Although the group originally intended to record more rock-oriented material for the album, its music has a predominantly synthesizer-based backing, with a rhythm and blues influence.

[4] Hutchins had met Smith at the dance club Disco Fever in New York City;[2] although they were friends and often discussed music, he said that they did not originally consider working together.

[2] The producer initially refused for financial reasons,[2] but called Hutchins the following day saying that he needed money to pay a hospital bill for a friend who had his finger tips ripped off.

"[2] Smith encouraged Whodini to use a variety of instruments on each track, from Linn LM-1 and Roland TR-707 drum machines to a Fender Jazz Bass.

[2] The music on Escape, in particular "Five Minutes of Funk", was originally intended to be rock-oriented, with Hutchins suggesting that the song would be similar to the "rawer" work of groups such as the Isley Brothers.

[6][7] Nelson George described Escape's music as a style which "black radio embraces", specifically a "radio-friendly, singles-oriented hip hop", as opposed to the "hard-core, more rhyme-centered rap".

[2] The group had a developed a large following in Britain and Europe prior to the release of Escape, although success in the United States had initially been limited.

"[3] By December 1984, the 7- and 12-inch singles "Friends" and "Five Minutes of Funk" were approaching sales of 350,000, and received more airplay than the "Magic's Wand" and "Haunted House of Rock" from Whodini's first album.

[4] The month before Escape's release, Whodini appeared at the 1984 Swatch Watch New York City Fresh Fest as part of the first national tour featuring hip hop groups.

[15] In a contemporary review, Robert Christgau gave Escape a grade of B+ and wrote that Hutchins and Smith "turn out ingratiating variations on a formula.

"[16] Although Christgau found the lyrics of "Freaks Come Out at Night" less intellectual than "Escape" or "Friends" and less musically interesting than "Five Minutes of Funk", he still considered it a strong song.

[16] NME described Escape as superior to Whodini's debut studio album and praised Smith's production, writing that his "sparse DMC sound here gives way to a rich and warm electronic soundscape".

"[19] Frances Litman wrote in Times Colonist that Escape "isn't bad (nor is it good)" comparing it favorably to West Street Mob's Break Dance Electric Boogie (1983) declaring Whodini "musically more mature than many of their counterparts" while stating both albums "are excessive in dragging out each song to nauseating limits of vinyl boredom" and that "Escape offers nothing more than the usual run of the rap.

"[17] Among retrospective reviews, Fact noted that Escape was "eclipsed by the antics of the new school" and that it had "tumbled off of most casual fans' bucket lists.

"[8] The reviewer called "Freaks Come Out at Night" and "Five Minutes of Funk" classics, and said that "We Are Whodini" "distills the essence of the group more than the other groundbreaking tracks here, and still retains a sense of freshness.