Kid N Play’s Funhouse

Kid N Play

1990

Kid N Play’s 1990 album is actually tied to the film House Party.  Kid N Play’s Funhouse seems to start with a breakup and subsequent party to forget about it, and pulls back the curtain on the making of the album to give people an eye behind the scenes.

Individually, both rappers broaden their images based on the characters they played in House Party — Kid the reluctant star, Play the ladies’ man — yet they’re still wholesome. Their viewpoint crystallizes in “Back to Basics,” a lament about hip-hop culture losing its innocent sense of fun and turning violent.