Influence
Though not as widely heralded as similar groundbreaking East Coast albums such as Nas' Illmatic, The Notorious B.I.G.'s Ready to Die, Wu-Tang Clan's Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers), Onyx's Bacdafucup and Mobb Deep's The Infamous, Enta da Stage was critically acclaimed on a similar level. Though all of the albums mentioned above were able to reach at least Gold status, Enta da Stage, released before all of these albums, has not sold nearly as well, selling just over 350,000 copies in the U.S. as of June 2006. Allmusic described the importance of the album: "It set the tone for much of the hip hop to follow. Biggie Smalls suicidal thoughts and Noreaga's boisterous thuggery both have their roots here. The album marked a turning point in hip hop." Enta da Stage has also been described as "Era defining", and was one of the pioneering releases during the return of New York City's street hip hop resurgence of the mid '90s, after the West Coast's reign of the early '90s. Enta da Stage is still prominent among hip hop artists today, such as lyrics from "How Many MC's..." being used as a hook for Jedi Mind Trick's song "Speech Cobras".
The album also served as the introduction of the Boot Camp Clik, Buckshot's hip hop supergroup. The collective was a prominent underground rap group in the 1990s - also producing the acclaimed Smif-n-Wessun's Dah Shinin', Heltah Skeltah's Nocturnal, and O.G.C.'s Da Storm. Enta da Stage heralded the debut of Da Beatminerz. After producing here, and on other Boot Camp albums Dah Shinin', Nocturnal and Da Storm, Mr. Walt and Evil Dee went on to expand their sounds, and produce for popular artists like Afu-Ra, Big Daddy Kane, Craig G, De La Soul, Dilated Peoples, Eminem, Flipmode Squad, Jean Grae, KRS-One, M.O.P., Naughty by Nature, O.C. and Black Star. The album is extensively broken down track-by-track by Buckshot, DJ Evil Dee, and Mr. Walt of Da Beatminerz in Brian Coleman's book Check the Technique (2007).
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Famous quotes containing the word influence:
“They tell us that women can bring better things to pass by indirect influence. Try to persuade any man that he will have more weight, more influence, if he gives up his vote, allies himself with no party and relies on influence to achieve his ends! By all means let us use to the utmost whatever influence we have, but in all justice do not ask us to be content with this.”
—Mrs. William C. Gannett, U.S. suffragist. As quoted in History of Woman Suffrage, vol. 5, ch. 8, by Ida Husted Harper (1922)
“Under the influence of fear, which always leads men to take a pessimistic view of things, they magnified their enemies’ resources, and minimized their own.”
—Titus Livius (Livy)
“The purifying, healing influence of literature, the dissipating of passions by knowledge and the written word, literature as the path to understanding, forgiveness and love, the redeeming might of the word, the literary spirit as the noblest manifestation of the spirit of man, the writer as perfected type, as saint.”
—Thomas Mann (1875–1955)