1962 lines
91 KiB
Plaintext
1962 lines
91 KiB
Plaintext
--- --- --- ---- ---- CCCCC OOOOO RRRR EEEE
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| H | / A \ | R | |D \ C O O R R E
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|---| |---| |--/ | | C O O RRRR EEEE
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| | | | | \ | / C O O R R E
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--- --- --- --- -- -- ---- CCCCC. OOOOO. R R. EEEE.
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Vol. 3, Issue 6 December, 1995
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The electronic magazine of hip-hop music and culture
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Brought to you as a service of the Committee of Rap Excellence
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Section 1 -- ONE
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***A***
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Table of Contents
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Sect. Contents Author
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001 The introduction
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A Da 411 - table of contents staff
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B Da 411 - HardC.O.R.E. staff
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C Yo! We Want Your Demos staff
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002 Monthly Articles
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A The Unbearable Nothingness of davidj@vnet.net
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Hip-hop, 1995
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B SOUNDTRACKS: Year in Review YCAA10A@prodigy.com
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C The European Report helmut@cosy.sbg.ac.at
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D Contemplatin' msamia@pluto.mscc.huji.ac.il
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E Roots 'n' Rap rapotter@colby.edu
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F WU-TANG CLAN: '95 Review YCAA10A@prodigy.com
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G The Homeboy from Hell Monthly isbell@ai.mit.edu
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KRS-ONE
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003 The 1995 New Jack Hip-Hop Awards
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A The Official Nomination Form isbell@ai.mit.ed
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004 The Official HardC.O.R.E. Album Review Section
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A Kool G. Rap krs_one@iastate.edu
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B Ornette Coleman rapotter@colby.edu
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C The Pharcyde davidj@vnet.net
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D RBX msamia@pluto.mscc.huji.ac.il
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E South Circle krs_one@iastate.edu
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F Tha Dogg Pound krs_one@iastate.edu
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G Twins msamia@pluto.mscc.huji.ac.il
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H "The Show" Soundtrack krs_one@iastate.edu
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***B***
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The C.O.R.E. creed
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We at C.O.R.E. support underground hip-hop (none of that crossover
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bullshucks). That means we also support the 1st Amendment and the
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right to uncensored music.
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The C.O.R.E. anthems
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I Used To Love H.E.R. Common Sense
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Crossover EPMD
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Mass Appeal Gangstarr
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True to the Game Ice Cube
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Outta Here KRS-One
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How About Some HardC.O.R.E. M.O.P.
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Time's Up O.C.
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Straighten It Out Pete Rock and CL Smooth
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In the Trunk Too $hort
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Remember Where You Came From Whodini
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Access info:
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FTP: ftp://ftp.etext.org/pub/Zines/HardCORE/
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Gopher: gopher://gopher.etext.org:70/11/Zines/HardCORE
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WWW: http://www.public.iastate.edu/~krs_one/
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E-mail:
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***C***
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Aight, let's say you got a hip-hop demo that you've been trying
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to shop around. A few people like it, but nobody with some clout is
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buying. Or let's say you know someone who's got some skills, but you
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don't know what you can do to help 'em get on. Suppose even further,
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that you've got an internet account and want to give you and your
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friends' efforts a little publicity. Well, have we got a deal for
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you...
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HardC.O.R.E.'s review section isn't just for the major labels.
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In fact, some of us would much rather review what the independent folks
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are making, since they aren't affected by the A&R and high level decisions
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of major labels.
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So we want to hear what you guys are making. A few groups are
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getting their demos reviewed here among the likes of Gangstarr, Heavy D.
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and the Boys, A Tribe Called Quest and Ol' Dirty Bastard. Who knows?
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You might even hear bigger and better things from The Mo'Fessionals, DOA,
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Raw Produce, and Union of Authority before you know it. With all the
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people subscribing to or reading HardCORE, you never know who might
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want to hear your music.
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Give us a shout. You can e-mail me at davidj@vnet.net or Flash
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at juonstevenja@bvc.edu, and we'll let you know where you can send
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your tape. Keep in mind that we're pretty honest with our reviews
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(if we think your shit is wack, we'll say so to your face), but if you
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think you got what it takes, you'll see a review from us before you know
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it. All you have to lose is a tape, right?
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Peace... the HardC.O.R.E. Review Staff
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Section 2 -- TWO
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***A***
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David J.
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--------
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THE UNBEARABLE NOTHINGNESS OF HIP-HOP, 1995
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Is it 1996 yet?
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The question rests on the lips of every hip-hop fan on the globe
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after what has to have been the most boring year for hip-hop music this
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decade. While we sat on our hands waiting for the next groundbreaking
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album, or the next big-name veteran effort, to hit the record shops,
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labels dredged up cookie-cutter groups claiming to be new artists,
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spinning the same ol' same ol' on turntables all over the country. It
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was a year that would make even the most dedicated of hip-hop heads
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yawn and go diggin' in the crates for sounds from '88.
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The conflict between the music industry and music itself left
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hip-hop high and dry in 1995, with the notable exception of a few big
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names. It's hard to call a year highlighted by a new KRS-ONE album a
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bad year, but amidst a sea of clones, KRS could effortlessly walk on
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water with his eighth album. Of course, in a year like this, any album
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creating new styles, educating the people, and still resounding with
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phat beats stands out, because there were so few of them. This doesn't
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take away anything from Mr. Parker's self-titled bomb -- and it is the
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bomb -- but he literally had no competition, on wax or in concert.
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Unless, of course, you count The Roots, and since "Do You Want
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More?" was officially released in January, '95, I do. Philadelphia
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returned to the map in a major way with the emergence of this talent-
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laden live band, whose major label debut set a standard that nobody
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could touch. Tracks like "Mellow My Man," "Silent Treatment,"
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"Distortion To Static," and the ever-present "Proceed" (how many
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versions of that song WERE there, anyway?) made "Do You Want More?" a
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must-have for hip-hop fans everywhere. Why haven't YOU gotten it yet?
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Beyond that, however, The Roots raised the standard for live
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performances with a showmanship that has been sorely missing in hip-hop.
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With little more than a keyboardist, bass player and drummer, as well as
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an unparalleled human beat box (Rozell The Godfather of Noise), The
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Roots not only added spice to all of their original tracks, but paid
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homage to hip-hop itself with near-perfect sounding covers of the best
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tracks in rap's short history -- "Make The Music With Your Mouth,"
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"Rapper's Delight," "Rebel Without A Pause," "The Bridge Is Over," and
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on and on and ya don't stop. Simply put, they can move any crowd you
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place in front of them. If they come to your neighborhood, don't sleep.
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As for everyone else -- well, where were they? Wither De La
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Soul and A Tribe Called Quest? They were due this year, but never
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surfaced. Wither Large Professor? He said "Buy the album when I drop
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it" in '93, but all we got from him was a dope remix of Common Sense's
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already dope "Resurrection." Wither the NWA reunion, or "Helter
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Skelter," the proposed Ice Cube-Dr. Dre album?
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Perhaps the death of Eric "Eazy E." Wright shook up the former
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members of that pioneering gangsta group, leaving them to hide in other
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projects. While Ice Cube took to the big screen (and ducked one fierce
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diss from Cypress Hill), Dr. Dre went back to the studio (after settling
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more legal trouble) and brought us a single here and there, as if he's
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just trying to keep his fans waiting. Meanwhile, Eazy's label, Ruthless
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Records, kept pushing the unintelligible Bone Thugs'N'Harmony, then
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released a posthumous Eazy single that for once wasn't half bad. We may
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see that brand new Eazy album Ruthless has been promising since late '93
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yet.
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Indeed, though, Eazy's death was one of the few big stories of a
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year populated by little ones. Snoop Doggy Dogg hired Johnny Cochran
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to get those '94 murder charges dropped, while Snoop's friends and label
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mates made all the loot on "Dogg Food." Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth went
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their separate ways, while Guru & Premier worked on their own projects,
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none of them reaching the critical mass of Gangstarr itself.
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Tupac Shakur finally renounced Thug Life, and Hammer quickly
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renounced his brief foray into gangsta rap, returning to his gospel
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roots. They must have read my column in our first issue for '95. So
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did a million others, who marched on Washington, D.C. and renewed their
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commitment to take responsibility for themselves and their actions as
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black men in America. (Like *I* could really have had anything to do
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with the Million Man March, but it's nice to know someone else out there
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thinks taking responsibility is something worth doing.)
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Then there was the music itself, as blah a collection of tracks
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as I've ever heard. Sure, a few artists stood out with dope albums in
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1995 -- KRS-ONE, Raekwon the Chef, Grand Puba, The Pharcyde, Showbiz &
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A.G. -- but beyond those (and The Roots), nothing jumped up and grabbed
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me, shouting out that it was the bomb. Many efforts just bombed. The
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big Kool G. Rap/Nas collaboration was ruined by Buckwild's lazy sampling
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(everyone says my remix was better), and aside from Raekwon, the Wu-Tang
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sound wore thin quickly, thanks to the RZA's producing too many tracks
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for too many people. On top of that, all but a few tracks climbed above
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100 bpm. Groups must have been scared of going too fast, else they may
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not have been considered real on the marketplace -- a place where, in
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all honesty, reality is warped more than the Starship Enterprise.
