Posted in: Sports, TV, WWE | Tagged: Be a Man, macho man, randy savage, Record Store Day, wrestling, wwe

Macho Man's 2003 Rap Album Gets Vinyl Release for Record Store Day

Be a Man, the 2003 rap album by the late Macho Man Randy Savage, will be released on vinyl for the first time on Record Store Day this year.

Macho Man Randy Savage is best known as one of the biggest wrestling stars of all time, a legend both in the ring and on the mic, but in 2003, the Macho Man stepped into the world of hip hop to release a rap album: Be a Man. And for this year's Record Store Day, Be a Man will be released for the first time ever on vinyl, since back when it came out, vinyl had been fully replaced by CDs and hadn't yet come back into fashion with collectors.

When it comes to wrestlers' forays into music, The Macho Man's was one of the least awful. While Macho Man wasn't winning any awards for Be a Man, it actually had quite a few redeeming qualities. For one thing, Macho Man's wrestling promo style adapts surprisingly well to rapping, and Savage mostly pulled off a decent flow throughout the album. For another, it features, perhaps, the greatest rap diss track of all time, the titular Be a Man, which eviscerated Macho's long-time rival, Hulk Hogan.

"They call you Hollywood? Don't make me laugh," rapped the Macho Man on the legendary track. "'Cause your movies and your actin' skills are both trash. Your movie, straight to video, the box office can't stand While I got myself a feature role in Spider-Man. Ya hidin' man, but when I find you, it's on, and when I slam ya through the dirt, you'll wish you's never born. I smell a coward, is that you Hogan? (What?) Macho's gonna kick your butt is the slogan."

Yes, despite an aggressive rap style, Macho Man absolutely avoided cursing on the album, a bold choice for the genre. But it wasn't all aggression. The Perfect Friend, a loving tribute to then-recently-deceased wrestler Mr. Perfect, is a downright tearjerker: "You were my perfect friend. Right there until the end. I'm forever missin' you until we meet again. Can't explain this pain. Never felt like this. Mr. Perfect don't you know that you'll be truly missed."

Be a Man probably wouldn't be considered a good album if it was by anyone else, but the personality of the Macho Man elevated it to another level, turning what would normally be cringe in a bad way to cringe in an undeniably delightful way. It's also arguably the greatest album ever produced by a wrestler, and puts Hulk Hogan's own attempt at a music career, the 1995 rock album Hulk Rules by Hulk Hogan and the Wrestling Boot Band, to complete shame by comparison.

Though Hogan often came out on top in his feuds with the Macho Man in the wrestling ring, he couldn't touch Savage in the rap game, and yes, though Hulk Rules was primarily a rock album, he did try on one track, Beach Patrol. "I was walking down the beach, looking for some action," rapped the Hulkster on the track. "Had my radio set on a rap-rap station. Saw a girl in trouble, a sticky situation; she wanted me to give her mouth-to-mouth resuscitation."

Record Store Day takes place on April 22, so be sure to visit your local record store and make sure they order a lot of copies of Be a Man, because you don't want to miss out this opportunity to own a piece of wrestling and music history. Only 1000 of the purple vinyl albums will be pressed, which seems, to us, to be a drastic underestimation of the demand for this all-time classic.

Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!

Stay up-to-date and support the site by following Bleeding Cool on Google News today!