Intelligent Hoodlum

Born Percy Chapman, New York rapper Intelligent Hoodlum spent 20 months at Elmira Correctional Facility in Bing Hampton, NY, following a 1988 robbery conviction. That stretch of time led him to absorb extensive writings on African-American culture together with Nation of Islam theology, a pairing that shapes every facet of his output and charges his tracks with righteousness, anger, indignation, and frustration. The foundation supplied by ace producer Marley Marl only heightens the effect.