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So what am I hoping for in '96 (aside from the quick healing of
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this surgical incision in my ass)? I'm hoping that artists dig deeper
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for samples and lyrical styles. I'm hoping that a few new kids step up
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that aren't afraid to experiment with some different flavors. I'm
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hoping Cube will return fire on Cypress Hill -- even if KRS-ONE insists
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we "Squash All Beef," we could use a decent MC battle for once. I'm
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hoping someone else besides DJ Samps (WXDU 88.7 FM, Durham, NC) will
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play some of my remixes. I'm hoping Mariah Carey will fess up and stop
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pretending to be down with the Wu-Tang Clan. I'm hoping they give
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Spinderella her turntables back so that she'll stop looking like a cute
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fifth wheel.
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Most of all, though, I'm hoping hip-hop goes back up in 1996,
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and quite honestly, there's little room for it to go anywhere else.
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***B***
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John C. Book
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SOUNDTRACKS: THE YEAR IN REVIEW
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There have been a number of soundtracks to drop this year, and a
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lot of them have either contained new rap songs or, in the case of the
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"Dead Presidents" soundtrack, showed the origins of many of the samples
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we hear in a lot of songs today.
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Three soundtracks that have managed to do well in the last few
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months are "Clockers," "Dangerous Minds," and "New York Undercover."
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"Clockers" is the soundtrack to the latest Spike Lee joint, and
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one thing I've admired about Lee is that while he has gained a wider
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audience, his movies, as well as the accompanying soundtracks, have
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stayed true to his roots. This LP is no exception. Most people know
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this album for "Return Of The Crooklyn Dodgers" by Crooklyn Dodgers '95,
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featuring Chubb Rock, Jeru The Damaja, and O.C. The two tracks by
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Rebelz Of Authority ("Blast Of The Iron" and "Sex Soldier") are pretty
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good, but one has to hear a few more tracks before making a decision,
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since these songs aren't exactly too challenging.
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"Dangerous Minds" is somewhat uneven in terms of musical merit.
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Most know the album for Coolio's "Gangsta's Paradise" (which isn't
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exactly one of Coolio's best -- Coolio's worst songs sound better than
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this). Rappin' 4-Tay donates two songs that aren't too bad (with "A
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Message For Your Mind" being the best of the two), but the best track
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here is Systa's "It's Alright". Craig Mack helps out these Jodeci-
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proteges, and it's very funky. Aaron Hall's "Curiosity" appears here,
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and in this version it is very impressive, like anything Hall has ever
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touched. If you want the Marley Marl remix with Redman, you have to buy
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the 12" single. On a scale of 1 to 10, this gets a 6.
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The soundtrack to "NEW YORK UNDERCOVER" is primarily R&B, but
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hip-hop is definitely represented as well in the form of Little Shawn
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("Dom Perignon" is wack, he's done much better in the past), Lost Boyz
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(these kids need to come out with an album soon), and Heavy D. appearing
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in Monica's awesome "I Miss You (Come Back Home)". The TV show is
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always packed with rap music, so it's a surprise that there's not more
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here. Perhaps a Volume II is in order.
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There was a time when mainstream soundtrack albums didn't have a
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rap song. It would be Pointer Sisters-type fodder. That has changed in
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the last three years. One thing I have noticed a lot in the last two
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years is that rap artists are recording some of their best works for
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soundtracks. Let's hope this continues, but most of all, let's hope
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more rap groups will work on their albums as if they were soundtracks,
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resulting in quality product.
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***C***
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Helmut
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THE EUROPEAN REPORT
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Being nifty, or how do you make it flow?
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One of the most common criticisms of hip-hop in Europe is that
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hip-hop is not music. You can hear all the well-known arguments like
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"just turn on the drum machine" or "they are just playing records" or
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"some beats with a staccato of 'bitch this, motherfucker that'" when
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people start to talk about their conception of hip-hop. Nevertheless, a
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small percentage of people will say that they like the music, though
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they usually cannot understand the lyrics, and if they understand them,
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they cannot relate to them. Only a select few know that it takes a lot
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of skills and real talent to get the vibes goin'.
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Interestingly enough, these same people know a lot about music
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in general. A fellow university student and jazz musician told me a lot
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about his studies on the "art of rappin'" and how difficult it is to
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deliver the rhymes exactly and fluently. He has learned some things
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about breathing techniques which helped him play the trombone. He also
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told me (as have plenty of others) that his daughter, only a few months
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old, becomes really focused and concentrated and seems to really enjoy
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it when she hears hip-hop music.
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At this point I have to admit that I got lazy during a July
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visit to Florence, Italy. I attended a concert of the great Austrian
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jazz musician Joe Zawinul (the former leader of "Weather Report") at a
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marvelous "piazza" right in Florence. Arriving way too early,
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I watched the roadies preparing the stage, when suddenly Joe sat down a few
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seats off to my right. I had the idea of asking him about hip-hop and his
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opinion of the "musicality" of hip-hop. It would have been a nice
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scene: an unknown Austrian hip-hop writer interviewing a very famous
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Austrian jazz musician on hip-hop at an ancient place in Italy.
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Oh, well. Maybe Joe reads HardC.O.R.E.
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Having collected some personal experience during the past months
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in trying to put some beats and samples together, I've gained even more
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respect for the musical talent behind major artists. It's still a
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mystery to me how real producers and DJs in the States do it, especially
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when you listen to European hip-hop groups you immediately know it is
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not American hip-hop! Many times this is very obvious, because you got
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the different flavors, like North and West African influences in French
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hip-hop, or all the different Asian flavors in British hip-hop, but even
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when European producers use the same samples (yes, they do use a lot of
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James Brown) it sounds different. It's not necessarily a BAD different,
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but there always remains a glimpse of mechanical, technical music.
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Maybe it's also the missing link between music and the MC's
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voice. "It's mostly the voice" as Guru says, and that couldn't be more
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true for many European hip-hop groups, especially white ones. No matter
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how hard they try, they never deliver the magnificent flow and the
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perfect combination of beats and lyrics of a Q-Tip, a Guru or a Nas.
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Well, we better keep tryin'...
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***D***
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El Surround
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CONTEMPLATIN'
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Bitches ain't shit??
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"Bitches ain't shit but hoes and tricks."
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What? You never heard that line? Well, it degrades all women.
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It will cause a social disaster. It will....SIKE!!!
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Seriously, everybody's entitled to his or her opinion, but to
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stamp rap music (and the whole hip-hop nation) as a misogynist community
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and saying that "Whoever supports Gangsta Rap celebrates the rape,
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torture and murder of women" (C. Delores Tucker) is something a lot of
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people just don't understand, including myself.
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First of all, it's as obvious as 2+2=4 that there are a few
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words in the hip-hop vernacular which used to be understood as a one-way
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insult. Rap drained the power out of these words. Everybody knows that
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in order to make something bad better, you can look upon it as something
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good. Using the word "bitch" as an expression of showin' a woman where
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she belongs is something completely different than "Pull over, bitch!!",
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whicih is completely different than (God forbid) a female dog. Now I
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can see y'all asking- "But when Snoop calls a women a bitch, she
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shouldn't be hurt?" Well, if you ARE a bitch, than you should get hurt
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'cause he means you. If you are a perfectly okay woman, though, then he
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does not mean you.
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Doesn't C. Delores get it by now!? When Rappers talk about
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bitches, they don't talk about the majority of females who are out there
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doing something for themselves, but rather, he addresses CERTAIN women
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that ARE bitches. When a rapper talks about hoes, he means not ALL
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women, but prostitutes, who are unfortunately a part of inner city life.
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There are things that can be taken as offensive by females, and
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that happenns when folks like the late Eazy say "To me, all ladies are
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bitches, scandalous, money hungry...." and so on. I guess Eazy didn't
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get along with women when he was young (and alive). But to all the C.
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Delores Tucker wannabes out there -- hey, chill out!! If you're not a
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bitch, then he's not addressing you. For all we know, half the time he
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could be talking about men. Some of them are bitches, too, ya know.
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***E***
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Professa R.A.P.
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ROOTS 'N' RAP
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They gave birth to most of you MC's:
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Women in the history of Hip-Hop
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Looking at the cover of the SOURCE's "Year in Hip-Hop" issue, I
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could tell something was missing -- and it wasn't just that their
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artists of the year weren't all *my* artists of the year. There wasn't
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a single female MC in sight. Now, to be fair, most of the major women
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rappers who might have shared that spotlight didn't drop a new album
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this year, so I can understand why Latifah, Lyte, and Yo-Yo might be
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absent. But what about Patra? Heather B? Simple E? Me'Shell Ndege
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Ocello? You say hip-hop is male dominated and always has been? It's
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time to get your ass back to school and start all over with Lesson One.
