{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2025}} {{Infobox album | name = Smoke Some Kill | type = album | artist = Schoolly D | cover = Smoke Some Kill.jpg | alt = | released = 1988 | recorded = 1988 | venue = | studio = | genre = {{hlist|East Coast hip hop|hardcore hip hop}} | length = | label = Jive/RCA | producer = Schoolly D | prev_title = Saturday Night! – The Album | prev_year = 1986 | next_title = Am I Black Enough for You? | next_year = 1989 }} '''''Smoke Some Kill''''' is the third album by rapper Schoolly D. The album was released in 1988 on Jive Records and was produced by Schoolly D.

==Release== Though the album was not as successful as ''Saturday Night! – The Album'', it made it to No. 180 on the ''Billboard'' 200 and No. 50 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop album chart.<ref>{{cite web |url={{AllMusic|class=album|id=r28239|pure_url=yes}} |title=Charts and awards for ''Smoke Some Kill'' |accessdate=2008-07-25 |website=Allmusic}}</ref>

=="Signifying Rapper"==

The song "'''Signifying Rapper'''" was based upon the "signifying monkey" character of African-American folklore. A version of this story was performed by Rudy Ray Moore. Schoolly D's adaptation of the story is recited over the rhythm guitar figure from Led Zeppelin's "Kashmir".<ref name="tobias"/> The song was featured in the film ''Bad Lieutenant,'' and inspired the title of (and is discussed in) the book ''Signifying Rappers: Rap and Race in the Urban Present.''

"Signifying Rapper" was the target of several lawsuits following its use in the 1992 film ''Bad Lieutenant'',<ref name="tobias">{{cite web |url=http://www.avclub.com/content/node/22601 |title=Interview: Abel Ferrara |date=2002-11-27 |last=Tobias |first=Scott |work=The A.V. Club |publisher=Onion }}</ref> in multiple scenes.

In 1994, Live Home Video and distributor Aries Film Releasing were ordered to destroy any unsold copies of ''Bad Lieutenant'' as part of a copyright infringement ruling.<ref name="sandler">Sandler, Adam (December 14, 1994). Live Must Destroy 'Bad' Vids Sez Judge. ''Variety''</ref>{{fix |link=Wikipedia:Verifiability |text=verify |title=quotation needed ''on talk'' from source to verify |pre-text=Request quotation on talk to }} Director Abel Ferrara was angered by the incident, which he felt "ruined the movie":

{{blockquote|"Signifying Rapper" was out for five years, and there wasn't a problem. Then the film had already been out for two years and they start bitching about it. [...] It cost Schoolly like $50,000. It was a nightmare. And meanwhile, "Signifying Rapper" is 50 million times better than "Kashmir" ever thought of being. [...] Why sue? You should be happy that somebody is paying homage to your work.|Abel Ferrara|The A.V. Club interview<ref name="tobias"/>}}

==Critical reception== {{Music ratings | rev1 = AllMusic | rev1Score = {{Rating|2|5}}<ref name="Wynn"/> | rev2 = Robert Christgau | rev2Score = B−<ref name="Christgau"/> | rev3 = ''Los Angeles Daily News'' | rev3Score = B<ref name="Daily">"[http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=LA&p_theme=la&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EF51A5194632E32&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM Review: ''Smoke Some Kill'']". ''Los Angeles Daily News'': September 2, 1988.</ref> | rev4 = ''Rolling Stone'' | rev4Score = {{Rating|1|5}}<ref name="Darling">{{cite magazine |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/artists/schoollyd/albums/album/140501/review/5946307/smoke_some_kill |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080328072414/http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/schoollyd/albums/album/140501/review/5946307/smoke_some_kill |url-status=dead |archive-date=March 28, 2008 |title=Review of ''Smoke Some Kill'' |author=Darling, Cary |date=November 17, 1988 |magazine=Rolling Stone |accessdate=10 February 2010}}</ref> }} The album received generally mixed reviews from most music critics. The ''Los Angeles Daily News'' gave the album a B.<ref name="Daily"/> ''Rolling Stone'' reviewer Cary Darling panned the album, writing "With its images of gun-toting bluster, mushrooming genitals and rampant drug use – backed by thuddingly dull beats – ''Smoke Some Kill'' should be played for every prospective rapper so he'll know what not to do."<ref name="Darling"/> AllMusic reviewer Ron Wynn called the album "more chaotic than creative".<ref name="Wynn">{{cite web |url={{AllMusic|class=album|id=r28239|pure_url=yes}} |title=Review of ''Smoke Some Kill'' |author=Wynn, Ron |website=Allmusic |accessdate=10 February 2010}}</ref> In his consumer guide for ''The Village Voice'', critic Robert Christgau called Schoolly D "the white audience's paranoid-to-masochistic fantasy of a B-boy" and commended him for "realizing the fantasy so scarily, and for commanding his own tough-guy sound".<ref name="Christgau">Christgau, Robert. "[http://www.robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?name=Schoolly-D Consumer Guide: ''Smoke Some Kill'']". ''The Village Voice'': December 27, 1988. Archived from [http://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/cg/cgv1288-88.php the original] on 2010-03-13.</ref>

==Track listing== {{Listen |filename=Schoolly D - Signifying Rapper.ogg |title=Schoolly D "Signifying Rapper" (1988) |description=Excerpt of main riff and break}}

#"Smoke Some Kill" – 3:28 #"Here We Go Again" – 2:43 #"Mr.Big Dick" – 4:36 #"Gangster Boogie II" – 3:43 #"This Is It (Ain't Gonna Rain)" – 3:56 #"Another Poem" – 4:20 #"We Don't Rock, We Rap" – 3:17 #"Signifying Rapper" – 4:51 #"No More Rock n' Roll" – 3:52 #"Same White Bitch (Got You Strung Out on Cane)" – 4:19 #"Treacherous" – 4:27 #"Black Man" – 4:19 #"Coqui 900" – 3:30 #"Fat Gold Chain" – 3:01

==Personnel== *Schoolly D &ndash; producer *DJ Code Money &ndash; sampling, scratching *Joe "The Butcher" Nicolo &ndash; engineer, mix on "Mr. Big Dick", "Gangster Boogie II", "This Is It (Ain't Gonna Rain)", "Another Poem", "Same White Bitch (Got You Strung Out on Cane)", "Treacherous", "Black Man" *Nigel Green<!-- Not the actor --> &ndash; mix on "Smoke Some Kill", "Here We Go Again", "We Don't Rock, We Rap", "Signifying Rapper", "No More Rock n' Roll", "Coqui 900", "Fat Gold Chain" *Andy "Funky Drummer" Kravitz &ndash; drums on "Signifying Rapper" and "No More Rock n' Roll" *Mike Tyler &ndash; guitar on "Signifying Rapper" and "No More Rock n' Roll" *Doug Grigsby &ndash; bass on "Signifying Rapper" and "No More Rock n' Roll" *Big Tim &ndash; bass on "Another Poem"

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== *{{cite web |url=http://www.globaldarkness.com/articles/schooly_d_original_gangsta.htm |title=Schoolly D - Original Gangsta |last=Emery |first=Andrew |publisher=Global Darkness |year=1997 |quote=... I was sued by Led Zeppelin and that wasn’t a pretty sight. }} Passing mention.

{{Authority control}}

Category:1988 albums Category:Schoolly D albums Category:Jive Records albums Category:Sampling (music) controversies