Happy 30th Anniversary to Extra Prolific’s debut album Like It Should Be, originally released October 25, 1994.
From late 1993 to early 1994, the Hieroglyphics collective looked like juggernauts. During this less than six-month period, artists from the Bay Area-based crew released a string of three albums that established them as an enduring hip-hop force. There are very few crews that have a string of three albums as excellent as Souls of Mischief’s 93 ’Til Infinity (1993), Del The Funky Homosapien’s No Need For Alarm (1993), and Casual’s Fear Itself (1994) to their credit.
But as 1994 came to a close, Hiero fired the next bullet in their musical chamber, and revealed an even deeper look at their talents. Extra Prolific, comprised of Duane “Snupe” Lee and Mike “G” Gray, released Like It Should Be, a change of pace for the crew. Snupe, born in Houston, TX, brought a southern mentality to his music, mixing it with the lyrics-based ethos of the Hiero camp, and the result was one of the most overlooked albums of 1994.
Snupe took a different approach to his rhymes than the rest of Hieroglyphics. Whereas Del was the slightly left-of-center everyman and Souls of Mischief were the young, battle-hungry cipher warriors, Snupe was like the LL Cool J of the camp. He fashioned himself as a southern-fried player, ready to mix it up with any emcee, but just as likely to try to pull your girl from out under your nose. And yet, Jive Records couldn’t figure out what to do with him.
Of course, one thing that likely hampered Snupe’s push was his name, which, obviously is strikingly similar to Mr. Doggy Dogg himself. The two emcees sounded nothing alike, aside from a smooth delivery and shared interest in their lyrics about female companionship, but it was a lingering issue. When Snupe appeared in The Source’s Unsigned Hype column well over a year before Like It Should Be dropped, almost the entire first paragraph was dedicated to differentiating between “Snupe” and “Snoop.”
Snupe and his partner Mike G got a preemptive repackage as Extra Prolific. The story goes that it was originally the name of the duo comprised of Casual and Touré, but that Casual gave Snupe the name because it fit his rhyme style better. And honestly, the name fits, as Snupe proves to be immaculate when it comes to rhyme flow and delivery.
Like It Should Be remains one of the most distinctive entries in Hiero’s discography. The fact that Snupe is no longer affiliated with the crew makes the album often overlooked, but those who lived through it know: During the collective’s peak, Extra Prolific was just as good as anyone in the camp.
“Brown Sugar,” the album’s first single, gives an entrée into Like It Should Be’s different sound. Though the crew’s manager Domino produces the song, he works well outside of his comfort zone on this track and the others he crafted for the album. The musical backdrop is more soulful and unassuming than the typical Hiero tracks, sounding like it should be played in some filled speakeasies and pool halls. Domino deftly combines the drums from Whodini’s “I’m a Ho” with a snippet of a bassline from Quincy Jones’ “Candy Man” and a few guitar licks from Jim Hall’s “The Answer Is Yes.” Snupe lays down some of his smoothest game on the track, describing the female attention that he seeks out on a regular basis.
Listen to the Album:
Snupe created the beats for roughly half of Like It Should Be himself, and demonstrates his own unique production style as often as possible. “In Front of the Kids” drips with funk, as he’s so buoyant that he practically bounces across the guitar-based track. Meanwhile, Snupe uses a minimalist approach on “Sweet Potato Pie,” giving the track a sultry feel, as he lays down his lines over a drum track, a muted bassline, and stabs of organ. He manages to be as suggestive and straight-up raunchy as possible without ever actually cursing, promising the object of his affection that he’ll be “serving your cervix until there’s no helpings left.”
“First Sermon,” the album’s second single, is laid back in a different way. Produced by Snupe and built around a slightly slowed-down sample of Grover Washington Jr.’s “A Secret Place,” the song celebrates the enlightenment that secular music often evokes. It makes for mellow music to barbecue to, as Snupe releases alternatively deliberate and fast silky lyrics like, “Close your eyes and think in spite of how we bring right / Or wrong, situations long, and you can’t even think tight.”
“Is It Right?” is an oft-forgotten gem on the album. Produced by Domino, it has the feel of a live house party jam, with its plucky drum track and smoky bassline sampled from Ray Brown Orchestra’s “Coming and Going,” while the Hiero crew talks shit in the background throughout the length of the track. “In 20 Minutes” is a literal party track, as Snupe utilizes his storytelling skills to describe a late night of wilding out at house parties and clubs throughout Oakland, rolling with his crew, and on swerve due to serious alcohol consumption.
Snupe knows when to utilize his Hiero family members on the mic, and their guest appearances result in the most battle-heavy tracks on the album. The all-too-brief “Cash Money” is an example, as Snupe and Casual trade verses over an up-tempo track. The A-Plus produced track has the feel of a live concert jam, as the two revel in their prosperity, as Casual rhymes, “Don’t laugh, we raw at this rap shit / And it pays by the phrase / Perhaps it don’t seem too for real y’all / But Casual is in it for the dollar bill y’all.” Souls of Mischief member Opio contributes a marathon verse to the battle-oriented “Now What,” warning wack emcees to “Give it up man, you lost it / you look exhausted, you’re better off with the / Heartbreaks, singing backup / ’Cause you’re slacking tremendously, you’ll never win.”
Snupe joins Pep Love on “Go Back To School,” with the two rhyming over airy samples of Shalamar’s “High On Life” and a sax solo from Grover Washington Jr.’s “Dolphin Dance.” At this point in his career, Pep Love had only made a couple of appearances on widely distributed projects, and he was the only emcee in the crew at the time that hadn’t signed a major label deal yet. Hence, he was still incredibly hungry and capable of kicking an extremely ill verse. Pep punctuates his appearance with a slick stop-and-start flow, rapping, “Now everybody need to explain to us the ways that they been plagiarizing the way that I’ve been styling.”
Like It Should Be ends on a rougher note. “The Fat Outro” is probably my favorite outro track of all time, as Snupe uses the track mostly to deliver a pair of fat verses, throwing in his shout-outs in between. The beat, produced by Casual, is another of the album’s best, featuring rugged drums, jazzy keys, and meandering horns fading in and out. The album-ending “Give It Up” features Snupe at his most sinister musically and lyrically, as lays down more lyrical smackdowns while a grim piano sample steadily thunders .
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Unfortunately, in terms of major label support, things went bad for Snupe and Extra Prolific soon after Like It Should Be’s release. Apparently the triggering event was at the album release party for the A Low Down Dirty Shame soundtrack; Jive was releasing the soundtrack, and “In Front of the Kids” appeared on it as well. The legend goes that Snupe got on the mic, possibly intoxicated, and cursed out the label personnel for not properly promoting Like It Should Be. The alleged outburst soured things between Extra Prolific and Jive very quickly, and the duo never released another album through a major label.
Snupe has continued to persevere over the past quarter century. 2 For 15, Extra Prolific’s sophomore album, was one of the first releases on Hiero’s own record label, Hiero Imperium. However, he and Hiero soon parted ways, with the only explanation being “creative differences.” He released another album, Master Piece, under the Extra Prolific moniker, before retiring from rapping for a while. Sometime in the ’10s he resurfaced as Lee Majors, recording spiritual/Christian hip-hop. In 2020, he released Like It’s Supposed to Be, which served as a lyrical return-to-form for the emcee.
Snupe’s talents are very real and very apparent to anyone who listens to Like It Should Be, and it’s the reason why it’s still remembered so fondly 30 years later.
LISTEN:
Editor's note: this anniversary tribute was originally published in 2019 and has since been edited for accuracy and timeliness.