Saturday Night! – The Album

“Saturday Night! – The Album” is the second studio album by Schoolly D, released in 1986 through his own label, Schoolly D Records.

The story

After “P.S.K. What Does It Mean?” in 1985, Jesse Weaver kept releasing his music himself, and his second album continued that independent approach. The original edition held seven tracks, including “We Get Ill,” “Do It, Do It,” “Dedication to All B-Boys,” “B-Boy Rhyme and Riddle” and the title song. Weaver produced it himself, with DJ Code Money as his key collaborator. In 1987 Jive Records reissued the album in an expanded form that added tracks such as “Housing the Joint” and “Parkside 5-2.” Weaver later said the extra material had been meant for his next album, “Smoke Some Kill,” and described the reissue as “a total scam.”

Sound and production

The album was recorded at INS Studios in New York with the engineer Joe “The Butcher” Nicolo. Weaver said that by 1985 he “had mastered the Roland TR-909,” and the record is built largely on that drum machine, with live musicians added on some tracks. As on “P.S.K.,” the drums are heavy and echoing, and Code Money’s scratching sits alongside Weaver’s slow, menacing delivery. “Saturday Night” and “Dedication to All B-Boys” were issued as singles.

Legacy

The album reached No. 59 on the US Top Black Albums chart, where it spent 10 weeks, and No. 4 on the UK Indie Chart. In Britain “Saturday Night” reached No. 18 and “Dedication to All B-Boys” No. 11 on the indie singles chart. Reviews were mixed. AllMusic gave it four stars and Robert Christgau a B, while The Washington Post called it “artless” but praised its “mean-streets vitality.” NME placed it at No. 20 on its list of the best albums of 1987. Its violent content caused controversy at home, and Philadelphia officials removed copies from shelves. Ice-T has named Schoolly D’s “P.S.K.” as the first record of its kind, and his own “6 in the Mornin’” drew on that example. Alongside “P.S.K.,” the album helped establish the hardcore street style that West Coast gangsta rap would build on later in the decade.

More from hip hop in 1986.