| Back by Popular Demand | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 1988 | |||
| Genre | Rap | |||
| Length | 44:32 | |||
| Label | Mercury [1] | |||
| Kurtis Blow chronology | ||||
| ||||
Back by Popular Demand is an album by the American rapper Kurtis Blow, released in 1988. [2] [3] It was his final studio album. [4] [5]
The album peaked at No. 84 on Billboard's Top Black Albums. [6]
Blow sang on the remake of Charles Wright & the Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band's "Express Yourself". [7] Salaam Remi helped to produce a few tracks on the album. [8]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |    [9] |
| The Encyclopedia of Popular Music | [10] |
| Orlando Sentinel | [7] |
| The Rolling Stone Album Guide | [11] |
Trouser Press wrote that the album "finds the venerable but passé rapper in an understandably insecure mood, circling his wagons in a vain attempt to get with the new hip-hop generation." [12] The Orlando Sentinel opined that "by the time Blow gets through the first side of the LP, he's delivered three songs that do little more than brag that he's the greatest rapper since the dawn of time, etc ... Yawn." [7]
The Omaha World-Herald praised the album's "melodic tunes": "Express Yourself", "Love Don't Love Nobody", "Feeling Good", and "Blue Iguana". [13]
AllMusic wrote: "The first track and initial single has Blow putting himself on the ropes and the defensive as he proclaims his return, but he never really went anywhere. The song, like the majority of this effort, employs a harder, James Brown sample-laden sound." [9] MusicHound R&B: The Essential Album Guide deemed the album "stale-sounding." [14]
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Back by Popular Demand" | 5:25 |
| 2. | "Only the Strong Survive" | 6:01 |
| 3. | "I'm True to This" | 3:25 |
| 4. | "Get on Up" | 2:23 |
| 5. | "Suckers in the Place" | 4:41 |
| 6. | "Love Don't Love Nobody" | 4:08 |
| 7. | "Still on the Scene" | 4:32 |
| 8. | "Express Yourself" | 3:50 |
| 9. | "Blue Iguana" | 3:57 |
| 10. | "I'm Feelin' Good" | 6:10 |
Kurtis Walker, professionally known by his stage name Kurtis Blow, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record/film producer, b-boy, DJ, public speaker and minister. He is the first commercially successful rapper and the first to sign with a major record label. "The Breaks", a single from his 1980 self-titled debut album, is the first certified gold record rap song. Throughout his career he has released 17 albums and is currently an ordained minister.
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