Here’s a little Black History for this month. In 1985, one year after releasing their debut album, which turned them into some of rap music’s earliest superstars, The Fat Boys released their second album, aptly named The Fat Boys Are Back. Produced by Kurtis Blow, this album featured eight songs, with rappers Prince Markie Dee and Kool Rock Ski trading rhymes back and forth as Buff Love provided his Human Beat Box skills.

Even back then, it was easy to dismiss The Fat Boys as a gimmick, so they had a lot riding on this album to prove that they were a legitimate musical act. And they largely succeeded, as the album matched the Gold status of their debut album, which singles sales of at least 500,000 copies. That was a lot back then, as it was during the prehistoric days before streaming, so fans like myself had to leave the house and go to a record store to purchase a physical copy of an album. This is also when most mainstream radio stations didn’t play rap music, making this feat all the more impressive.

However, I didn’t enjoy this album as much as the first one.

There were three singles released from the album, the first one is the title track. This is a song that sounds like it could have fit right in on the first album. It’s got a bit of an electric disco-fied beat, as simple braggadocio lyrics, none of which you’ll remember when the song is over. All that will stick in your mind is that chorus of “the Fat Boys are back, and you know they can never be wack.” It’s a good opener, and I remember enjoying it when it came up.

But then they followed that up with their second single, Hard Core Reggae:

Good Lord, that’s bad. I admit to a bias, as I’ve never been a fan of full-reggae music. I’ve liked some reggae-flavored songs, but in general, it’s just not my thing. And this was so obviously fake; those aren’t their real accents. To this day, I don’t think I’ve ever listened to this song all the way through, not even as I was writing this review.

The third single was DON’T BE STUPID. This is where the boys show off the storytelling skills they displayed in previous songs like Jailhouse Rock. There are three verses, each one about someone who made stupid life decisions. In verse 1, Prince Markie Dee raps about going to the bank, but a robber with a gun tries to stick the place up, but it doesn’t end well as:
He was on his way out with all the loot
But the cops were there first, and they started to shoot
They shot him down, straight in the head
Homeboy was stupid, and now he’s dead
Then Kool Rock Ski raps about a girl named Judy, who “was so fine with a big fat bootie.” But she’s a gold digger who only likes guys with money and who laughs at guys who don’t have it. This verse ends a little confusing, as she walks to a store one night when some guy in a Cadillac pulls up next to her.
Down came the window then Judy smiled
He whispered in her ear, can you talk for awhile
But Judy said she only liked rich men
But then nobody saw Judy again
So, is the implication that she willingly got in the car because she thought he was rich, but he turned out to be dangerous? Or did she reject him and get angry, and he did something to her?
Anyway, the finale verse has Prince Markie Dee and Kool Rock Ski trading lines back and forth about a man who was a compulsive gambler. The problem was that he wasn’t good at it, so he would always waste all of his money to the point where his family was starving. He ends up trying to cheat some other gamblers to win, but he gets caught and then gets beaten down, presumably to death.
It’s a good song, but it doesn’t have the same infectious playfulness that the group was known for.

This album also includes the song PUMP IT UP, which they would perform in the film Krush Groove, which came out 4 months after this album was released.

This is my favorite song from this album but, unfortunately, they never released it as a single.

The remaining four album tracks are HUMAN BEAT BOX PART 2, another track in whcih Prince Markie Dee and Kool Rock Ski trade freestyle rhymes back and forth as Buff Love does his human beat box thing.
YES YES Y’ALL is another party song, which is most interesting to me because in the middle verse, Prince Markie Dee raps the origin of The Incredible Hulk.
FAT BOYS SCRATCH is a song about their D.J. Doc Nice, a name they’ve referred to Buff Love as in a few songs. However, I don’t recall ever seeing him using actual turntables during any of their performances. Well, someone is doing the scratching on this track.
And the last track is ROCK N ROLL, which sounds like the boys doing a Run-DMC impersonation over a rock beat with electric guitars. But it just doesn’t sound as natural to them as it did to Run-DMC.

So overall, it’s a decent collection, it’s enough to prove that the Fat Boys weren’t just a gimmick, they did have talent, but this lacks some of the enthusiasm of the first album.

Chacebook rating: THREE STARS

AVAILABLE ON APPLE MUSIC