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Back in the day, Grandmaster Flash recalls that there were just
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as many female crews as male, though fewer of them made it through the
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hectic competition of those early years. You'd have to dig pretty deep
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in the crates, but take a look back at the glory days between 1979 and
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1984, and you'd find quite a lot of women rappers -- DJ's too. The
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legendary Sha Rock (the "+1" of Funky Four Plus One), Lady D, "Sweet"
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Naomi Peterson, Paulette and Tanya Winley (Paulette, with a little help
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from her disco-mogul father Paul Winley, cut the first hip-hop record by
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a woman), DJ Lady B, D'bora (the DJ of the Mercedes Ladies), and
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Sequence (anyone besides me remember "Funk You Up?"). And all this was
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nothing new -- women have been Signifyin' shit from way back when -- try
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1954, when Big Maybelle cut the legendary dozens duet "Gabbin' Blues."
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But when old school gave way to new school, most of these female artists --
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like their male peers -- were forgotten.
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One artist no one is likely to forget is Roxanne Shante.
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Spawned, like so many others, in the UTFO "Roxanne Roxanne" payback
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fever, Shante, as she's been calling herself more recently, takes second
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place to no one. Her duels on the mic with artists such as Sparky D and
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Kool G Rap are the stuff of legend, and it took Latifah, Lyte, and Yo Yo
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an album apiece to try to even the score touched off by her "Big Mama"
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rap (and there are those of us who think that none of these payback
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attempts could kiss the high heels of the original). There was another
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Roxanne once -- the "Real" Roxanne -- but no one ever came close to
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Shante. With a voice that always sounds sixteen years old (and that
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*was* how old she was when she cut "Roxanne's Revenge" in Marly Marl's
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living room) and rhymes that would make the ruffest ruffneck cringe,
|
|
Shante is to many the greatest female MC of all time.
|
|
But it wasn't long after Shante's emergence that the field
|
|
suddenly got crowded again. Salt 'n' Pepa (debuting, like Shante, on
|
|
the Pop Art label with their contribution to Super Nature's "The Show
|
|
Stoppa (is Stupid Fresh)" in 1985) soon rose to become hip-hop's only
|
|
consistent platinum-selling female crew. While S&P alternated between
|
|
blowing up and going pop, MC Lyte took advantage of the spare beat-box
|
|
feel that heralded the first wave of the New School, over which she
|
|
dropped sharp-edged rhymes with her distinctive, smooth vocal tones.
|
|
Nikki D, another pioneer who's had a hard time breaking through, will
|
|
always be the first lady of Def Jam. But for many, it was Queen
|
|
Latifah's debut in 1989 that proved that a female MC could rap as rough
|
|
and sound as hard as any man; she sure wasn't sixteen, and her vocal
|
|
style was not about to take a back seat to anyone:
|
|
|
|
A woman can bear you, break you, take you.
|
|
Now it's time to rhyme, can you relate to
|
|
a sista dope enough to make you holler and scream ?
|
|
|
|
-- "Ladies First"
|
|
|
|
For a while, women rappers were picked up by the industry,
|
|
touted as a sort of weird curiosity on the order of hairless housecats.
|
|
Dozens of women rappers with little or no talent clogged the record
|
|
bins: who can (or wants to) remember Antoinette, MC Peaches, the Def
|
|
Dames, JJ Fad, or L.A. Star? Yet every year, two or three women have
|
|
stepped to the mic and commanded much respect, though that hasn't always
|
|
translated into major sales. Among those unfairly slept-upon artists
|
|
are women such as May May Ali (Muhammad Ali's daughter and a fine rhymer
|
|
in her own right), Nefertiti (remember "Miss Amutha Nature?"), the
|
|
Poetess, MC Choice (the Houston-based rapper who cut N.W.A. down to less
|
|
than life size in "The Big Payback"), Paris proteges the Conscious
|
|
Daughters, Lin Que (who was also Isis for a brief time), and Shazzy.
|
|
Women also began to play a pivotal role in many larger groups, from
|
|
Dionne Ferris (Arrested Development), Lauryn (the too-rarely
|
|
acknowledged lyrical genius of the Fugees), Ladybug of the Digable
|
|
Planets, and the Coup's Pam the Funkstress -- a top-notch DJ in a world
|
|
where that art is fast being forgotten.
|
|
But by the mid-nineties, with women rappers no longer a novelty,
|
|
hip-hop's breakdown into micro-genres made the going a whole lot
|
|
tougher. Sure, there was Da Brat -- everywhere, for that matter -- but
|
|
her lyrical "skills" seemed to consist mostly of seeing how many times
|
|
she can use the same phrase in one rap. The Bo$$ was good, dirty fun,
|
|
at least for one album. Heather B. has had two kick-ass singles with "I
|
|
Get Wreck" and this year's "All Glocks Down," but whether this will open
|
|
any industry doors for her remains to be seen. Latifah's been busy, but
|
|
not much with music lately, and many capable women rappers have seen
|
|
their second albums fall victim to the industry's "float a single, sink
|
|
an album" strategy -- among them Lin Que and Shazzy. The past year or
|
|
two has seen other promising debuts, such as Simple E and Me'Shell Ndege
|
|
Ocello, which are still waiting for a follow-up.
|
|
So what does the future of hip-hop look like? Will it feature
|
|
an all-male cast, or will women rappers rush in and take control like
|
|
Pam Grier in "Coffy?" It's too early to say, but with t-minus five
|
|
years and counting, as rappers of the apocalyptic persuasion put it, it
|
|
couldn't happen too soon. In the meantime, headz whose crates still have
|
|
a big empty spot when it comes to women rappers should check out the
|
|
following recordings:
|
|
|
|
(Professa RAP's top 12 albums by Women Rappers)
|
|
|
|
1. Shante, The Bitch is Back, Livin' Large LLCD 3001 ******
|
|
2. Conscious Daughters, Ear to the Street, Scarface P2 53877 *****
|
|
3. MC Lyte, Ain't No Other 7 92230-2 *****
|
|
4. Queen Latifah, All Hail the Queen, Tommy Boy TBCD 1022 *****
|
|
5. Nikki D, Daddy's Little Girl, Def Jam CK 44031 *****
|
|
5. Salt-n-Pepa. Hot, Cool, & Vicious PLCD 1007 *****
|
|
6. Shante, Bad Sister Cold Chillin' CD9 25809-2 *****
|
|
7. Isis, Rebel Soul, 4th & B'Way 444 030-2 ****
|
|
8. May May Ali, The Introduction, Scotti Bros. ****
|
|
9. The Poetess, Simply Poetry, 7 92168-2 ****
|
|
10. Simple E, Colouz uv Sound, CD 07822-11021-2 ****
|
|
11. MC Choice, The Big Payback, Rap-a-Lot CD RAP 105-2 ****
|
|
12. Yo Yo, Make Way for the Motherlode, 7 91605-2 ***
|
|
|
|
(Editor's note: A good portion of the HardC.O.R.E. staff is appalled at
|
|
the Professa's lack of a mention here for Bahamadia. You just can't
|
|
say she ain't phat...)
|
|
|
|
|
|
***F***
|
|
John C. Book
|
|
------------
|
|
THE WU-TANG CLAN: A YEAR IN REVIEW
|
|
|
|
If 1995 belonged to one group, then the Wu-Tang Clan had this
|
|
year locked down. Their debut album, "Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers),"
|
|
is already two years old, and yet they have come out with more records
|
|
than any rap artist in the 90's. As for accomplishments, all one has to
|
|
do is take a look at their track record.
|
|
1994 was the year the Wu broke out, when you could find various
|
|
members working with Biggie Smalls, Big Daddy Kane, Showbiz & A.G., and
|
|
Shaquille O'Neal. They had two hit singles ("C.R.E.A.M." and "Can It Be
|
|
All So Simple"), and two members released albums. But it was nothing
|
|
compared to the onslaught of releases that surfaced in 1995.
|
|
When January hit, the agenda was already known. Two members of
|
|
the Wu would release their debut albums while another would be releasing
|
|
his long awaited second album.
|
|
Ol' Dirty Bastard was already the class clown within the Wu, but
|
|
on "Return To The 36 Chambers" (Elektra) he went all out with no
|
|
boundaries. He got rough and raw in a salute to his home ("Brooklyn
|
|
Zoo"), he delivered the traditional sex rhyme ("Don't U Know"), sang a
|
|
passionate love song ("Drunken Game (Sweet Sugar Pie)"), and showed us
|
|
the next stage in the Wu-Tang onslaught ("Protect Ya Neck II"). His
|
|
work with Mariah Carey in the "Fantasy" remix surprised everyone on both
|
|
sides of the fence, but it provided Ol' Dirty with his first look at how
|
|
it feels to be #1. One of his best verses of the year could be found in
|
|
Funkmaster Flex's "Nuttin' But Flavor", where he saluted the old school
|
|
with style and finesse. Just as Method Man did with Spice 1 last year,
|
|
Ol' Dirty had no qualms about being down with West Coast rappers, as his
|
|
Studio Ton remix of "Shimmy Shimmy Ya" teamed him up with MC Eiht and E-
|
|
40.
