet (1990).
  • Case sampled "P.S.K. What Does It Mean?" in his song "Touch Me, Tease Me" (1996).
  • Fatboy Slim sampled "P.S.K. - What Does It Mean?" in the original version of "Praise You".
  • Even Eminem sampled "P.S.K. - What Does It Mean?" in his song "So Far..." from "The Marshall Matters LP 2".
• Siamese Twin Songs: "Free Style Rapping" and "Free Style Cutting".
• Singer Name Drop: "Put Your Filas On"
  First name is Schoolly, last name is D.
• Spelling Song:
  • "Gucci Time"
  F-U-C-K-I-N-G
  • "PSK 'What Does It Mean?'" is about the Philadelphia gang Park Side Killas, whose initials are spelled out during the song and explained as P ("people who can't understand how one homeboy became a man?"), S ("for the way we scream and shout one by one I'm knocking you out") and K ("for the way my DJ cutting other MC's, man you ain't saying nothing").
• Take That!: "I Don't Like Rock 'N' Roll" is aimed at rock 'n' roll, specifically Hair Metal. Even Prince, Michael Jackson and Little Richard get a diss.
  And all you long haired faggots can kiss my ass
  (...) You fucked it all up when you let Michael in
  I'd rather be a day in land of the dog
  Then with some long haired tutti frutti running a mock
  Because rock and roll is all illusion
  Comes to no basic conclusion
  Rap like jazz is not all fusion

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