1990 was a great year. Sure, I was only 12 at the time -- what the hell did I know? But I remember it like it was yesterday. I remember because today on #TBT, this tape has been calling my attention. They say music is the soundtrack to our lives, like a time capsule and #SexPackets is just that. ’90 was all about the Oakland A’s (peace to Rickey Henderson for snagging that MVP). It was about David Justice and Frank Thomas rookie cards too. It was about buying those fresh Air Jordan V’s that just dropped. It was about watching The Simpson on TV. Movies like Total Recall, Dick Tracy and Home Alone kept me entertained for hours. MC Hammer and Vanilla Ice took hip-hop global. Who can forget listening to Amerikkka’s Most Wanted, One For All and Fear of A Black Planet over and over and over again? Even though I grew up in Philly, I always gravitated towards the west. Philly folks can’t openly love anything NY related, we have that inferiority complex and after Fresh Prince, there wasn’t much to talk about Philly hip-hop until The Roots stepped on the scene. So while I loved hip-hop, I definitely had a love affair with west coast. It was different, it wasn’t New York and shortly after NWA dropped, it became the land of dopeness. Too Short, Ice Cube, The Pharcyde, Cypress Hill, Del, Ice-T, DJ Quik, Above The Law and Compton’s Most just to name a few. This is why I firmly believe 93-96 hip-hop changed again and the eastcoast took it back with Wu, Biggie, Nas and the millions of other classics that dropped, specifically in ’94. Back to Sex Packets. I loved the hell outta this album. It was sexual and at 12, I doubt I was even tugging on my jimmy, though I’m sure the inside photo on liner notes had me second guessing. The album is responsible for making me still remember what Freaknik is. The melodic beats, the soft spoken way Money B would grace the track to the amped and sometimes smooth AF way Shock would just ride a beat. This album might be more responsible for my puberty than any Playboy magazine or scrambled porn channel ever was. 1990 was a damn good year.