|
|
Raekwon The Chef was considered the little rebel that could,
|
|
somehow being overshadowed by the power of the Method Man. With a
|
|
release on 1994's "Fresh" soundtrack, fans had to prepare for Chef's
|
|
supreme recipes. "Only Built 4 Cuban Linx" was the main course, and
|
|
it's no wonder everyone ate it up. This was "The Godfather",
|
|
"Scarface", or "GoodFellas" put to music, a conceptual album that placed
|
|
the Wu in the role of Gambinos. In this world, either you live and die
|
|
by the sword, or die unsuccessfully. Fans were more surprised by Ghost
|
|
Face Killer, leaving some to wonder why this wasn't a Raekwon and Ghost
|
|
Face album (some have said Ghost Face steals the show during most of the
|
|
album). "Ice Cream", featuring Method Man in the infectious chorus, and
|
|
new rapper Cappachino doing a verse, became the surprise hit of the
|
|
Fall. Rae & Ghost Face rapped in an underground remix of Jodeci's
|
|
"Freek'N You", immediately catching a buzz with fans and thus becoming
|
|
one of their best moments to date.
|
|
But if there was one album that was anticipated more than all
|
|
others, it was the second LP from The Genius. "Liquid Swords" was
|
|
delayed for over 15 months, and The GZA was forced to watch his mates
|
|
release classic albums, but fans knew what The Genius had in store, and
|
|
they were right. Each song was in itself a mini-movie, and lyrically he
|
|
was blowing everyone who stood in his way. From "Labels" (which was the
|
|
underground hit of the summer) to "Cold World" to "Unexplained", The
|
|
Genius was pouring out his soul, and yet he knew there was a lot more
|
|
where that came from.
|
|
Method Man was still reaping the benefits of his 1994 debut
|
|
album "Tical." The remix for "All I Need", featuring Mary J. Blige,
|
|
earned Meth his first #1 hit single. It was definitely an
|
|
unconventional love song, but one that managed to sell over 2 million
|
|
copies in the U.S. alone. Meth continued to mix it up with other
|
|
artists, being heard in songs from Show & A.G., dancehall artist
|
|
Capleton, and Boyz II Men. Meth also had two surprise hits, "The
|
|
Riddler" from the "Batman Forever" soundtrack, and "How High," a duet
|
|
with Redman.
|
|
U-God, probably the most mysterious member of the Wu, managed to
|
|
break out of his shell by being heard on Raekwon's and The Genius'
|
|
albums, as well as joining Cypress Hill on "Killa Hill."
|
|
Inspector Deck gave us a preview of what's to come with a track
|
|
on the "Tales From The Hood" soundtrack. Many fans are waiting to hear
|
|
his debut album scheduled for 1996.
|
|
If there is one person who deserves to be called producer of the
|
|
year, that honor belongs to Prince Rakeem, a/k/a The RZA. Four albums
|
|
he produced were certified gold in the U.S., all albums were in the Top
|
|
10, and it seemed like he didn't have time to do anything else. The
|
|
biggest surprise to come was on Raekwon's "Wu-Gambinos," where RZA
|
|
delivered a laid-back style that hit everyone like a couple of hard-ass
|
|
slaps, before speeding up his delivery and smashing all criticisms of
|
|
his style being generic. Mix that with him producing and rapping in
|
|
Cypress Hill's "Killa Hill," and making an appearance in the Million Man
|
|
March song "Where Ya At." It left everyone demanding a solo album from
|
|
the RZA, but with all the work he already has planned for 1996, a 1997
|
|
release date for his own joint doesn't seem out of the question.
|
|
Along the way, Wu fans got to hear new artists blossom from the
|
|
empire, including Pop Da Brown Hornet, Dark Skinned Assassin, KGB, and
|
|
Rugged Scientist. Sunz Of Man also began to gain an audience of their
|
|
own. Rap fans also got to see the Wu on the big screen with the release
|
|
of the long awaited hip hop documentary "The Show."
|
|
The Wu refused to stop, and it seems like nothing will stand in
|
|
their way. With another Ol' Dirty Bastard project in the works, an
|
|
Inspector Deck album already in the can, a Ghost Face Killer solo album,
|
|
a new Wu-Tang Clan album in preparation, and rumors about the Wu-Tang
|
|
motion picture, 1996 is going to be another crazy year for fans and non-
|
|
fans alike. "Expect the unexpected" seems to be their motto, and who
|
|
knows what will be the next piece in their mission. The Wu-Tang Saga
|
|
Continues...
|
|
|
|
|
|
***G***
|
|
Charles Isbell
|
|
--------------
|
|
HOMEBOY FROM HELL MONTHLY
|
|
|
|
Boom? Bap?
|
|
|
|
Boom! Bap!
|
|
|
|
This time: _KRS-ONE_ by KRS-ONE
|
|
Next time: _Hiphopera_ by Volume 10
|
|
_Do You Want More?!_ by The Roots
|
|
_Boxcar Sessions_ by Saafir
|
|
_Black Business_ by Poor Righteous Teachers
|
|
Last time: _The Infamous_ by Mobb Deep
|
|
_Holy Terror_ by The Last Poets
|
|
_Non-Fiction_ by Black Sheep
|
|
_Genocide and Juice_ by The Coup
|
|
_Muse Sick-N-Hour Mess Age_ by Public Enemy
|
|
Catch Ups: _Tricks of The Shade_ by The Goats
|
|
_Enta Da Wu Tang (36 Chambers)_ by Wu Tang Clan
|
|
_Cypress Hill_ by Cypress Hill
|
|
|
|
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Distinctiveness: Yep, it's KRS-ONE.
|
|
Dopeness Rating: I was expecting a disappointing follow up to _Return
|
|
of the Boom Bap_ just because, well, it was so damn
|
|
good; however, this self-titled CD is nice, if a bit
|
|
uneven. Phat+.
|
|
Rap Part: Phat+. Not much else to say on the lyrical tip.
|
|
Sounds: Solid Phat stuff. Boom! Bap!
|
|
Predictions: He will lose no fans with this one.
|
|
Rotation Weight: Quite a while.
|
|
Message: I am better than you... and you... and you... oh, and
|
|
you, too.
|
|
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
Tracks: 14 tracks at 66:05. That would make ten minutes and
|
|
one second more than last time.
|
|
Label: Jive. Produced at various times by KRS-ONE and DJ
|
|
Premier, mostly.
|
|
Profanity: A bit (no sticker) but not much.
|
|
|
|
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
KRS-ONE and BDP have been around since the ice ages. They began with
|
|
_Criminal Minded_ waaaaay back in the day, dropping what is considered
|
|
by most headz to be a true hip-hop classic. They continued with 1988's
|
|
_By All Means Necessary_, featuring "My Philosophy" and "Jimmy";
|
|
_Ghetto Music: The Blueprint of Hip-Hop_, with the slammin' "Why Is
|
|
That?" and "You Must Learn;" the mostly wack _Edutainment_ (except, of
|
|
course, for "Love's Gonna Get 'Cha" and "Blackman's in Effect"); his
|
|
live album; and the solid _Sex and Violence_.
|
|
|
|
Last year, KRS-ONE first dropped Boogie Down Productions from the
|
|
credits and then dropped the incredibly mad silly phat+ _Return of the
|
|
Boom Bap_. In this reviewer's opinion it was easily the best of all
|
|
his efforts to date. I wasn't alone in liking that effort, KRS
|
|
managed to get a lot of dap and a lot of airplay.
|
|
|
|
Now he has returned again with _KRS-ONE_.
|
|
|
|
The first thing I thought while listening to this was that I might
|
|
have to change the rules of the Annual New Jack Hip Hop Awards. For
|
|
four years now, we've distinguished between hip-hop groups and
|
|
non-groups with a simple rule: if you only have one rapper, then you
|
|
aren't a group. This makes Public Enemy a group but not DJ Jazzy Jeff
|
|
and the Fresh Prince.
|
|
|
|
Now, I'm not sure this works any more. I think KRS-ONE shouldn't be
|
|
considered a group, but I think that there are at least two rappers on
|
|
all of his tracks: him and his enormous ego.
|
|
|
|
To begin with, he has thirty freakin' eight folks scattered throughout
|
|
_KRS-ONE_ paying homage to him. MC Shan is there. So are the Awesome
|
|
Two. Oh, look, it's Mister Magic and Rakim. One after another, they
|
|
come up and talk about how incredible KRS is.
|
|
|
|
Don't they usually wait until after someone is dead to do this?
|
|
|
|
Worse, these testimonials don't even appear on their own tracks. No,
|
|
they're stuck at the beginning of tracks so I can't program around
|
|
them.
|
|
|
|
Case in point: the first track is "Rappaz R. N. Dainja". DJ Premier's
|
|
production is put on hold for a minute and a half just so I can hear
|
|
Kevie Kev and eight other people rap, posture and thank KRS-ONE for
|
|
being the best thing since vinyl.
|
|
|
|
"No more talking, just bring it on"
|
|
|
|
But, then, it starts.
|
|
|
|
"No one is new to this
|
|
or new to Kris
|
|
in hip hop's atomic structure
|
|
I am the nucleus"
|
|
|
|
Ah, that's the ego-laden KRS-ONE I know and respect. The production
|
|
is top notch, of course. Phat beats, nice soundz. But more
|
|
importantly, KRS is in top lyrical form.
