Schoolly D was a pioneer of gangsta rap — his 1985 single “P.S.K. ‘What Does It Mean?’”, a tribute to the Park Side Killas, a gang in his native Philadelphia, was a direct influence on Ice-T and Eazy-E. This album, which includes the follow-up “Parkside 5-2,” displays a genuinely shocking nihilism at times, but there’s a dark, gleeful sense of humor in lines like “My name’s Schoolly D, I’m running amuck/I’ll tell you where to go and what to suck” (“We Get Ill”). He laughs at his own (admittedly often misogynist and homophobic) jokes throughout the title track, and seems to be freestyling and stealing old toasting rhymes. The bare-bones production matches the lyrical tone, with familiar funk breaks scratched up over massive beats and sudden waves of echo overtaking the vocals; DJ Code Money programs TR-909 kick drums that’ll punch holes in your walls.