Here Come The Lords
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Album Summary
Here Come The Lords was the debut studio album by Newark, New Jersey hip-hop duo Lords Of The Underground — DoItAll and Mr. Funke, with DJ Lord Jazz holding it down on the decks. Released in 1993 on Pendulum Records, distributed through Elektra, this record came out of the laboratory of none other than the legendary Marley Marl, whose boom-bap sensibility was absolutely on fire during this period. Recorded right in the thick of the East Coast underground movement, the album wore New Jersey's street culture like a badge of honor — raw, bass-heavy, and unapologetic. It announced Lords Of The Underground not as pretenders to any throne, but as genuine architects of a sound that was all their own.
Reception
- The album punched well above its underground weight class commercially, climbing to number 27 on the Billboard 200 and making serious noise on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, with the irresistible 'Funky Child' serving as the locomotive that pulled the whole train.
- Critics of the era gave real love to the album's kinetic energy and Marley Marl's dense, funk-soaked production work, with particular praise reserved for the natural chemistry between DoItAll and Mr. Funke — a duo whose back-and-forth felt lived-in and genuine.
- 'Chief Rocka' earned heavy rotation on MTV's Yo! MTV Raps and significant radio airplay, cracking open the album to audiences well beyond the underground faithful and cementing the Lords as a nationally recognized act.
Significance
- Here Come The Lords stands as a cornerstone document of New Jersey hip-hop, staking out a distinct regional identity at a time when the spotlight rarely wandered far from New York City's five boroughs — and doing it with total conviction.
- Marley Marl's production throughout the album is a masterclass in East Coast boom-bap craft, weaving funk and soul sources around thunderous drum breaks in a way that captured the very heartbeat of the era.
- The album arrived at a rare and fleeting moment in hip-hop history when underground artists could still reach mainstream chart heights without compromising their street-level soul, making Here Come The Lords a genuine bridge between the blocks and the Billboard charts.
Samples
- Funky Child — one of the most recognizable singles from the album, with a documented sampling history in subsequent hip-hop productions drawing on its infectious hook and rhythmic foundation.
- Chief Rocka — sampled and interpolated by multiple artists across hip-hop, reflecting its status as one of the defining singles of the 1993 East Coast rap landscape.
Tracklist
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A1 Here Come The Lords 98
4:18
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A2 From Da Bricks 96
4:20
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A3 Funky Child 96
4:31
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B1 Keep It Underground 101
4:08
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B2 Check It (Remix) 50
4:24
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B3 Grave Digga 99
4:06
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B4 Lords Prayer 102
4:30
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C1 Flow On (New Symphony) 107
4:25
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C2 Madd Skillz 103
5:03
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C3 Psycho 103
4:08
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C4 Chief Rocka 99
4:07
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D1 Sleep For Dinner (Remix) —
5:16
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D2 L.O.T.U.G. (Lords Of The Underground) 199
4:26
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D3 Lord Jazz Hit Me One Time (Make It Funky) 94
2:46
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D4 What's Goin' On —
3:38
Artist Details
Lords of the Underground are a hip-hop trio out of Newark, New Jersey who came up in the early 90s and hit the scene hard with their 1993 debut album Here Come the Lords, bringing a raw, bass-heavy East Coast sound that was equal parts gritty street energy and lyrical showmanship. Featuring MCs DoItAll and Mr. Funke alongside DJ Lord Jazz, these cats carved out a real legacy in the golden age of hip-hop, riding that Marley Marl production wave to deliver bangers like Chief Rocka that still knock today. Their significance lies in repping the underground New Jersey scene at a time when New York was dominating the conversation, proving that the real soul of hip-hop was alive and burning just across the Hudson.