|
|
|
|
"The style that I am kickin'
|
|
is like chicken
|
|
it will be bitten, rewritten
|
|
then performed for $25 admission
|
|
reviewed in The Source
|
|
you will listen then find somethin' missin'
|
|
of course
|
|
it's skillz
|
|
that's what you're fishin' for
|
|
it's lost"
|
|
|
|
"Kickin' rhymes 'till I wrinkle"
|
|
|
|
And, really, that's what it's all about, isn't it?
|
|
|
|
"Tasty like a souffle french croissant
|
|
on Tuesday
|
|
Rappers be boo-tay
|
|
goofy
|
|
that's how they crew stay
|
|
bitin' whatever you say"
|
|
|
|
"Some rappers like to come to the party
|
|
Hopin' to leave with somebody
|
|
Check
|
|
I come with skillz
|
|
and leave with your motherf*ckin' respect"
|
|
|
|
Of course, it doesn't hurt that DJ Premier is in a good mood on this
|
|
one. The chorus sticks in your mind and the track is peppered with
|
|
nice sound tidbits here and there.
|
|
|
|
"Now you youngins grow up buggin'
|
|
Any new jock you huggin'
|
|
Weak production
|
|
Let me tell ya somethin'
|
|
Any MC can battle for glory
|
|
but to kick a dope rhyme
|
|
to wake up your people's another story
|
|
Act like you never saw me
|
|
'Cause when it comes to lyrics
|
|
I'm in a different category"
|
|
|
|
It's so good, in fact, that one doesn't really the mind Lord Finesse
|
|
comes in to pay homage at the end for no good reason.
|
|
|
|
Anyway, DJ Premier takes a break and lets Big French Productions do
|
|
the producing on "De Automatic" featuring Fat Joe. It shows a bit as
|
|
the soundz aren't quite as tasty. Still, they'll do until something
|
|
better comes along.
|
|
|
|
"When you was home with your mother
|
|
afraid of the dark
|
|
I was sleepin' out in Prospect Park
|
|
eatin' one meal every forty eight hours
|
|
writin' dope rhyme styles that you now devour"
|
|
|
|
....and then something better comes along. "MC's Act Like They Don't
|
|
Know" is the first release off this CD and one can see why. It's
|
|
nice.
|
|
|
|
"There once was a story about a man named Jed
|
|
but now Jed is dead
|
|
all his kids instead
|
|
wanna kick rhymes off the top of they head
|
|
word, what goes around comes around I figure
|
|
now we got white kids callin' themselves 'nigga'
|
|
the tables turn as the crosses burn
|
|
remember: you must learn"
|
|
|
|
Premier makes production look effortless and KRS-ONE makes lyrical
|
|
steak seem like you can just buy for 99 cents at the local K-Mart.
|
|
|
|
"Some MCs don't like the KRS
|
|
but they must respect him
|
|
'cause they know this kid
|
|
gets all up in their rectum
|
|
slappin' and selectin' 'em
|
|
checkin' 'em disprespectin' 'em
|
|
just deckin' 'em
|
|
deckin' em deckin' em"
|
|
|
|
Like most of the other tracks on _KRS-ONE_, this one works because
|
|
KRS-ONE is obviously enjoying his lyrical acrobatics and he definitely
|
|
believes every single world his says. Musically, the same style of
|
|
_Return of the Boom Bap_ abounds: thump, thump, thump, with a catchy
|
|
bass line or something and a few sound bites sprinkled in for effect.
|
|
|
|
KRS-ONE returns to the production room for "Ah Yeah".
|
|
|
|
"Wack MCs have one style: gun buck
|
|
but when you say, 'Let's buck for revolution'
|
|
they shut the f*ck up"
|
|
|
|
He ain't half bad on the production tip this time around. Lyrically,
|
|
he's still comin' correct (and, of course, anyone who can make sly
|
|
allusions to "Nigga's Are Scared of Revolution" gets some points).
|
|
|
|
"Remember the whip?
|
|
Remember the chant?
|
|
Remember the rope? and
|
|
You Black people still thinkin' 'bout votin'?"
|
|
|
|
This track is actually pretty ordinary compared to the rest of the
|
|
tracks except for one thing. This verse:
|
|
|
|
"This is not the first time I came to the planet
|
|
but every time I come only a few could understand it
|
|
I came as Isis, my words they tried to ban it
|
|
I came as Moses, they couldn't follow my commandments
|
|
I came as Solomon to a people that was lost
|
|
I came as Jesus but they nailed me to a cross
|
|
I came as Harriet Tubman, I put the truth to Sojouner
|
|
other times, I had to come as Nat Turner
|
|
they tried to burn me, lynch me, and starve me
|
|
so I had to come back as Marcus Garvey, Bob Marley
|
|
they tried to harm me, I used to be Malcolm X
|
|
now I'm on the planet as the one called KRS"
|
|
|
|
It goes on for a little while more, but this seems like enough to get
|
|
the point across. I used to think that LL Cool J had pretty much
|
|
cornered the market on ego, but clearly he's just a scared little boy.
|
|
KRS? Now, here's a Brother who has no problems with self-esteem
|
|
whatsoever.
|
|
|
|
You kinda gotta respect that.
|
|
|
|
That brings us to "R.E.A.L.I.T.Y". This apparently is short for
|
|
"rhymes equal actual life in the youth."
|
|
|
|
"With twenty cents in my pocket
|
|
I saw the light
|
|
if you're young, gifted and Black
|
|
you've got no rights
|
|
your only true right is a right to a fight
|
|
and not a fair fight
|
|
I wake up wonderin' who died last night
|
|
everyone and everything is at war
|
|
makin' my poetic expression hardcore
|
|
I ain't afraid to say' it
|
|
and many can't get with it
|
|
at times in my life I was a welfare recipient
|
|
I ate the free cheese
|
|
while the church said believe"
|
|
|
|
Like "Rappaz", this is a damn good track and smells like KRS-ONE all
|
|
the way. Solid soundz. Dope lyrics.
|
|
|
|
"Every single day I hear lie after lie
|
|
like Black people don't die, we multiply
|
|
so when I kick a rhyme I represent how I feel
|
|
the sacred street art of keepin' it real
|
|
why I gotta listen to somebody else
|
|
how they got wealth
|
|
let me talk about myself
|
|
but all I really got
|
|
is hip hop and a glock
|
|
the results are obvious
|
|
if I'm confined to my block"
|
|
|
|
The track ends with yet more testimonials. Hi, Violet Brown.
|
|
|
|
"Free Mumia" takes the album in a slightly different direction. As it
|
|
features Channel Live, it has a bouncier feel to it. In fact, it
|
|
sounds a lot like "Mad Izm" off _Station Identification_.
|
|
|
|
"Every where I look there's another house negro
|
|
talkin' about they people and how they should be equal
|
|
They talkin' but their conversation ain't goin' nowhere
|
|
You can't diss hip hop so don't you even go there"
|
|
|
|
I like this track a lot. Despite its title, it's mainly an excuse to
|
|
diss C. Delores Tucker.
|
|
|
|
"I met up with the girl named Delores, a prankster
|
|
I said I MC, she said 'you're a gangsta'
|
|
but she was caught up, she hit the floor like a break dance
|
|
wrapped her up like the arms in a b-boy stance
|
|
recognize moms, I'm one of your sons
|
|
I'm hip hop in the form of Channel Live and KRS-ONE
|
|
representin' MCs across America
|
|
she said 'you're the one who be causin' all that mass hysteria'
|
|
wisdom shall come out of the mouths of babes and something
|
|
but you blinded by cultural ignorance and steady judgin'
|
|
but judge not lest you may be judged"
|
|
|
|
And, sure, why not? It sounds good, anyway.
|
|
|
|
"Attackin' me will leave you with no voices"
|
|
|
|
"Hate to be so rough it could be the white owls
|
|
house negroes are full of crap like my colin powell"
|
|
|
|
"Buck, buck!
|
|
buck, buck, buck
|
|
it sounds like gunshots
|
|
but it could be the cluck
|
|
of a chicken
|
|
definition is what you're missin'
|
|
listen to your children instead of dissin' 'em"
|
|
|
|
Hmmm. That was satisfying.
|
|
|
|
Anyway, the KRS-ONE-produced "Hold" is an excursion into stylistic
|
|
territory left unexplored by the rest of _KRS-ONE_.
|
|
|
|
"In my hand a shiny 45 is what I HOLD
|
|
I make a mayonaise sandwhich out of some WHOLE
|
|
wheat I'm feeling weak, I can't HOLD
|
|
I gotta rob somebody tonight and take the WHOLE
|
|
bankroll, some cash I gotta HOLD
|
|
at the bottom of my shoe is a little bitty HOLE"
|
|
|
|
I think it works very well, but traditionalists might be better served
|
|
by "Wannabemeeceez", featuring Mad Lion.
