Critical Beatdown

Critical Beatdown has since been lauded as an underground classic since its 1988 release, despite its failure to compare in unit sales with contemporary releases. Kool Keith is usually regarded the driving force behind the vocal style of the record, but most songs featured group members Ced-Gee (“Delta Force One”) and Moe Love as well.
Produced by Ced Gee, the album features audio sampling techniques which had rarely, if ever, been used previously. In particular, Ced’s syncopated drops of chopped, out-of-context samples, along with his production work on the majority of Boogie Down Productions’ seminal Criminal Minded, have led some to credit Ced Gee, and Critical Beatdown, as among the critical sources of the “golden age” of sampling.