Criminal Minded is the debut album by the American hip hop group Boogie Down Productions. It was released in May 1987 through B-Boy Records. It is considered a highly influential hip hop album and one of the first in the gangsta rap genre.
The songs "South Bronx" and "The Bridge Is Over" ignited the rivalry with the Brooklyn-bred but Queens resident emcee MC Shan and the Juice Crew. Throughout the album, KRS-One gives honor and praise to Scott La Rock for producing the album and he mostly goes on about the importance of originality and being "real" instead of a "Sucker MC".
In 2003, the album was ranked number 444 on Rolling Stones list of "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time", and was later ranked number 239 in the 2020 edition.
Production on the LP is credited to Blastmaster' KRS-One (Lawrence Krisna Parker) and DJ Scott La Rock (Scott Sterling), with a special thanks to Ced-Gee (Cedric Miller) of The Ultramagnetic MCs on the back cover.
The cover, which showcases Parker and Sterling surrounded by an arsenal of weapons, was hip-hop's first major release to feature members brandishing firearms. The album also contained several hardcore songs such as "9mm Goes Bang", one of the first hip-hop songs to be based around a first-person crime narrative, and "P Is Free", which details an encounter with a drug-abusing prostitute.
The liner notes of Criminal Minded read, "Peace to Ron Nelson and the Toronto posse." This statement is evidence of BDP's involvement with Toronto's hip hop scene in the 1980s, which produced artists such as Michie Mee, Dream Warriors, and Maestro Fresh Wes.
The album was released in May 1987 through B-Boy Records.
The relationship between the group and B-Boy Records quickly deteriorated. KRS-One sued the label for failing to pay royalties. A lawsuit was launched, which was eventually settled out-of-court. Having left B-Boy Records, new friend Ice-T introduced BDP to Warner Bros. Records' Benny Medina, head of the label's Black-music division, who promptly agreed to sign the duo in principle to a new record deal. However, the Warner Brothers deal was later rescinded after Scott La Rock's murder.
Criminal Minded was well received by critics. In 1988, for The Village Voice, Robert Christgau wrote in his "Consumer Guide" column:
In 1998, Criminal Minded was selected by The Source as one of the 100 Best Rap Albums. Vibe included it in its list of the 100 Essential Albums of the 20th Century in 1999, and in 2002, the magazine placed it at number three on its list of the Top 10 Rap Albums. In 2003, the album was ranked number 444 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time, and was later ranked 239 in the 2020 edition.
Complex named the song "South Bronx" as the ninth-best hip hop dis song of all-time.
In 2017, rapper MC Ren named Criminal Minded as his all-time favorite hip hop album. MC Ren also heavily sampled "The Bridge Is Over" on his 1992 single "Final Frontier".
[*] Bonus track found on later pressings.