|
|
|
|
"The microphone I grip it
|
|
grip it, lyric, lyric, I live it
|
|
hear it, my spirit is where it should be
|
|
don't push me if you're p*ssy
|
|
I spot 'em
|
|
it seems ya wanna rid the dils
|
|
I got 'em"
|
|
|
|
Lyrics come fast and hard on top the straightforward--but
|
|
catchy--soundz. There's no time to really think; the rhymes come one
|
|
after another.
|
|
|
|
"The admission of serial lyrics
|
|
calculated to weaken the spirit
|
|
will be diverted by this lyric when you hear it
|
|
Richocet any style any day any which way
|
|
and you'll cherish the day like Sade
|
|
the advanced oratorical techniques
|
|
I speak keep the heat at full peak
|
|
My grammar with stamina
|
|
grabs a rapper like the fresh catch of the day
|
|
and breaks the back of that DJ"
|
|
|
|
....and that's okay. This is the kind of stuff Kris is good at.
|
|
|
|
Without pause, phatness continues to ooze with "Represent The Real Hip
|
|
Hop" with Das EFX. Like "Free Mumia," this track is energetic. It
|
|
kinda makes you wanna bob your head.
|
|
|
|
"To corny niggas I get ape
|
|
my sh*t'll make ya faint
|
|
so much platinum on my walls
|
|
that I can hardly see the f*ckin' paint
|
|
You think it ain't
|
|
but for a year I stop recordin'
|
|
now look we're comin' back
|
|
and runnin' sh*t like f*ckin' Michael Jordan"
|
|
|
|
"For my niggas on the block
|
|
handlin' rock like Kenny Anderson
|
|
I'm brandishin'
|
|
stiggy-styles that keep MCs vanishin'"
|
|
|
|
Das EFX drops dopitivity on this one, reminding us of why their first
|
|
album was at all successful. KRS easily keeps up with the younger
|
|
MCs' fast diggety delivery. It works all the way up to the end, until
|
|
DJ Power and seventy other folks interrupt the flow to tell us how
|
|
KRS-ONE has changed their lives.
|
|
|
|
Finally, "The Truth" arrives. It's pretty much the worst thing on
|
|
_KRS-ONE_ as far as I can tell. It's too slow, and the lyrics
|
|
practically bounce off the dull beat. Some of the lines are OK and
|
|
listening to Kris hold court on why the Bible is contradictory is
|
|
always fun (if for no other reason than the irony), but this track
|
|
just sort of sits there.
|
|
|
|
"Jesus Christ was all about the revolution"
|
|
|
|
"How'd the world get populated?
|
|
Now tell me if I'm wrong,
|
|
but obviously, Eve had it goin' on"
|
|
|
|
Well, there are a couple of good lines. That chorus is weak, tho'.
|
|
|
|
Let's skip this.
|
|
|
|
"Build Ya Skillz" features Busta Rhymes. As with all of his guest
|
|
appearances, he does his patented nonsense rambling. He hasn't quite
|
|
figured out that gibberish still hasn't caught on as an alternative
|
|
to dope rhymes, but he's hardly there and never manages to get in
|
|
KRS' way, so whatever.
|
|
|
|
"I control your mind with one rhyme I speak
|
|
and get you open like a prostitute's butt cheek"
|
|
|
|
Oh, look. More testimonials. Hit the forward button.
|
|
|
|
"Out For Fame" is our twelth track. It has an intro which makes no
|
|
sense to me, but maybe I'm just not listening hard enough. Someone
|
|
else can explain it to me.
|
|
|
|
"When I was growin' up
|
|
I had no butcher, baker, candlestick maker
|
|
I had rubbing alcohol and carbon paper"
|
|
|
|
In any case, the main body of the track makes perfect sense. Nice
|
|
rhymes, nice muzak, nice beat, nice topic: the place of graffiti in
|
|
hip hop. Being KRS-ONE, of course, he has to connect his
|
|
once-favorite pasttime to Ancient Egypt. He's a little more
|
|
successful talking about the parallels between it and rap.
|
|
|
|
"Today we do the same thing with how we rap and draw
|
|
we call it hardcore, they call it breakin' the law
|
|
there used to be a time when rap music was illegal
|
|
the cops would come and break up every party when they see you
|
|
but now that rap music's makin' money for the corporate
|
|
it's acceptable to flaunt it, now everybody's on it
|
|
graffiti isn't corporate, so we gets no respect
|
|
hasn't made a billion dollars for some corporation yet"
|
|
|
|
As the man says, writin' a rhyme about something is harder than just
|
|
going for glory. Insert prop here.
|
|
|
|
"Squash All Beef" is our penultimate track.
|
|
|
|
"I never ran from the Klu Klux Klan
|
|
and I shouldn't have to run from a Black man"
|
|
|
|
I like the message. I like the music. I like the lyrical style. I
|
|
just don't like any of them together. It's not *bad*, mind you, it's
|
|
just that no part of it is clever enough to make up for the
|
|
deficencies of the others, that's all. It is worth listening to,
|
|
though, just to hear Kris' thoughts on how schools should be run.
|
|
|
|
We end with "Health Wealth Self". Like "Hold," it's an excursion into
|
|
an unusal style: he's really just kind of talking. For the first
|
|
minute or so it doesn't work, but after that it all seems to just make
|
|
sense.
|
|
|
|
"Yo, you're a friend to me
|
|
so I'mma tell ya the secrets of MC longevity
|
|
secret one: if it ain't fun, you're done
|
|
and about your career, well choose another one
|
|
if you don't like what you do, you're through.
|
|
lesson two: make sure you got a dope crew
|
|
not some crew that's like an anchor on a shoe
|
|
a mad crew that's of some benefit to you"
|
|
|
|
Truer words were never spoken.
|
|
|
|
|
|
And that's that. Time for the bottom line.
|
|
|
|
KRS-ONE has an ego as big as all outdoors. I suppose if I'd been homeless
|
|
and by sheer force of will and lyrical skill turned myself into one of the
|
|
best known and respected of all the East Coast rappers, I'd feel pretty
|
|
blessed, too.
|
|
|
|
In any case, he's clearly convinced that he's the center of all of hip
|
|
hop; that he's why every other MC is here and that he's the reason the
|
|
sun comes up in the mornin'. He's wrong, of course: the sun rises for
|
|
me.
|
|
|
|
Be that as it may, though, he is a lyrical bomb and he's blowin' up
|
|
all over the tracks of _KRS-ONE_. When he's on, he is on and for most
|
|
of this one, he is turned all the way on.
|
|
|
|
Thus, messiah complex aside, I have to recommend this one. If you
|
|
liked _Return of the Boom Bap_, you'll like _KRS-ONE_. Try out
|
|
"Rappaz R. N. Dainja", "MC's Act Like They Don't Know",
|
|
"R.E.A.L.I.T.Y.", "Free Mumia", "Hold" and "Represent the Real Hip
|
|
Hop" if you must try before you buy.
|
|
|
|
Next time, though, I hope he puts all the KRS worshippers on their own
|
|
tracks.
|
|
|
|
But that's just one Black man's opinion--what's yours?
|
|
|
|
(c) Copyright 1995-1996, Charles L Isbell, Jr.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Section 3 -- THREE
|
|
|
|
|
|
***A***
|
|
Charles Isbell
|
|
--------------
|
|
NEW JACK HIP-HOP AWARDS: THE NOMINATIONS FORM
|
|
|
|
Yep, yep! It's time.
|
|
|
|
Brief history:
|
|
|
|
A while back, everyone on alt.rap and the funky-music mailing list was
|
|
bitchin' about how lame the Grammy's were in general, and especially
|
|
how weak they were when it came to rap and hip-hop.
|
|
|
|
Thus was born the New Jack Hip Hop Awards.
|
|
|
|
In *this* awards thang, *you* get to decide the best stuff over the
|
|
last year. You get to nominate. You get to vote. You can't blame
|
|
the Grammy's or the American Music Awards. If your favorite didn't
|
|
get nominated or voted a winner and you didn't take your chance to
|
|
nominate or vote, well, that's your fault, isn't it?
|
|
|
|
Here's how it works:
|
|
|
|
November: categories. We figure out the categories for this. I'll
|
|
post the list used last year and will open up the floor for adding or
|
|
removing any.
|
|
|
|
December: nominations. On the 13th of December, I'll post a
|
|
nomination form. The "official" nominations period doesn't start
|
|
until December 15, but I'm sending it out a few days early for those
|
|
of you leaving for holidays. I'll post it every week until early
|
|
January. In any and all categories, you may nominate up to three
|
|
people. Nomination forms must be emailed to *me* and you must follow
|
|
directions exactly.
|
|
|
|
January: with the finalists determined, I post the voting form.
|
|
|
|
February: I post the results.
|
|
----------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
In order to make this easier on the rest of us, I ask that you FOLLOW
|
|
THE DIRECTIONS BELOW EXACTLY.
|
|
|
|
This is the Official Nominations Form(tm). To fill it out, get a copy
|
|
of this document to your local machine in whatever way you normally
|
|
would (some common ways of doing this are listed at the very end) and
|
|
edit it.
|
|
|
|
DO NOT DELETE ANYTHING BETWEEN THE LINES THAT TELL YOU NOT TO.
|
|
|
|
It is perfectly okay to have ">" or "|" or spaces or whatever before
|
|
each line (many mailers and news programs insert such so-called
|
|
quoting characters) *but* DO NOT DELETE ANYTHING BETWEEN THE LINES
|
|
THAT TELL YOU NOT TO. Please.
|
|
|
|
After each award, type in your nominees. When you're done, mail it off
|
|
to me in whatever way you normally would. That's "isbell@ai.mit.edu".
|
|
BTW, I'd appreciate it if "nominations" appeared in the subject
|
|
heading somewhere.
|
|
|
|
Here's an example. When editing you might see:
|
|
|
|
...
|
|
>---> Rappers With Big Heads Awards
|
|
> Woman with biggest head
|
|
> Man with biggest head
|
|
...
|
|
|
|
So, then, you type:
|
|
|
|
...
|
|
>---> Rappers With Big Heads Awards
|
|
> Woman with biggest head
|
|
Da Big Head
|
|
Queen Really Big Head
|
|
MC Lyte-But-Big Head
|
|
|
|
> Man with biggest head
|
|
Wu Tang Head
|
|
The Notorious Head
|
|
Head Mack
|
|
...
|
|
|
|
You get the idea. Anyway, nominations are open from Friday, Dec 15,
|
|
1995 to Friday, January 12, 1996. That should give everyone plenty of
|
|
time. You can only nominate once. Oh, yeah, don't forget that people
|
|
are only eligible if they did what they did between Dec 15 1994 and
|
|
Dec 14 1995. See the rules for more clarification. Invalid
|
|
nominations will be ignored and may (or may not) be returned.
|
|
|
|
One more thing, a *group* must have more than one rapper.
|
|
|
|
Example: The Coup, The Roots and Public Enemy are groups, but
|
|
neither Gangstarr nor DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince
|
|
are.
|
|
|
|
Peace. Happy Holidays.
|
|
|
|
------ Don't delete anything from here to... -----
|
|
|
|
====----> Progressive/Jazz Rap
|
|
Groups like De La Soul, A Tribe Called Quest (and in fact the whole
|
|
Native Tongue Family), as well as Souls of Mischief, Digable Planets
|
|
and the like fall into this class.
|
|
|
|
Phattest Progressive/Jazz Rap Group
|
|
Phattest Progressive/Jazz Male Rapper
|
|
Phattest Progressive/Jazz Female Rapper
|
|
Phattest Progressive/Jazz Rap Single
|
|
Phattest Progressive/Jazz Rap Album
|
|
|
|
====----> Political Hip-Hop
|
|
I think this is pretty obvious. Rap with an explicit social and/or
|
|
political message.
|
|
|
|
Phattest Political Group
|
|
Phattest Political Male Rapper
|
|
Phattest Political Female Rapper
|
|
Phattest Political Rap Single
|
|
Phattest Political Rap Album
|
|
|
|
====----> Gangsta Hip-Hop
|
|
Well, this is everyone from Ice Cube to Gheto Boyz to Ice T to Snoop
|
|
and back. Use your judgment.
|
|
|
|
Phattest Gangsta Group
|
|
Phattest Gangsta Male Rapper
|
|
Phattest Gangsta Female Rapper
|
|
Phattest Gangsta Rap Single
|
|
Phattest Gangsta Rap Album
|
|
|
|
====----> Braggadocio
|
|
Rappin' for your ego rappers go here. Say hi to everyone from Souls
|
|
of Mischief to Chubb Rock to Das EFX.
|
|
|
|
Phattest Braggadocio Group
|
|
Phattest Braggadocio Male Rapper
|
|
Phattest Braggadocio Female Rapper
|
|
Phattest Braggadocio Rap Single
|
|
Phattest Braggadocio Rap Album
|
|
|
|
====----> Nasty rap
|
|
Nasty to be nasty. Overlaps a bit with some gangsta rappers.
|
|
|
|
Phattest Nasty Group
|
|
Phattest Nasty Male Rapper
|
|
Phattest Nasty Female Rapper
|
|
Phattest Nasty Rap Single
|
|
Phattest Nasty Rap Album
|
|
|
|
====----> Crossover Rap
|
|
This is not to be confused with hip-pop like Vanilla Ice Cream Cone.
|
|
This is the rap that really "crosses" to other genres, be they R&B,
|
|
reggae, hard rock or even pop while actually remaining both good *and* true
|
|
to hip hop. As time goes on, some of these may spin off into their
|
|
own subawards (see Progressive/Jazz).
|
|
|
|
Phattest Crossover Group
|
|
Phattest Crossover Male Rapper
|
|
Phattest Crossover Female Rapper
|
|
Phattest Crossover Rap Single
|
|
Phattest Crossover Rap Album
|
|
|
|
====----> The Phat Stuff
|
|
|
|
Funniest Rap
|
|
Include the artist and the single.
|
|
|
|
Phattest Lyric
|
|
Slammin' music is not required. Both individual rappers and groups
|
|
may apply. Include the artist and the single.
|
|
|
|
Most Slammin' Beat
|
|
Phat lyrics are not required. Both individual rappers and groups
|
|
may apply. Include the artist and the single.
|
|
|
|
Phattest Remix
|
|
Now, here's a staple of true hip-hop: the remix. What's the
|
|
phattest remix to come out this year? Include the artist and the
|
|
single.
|
|
|
|
Phattest DJ
|
|
It's not a lost art yet. Include the album or EP.
|
|
|
|
Phattest Producer(s)
|
|
Include the album or EP.
|
|
|
|
====----> More Phat Stuff
|
|
|
|
Leaders of the New School
|
|
Award for the most innovative rapper/group this year. Doesn't have
|
|
to be someone new, might be an old dog learning and teaching some
|
|
new tricks. In any case, should take hip hop in a new direction.
|
|
The folks starting the new subgenres. Include album or EP.
|
|
|
|
Best fusion of Hip-Hop with non-Hip-Hop
|
|
Being the experimenters that they are, Hip-Hop artists are often
|
|
trying to merge their styles with stuff from other genres, be it
|
|
heay metal, jazz or country. Who did the best thing this year?
|
|
Include single, album or EP.
|
|
|
|
Phattest Non-USA Artist
|
|
Often, we in the USA never get exposure to the phat macks outside
|
|
the border. Those of you lucky to have done so should open our
|
|
eyes by noting the artist and his or her single, album or EP.
|
|
|
|
Phattest Reggae Hip Hop artist
|
|
'Nuff respect to all dancehall massive and crew. Question: who
|
|
ruled the dancehall this year? Include single, album or EP.
|
|
|
|
Provider of Phattest Samples
|
|
Everyone from James Brown to The Gap Band to Chick Corea have been
|
|
so kind as to provide hip hop with phat samples. Who's provided the
|
|
best stuff *this year*? All we require is a name, but we'll give
|
|
you extra props if you can name actual singles.
|
|
|
|
Most Innovative Use of a Sample
|
|
Award for the artist who used a sample (be it music, voice or
|
|
whatever) in the most innovative or unexpected way to great
|
|
effect. May be as simple as managing to sample the Partridge
|
|
Family and making it funky or holding album-long conversations
|
|
with Bert & Ernie. Note the artist, the single/album/EP and a
|
|
reason for the award.
|
|
|
|
====----> Phat Videos and Other Stuff
|
|
|
|
Phattest Short Form Video
|
|
Award for the Phattest video. Include artist and single.
|
|
|
|
Phattest Long Form Video
|
|
Award for the Phattest long form video release. Include artist and
|
|
name of videotape.
|
|
|
|
Phattest Hip Hop Video Show
|
|
Best show, syndicated or otherwise, about Hip Hop. Include the
|
|
VeeJay(s) as well as the name of the show.
|
|
|
|
Best live performance/tour/live album
|
|
Include name of tour or performance or live album/EP.
|
|
|
|
Best Comeback
|
|
Sometimes folks we had written off as dead, come back correct.
|
|
Note that here. Include single or album or EP.
|
|
|
|
Hardest and Ugliest Dis'
|
|
Award for *the* hardest most diggum-smack dis of the year--the one
|
|
that made you screw up your face and go "damn!" Include the
|
|
artist and the single.
|
|
|
|
====----> Bootylicious
|
|
|
|
Biggest Sellout
|
|
For the suckas that go pop. Should have been at least vaguely
|
|
hip-hop in the first place. Include album, EP, single or whatever.
|
|
|
|
Weakest Rapper
|
|
The weakest, but visible, whackster of the year. Include album, EP,
|
|
single or whatever.
|
|
|
|
Biggest Disappointment
|
|
This is different than the biggest sellout. Sometimes old
|
|
favorites just plain fall off without even getting the money for
|
|
selling out. Who fell flat this year? Include album, EP or
|
|
single.
|
|
|
|
Most Overrated Rapper
|
|
Yet another bit of semantic subtlety. Now there are butt rappers
|
|
in hip-pop and we know who they are. But sometimes we get rappers
|
|
who produce a strong split in The Underground. Who do *you* think
|
|
gets all these mad props but shouldn't? Well? Include album, EP
|
|
or single.
|
|
|
|
Most Overplayed Song
|
|
Tired of hearing the same ol' same ol' every time you turn on the
|
|
radio? Sure you are.
|
|
|
|
Most Overdone Trend
|
|
What trend has GOT TO GO, y'all? Let me know. Include some
|
|
artists.
|
|
|
|
====----> What you've been waiting for
|
|
|
|
Most Unfairly Slept On Album
|
|
Ever year some artist comes off proper but is ignored by the
|
|
community. Here we may remedy that.
|
|
|
|
Phattest New Hip Hopster
|
|
The best New Jack to arrive on the scene this year. Include the
|
|
album or EP.
|
|
|
|
Phattest Hip Hop Era To Date
|
|
What's a Hip Hop Era? You tell me. Maybe it's the Gangsta Era.
|
|
Or maybe it's the Political Era. Maybe it's just 1988. Or 1992.
|
|
Hey, maybe it's 1983. The question is simple. At what time
|
|
was hiphop at it's best (so far, of course; we know that hip hop
|
|
has still got its best years ahead of it)? Tell me when, tell me
|
|
why.
|
|
|
|
Hall of Fame
|
|
Award for that person or persons who managed to make hip hop history
|
|
and have stood the test of time. Put on your history caps for this
|
|
one. We're talking about those back in the day who helped make our
|
|
current dopeness possible.
|
|
Note: Public Enemy, Run-DMC, KRS-One/Boogie Down Productions,
|
|
and Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, our
|
|
1991-1994 winners, are *ineligible* this year.
|
|
|
|
Album Hall of Fame
|
|
Award for that album that has managed to make hip hop history
|
|
and has stood the test of time. This is for *the* best and most
|
|
influential hip hop albums *ever*. So, act like you know.
|
|
Note: _It Takes A Nation of Millions To Hold Us Back_ by Public Enemy
|
|
our 1994 winner, is *ineligible* this year.
|
|
|
|
Phattest Rap Single
|
|
The Phattest single to drop this year. Period.
|
|
|
|
Phattest Rap Album
|
|
The Phattest album to drop this year. Period.
|
|
|
|
====----> And that's it.
|
|
|
|
------ ...to here. Did you delete something? Well, start over. -----
|
|
|
|
Well, thanks for your time. Go back to sleep. I'm out of here like
|
|
last year.
|
|
|
|
|
|
As promised, some ways to include this document:
|
|
|
|
For USENET people using 'rn' 'gnus' and similar such programs:
|
|
|
|
To send this to me, you can probably just hit "R". This usually
|
|
includes everything that I've posted with ">"'s or " "'s before
|
|
each line. This is perfectly okay. If you want a local copy to
|
|
edit, try "s" in 'rn' or "o" in 'gnus' to make a copy of the file.
|
|
|
|
For people on mailing lists:
|
|
|
|
To send this to me, you can probably just hit "r". This usually
|
|
doesn't include everything, so you need to figure out how to do so.
|
|
If you want a local copy to edit, try saving a copy with "s" if
|
|
you're using un*x mail or "o" if you're using one of the 222
|
|
variants of RMAIL.
|
|
|
|
For those surfing on the web:
|
|
|
|
Get a copy of this file on your local machine using one of the
|
|
commands for doing so (in Mosaic it's under FILE) and edit to your
|
|
heart's content.
|
|
|
|
For HardC.O.R.E. readers:
|
|
|
|
Chop out section 3 of this issue, fill it out, and e-mail it to
|
|
Charles Isbell at isbell@ai.mit.edu. PLEASE DO NOT MAIL ANY
|
|
NOMINATION FORMS TO FLASH OR DAVID J.! Thanks.
|
|
|
|
For everyone else:
|
|
|
|
I have no idea, but hopefully you can figure it out if you don't
|
|
already know. Email me if you need help.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Section 4 -- FOUR
|
|
|
|
****************************************************************************
|
|
|
|
THE OFFICIAL HARDC.O.R.E. REVIEW SECTION
|
|
|
|
The pH scale
|
|
|
|
6/pHat -- EE-YOW!! A hip-hop classic!
|
|
5/pHunky -- Definitely worth the price of admission.
|
|
4/pHine -- Pretty good, give it a listen.
|
|
3/pHair -- Some potential here, but it's not fully realized.
|
|
2/pHlat -- Falls far short of a quality product.
|
|
1/pHlat -- Get that Vanilla Lice shit outta here!
|
|
|
|
****************************************************************************
|
|
|
|
***A***
|
|
Flash
|
|
-----
|
|
KOOL G. RAP, "4, 5, 6"
|
|
(Cold Chillin')
|
|
|
|
"Livin the fast life in fast cars.
|
|
Everywhere we go, people know, who we are..."
|
|
|
|
Kool G. Rap is one of the top five under-recognized MC's in the
|
|
game of hardcore hip-hop. Rhyme slangaz like Rakim, Cube, Scarface got
|
|
their props long ago, yet G. Rap has been bustin shit with DJ Polo for
|
|
years and still hasn't gotten his due. To any head out there, songs
|
|
like "It's a Demo", "Truly Yours", "Talk Like Sex", "Streets of New
|
|
York", "On the Run", "Go For Your Guns" are the stuff of which MC wet
|
|
dreams are made: powerfully visual, tightly constructed, highly
|
|
metaphoric megaton bombs of flavor.
|
|
G. Rap got done paying dues long ago when he was still sweating
|
|
Marley Marl for a break, so why hasn't an MC as phat as G. Rap gotten
|
|
paid with platinum hits? Perhaps we shouldn't ask why; commercial
|
|
success has clouded what should otherwise be a given when it comes to
|
|
dope MC's like Treach and Snoop -- maybe G. Rap is better off on the DL.
|
|
Still, I can't help feeling like busting your nuts out of your scrotum
|
|
if you don't buy this album; G. Rap deserves better, and on this outing
|
|
he has never *sounded* better. Musically, he is not always matched, but
|
|
like the previous duos with Polo, the pHat shit more than outweighs the
|
|
misses.
|
|
You can't fuck with cuts like "4, 5, 6" and that ill piano loop --
|
|
it's the hardest of hardcore New York. You can't fuck with cuts like
|
|
"Fast Life," a duet with Nas that recalls the glory days when Erick
|
|
Sermon and Parrish Smith swapped verses and lines with verbal finesse.
|
|
You can't fuck with cuts like "It's a Shame," where G. Rap lays it down
|
|
on the good life of the bad side -- he regrets it but he still sports a
|
|
"diamond infested rolex," and if you've never heard G. Rap spit a phrase
|
|
like that then you just don't know; nobody does it like he does.
|
|
Can you afford to sleep on this album? Not if you love true hip-
|
|
hop at it's finest; this is raw poetry written on a ghetto slate of
|
|
granite, and the result is pure concrete straight at your head. Am I on
|
|
G. Rap's dick? Hell, yeah! Give it up for the lyrical don, and long
|
|
live the reign of the true G -- the man who could teach all fake ass
|
|
studio gangstaz a few lessons.
|
|
|
|
pH Level -- 6/pHat
|
|
|
|
|
|
***B***
|
|
Professa R.A.P.
|
|
---------------
|
|
ORNETTE COLEMAN & PRIME TIME, "Tone Dialing"
|
|
(Harmolodic/Verve)
|
|
|
|
Those who are already familiar with the work of jazz iconoclast
|
|
Ornette Coleman maybe surprised that he, of all people, has finally
|
|
taken a few licks out of the hip-hop book. It wasn't too shocking to
|
|
see Donald Byrd or N'Dea Davenport show up on Guru's "Jazzmatazz," and
|
|
the story of Miles Davis's belated -- *too* belated, as it turned out --
|
|
collaboration with Easy Mo B makes for a good cautionary tale of Jazz-
|
|
Hip Hop do's and dont's (number one rule: don't assume that a giant,
|
|
however tall, from either form of music will necessarily be able to
|
|
place his or her feet on both sides of the spectrum). Herbie Hancock's
|
|
"Dis is Da Drum" was no huge surprise either, coming from the father of
|
|
jazz-funk fusion.
|
|
But to imagine Ornette Coleman tooting his horn over a drum
|
|
machine and rap vocals was for me -- before I actually listened to this
|
|
disc -- something akin to imagining Glenn Gould jamming with Bootsy
|
|
Collins. Somehow, though, it all works.
|
|
A few words about his music: Coleman, over the years never one
|
|
to follow anyone else's lead, has developed his own type of jazz, which
|
|
turns on a thing he calls "harmolodics." Harmolodics, to the
|
|
uninitiated, sounds like a fancy word for a bunch of musicians, none of
|
|
whom seem to be in the same key, all playing at once. But like a
|
|
Picasso noseline, which can make a face both profile and head-on,
|
|
Coleman's Harmolodics can convince you that, after all, playing in a
|
|
given key is but another convention of Western music, akin to
|
|
perspective in pre-cubist paintings. Ultimately, as Coleman puts it,
|
|
the goal is to have 'every note be the tonic' -- that is, for each
|
|
interval played to re-set the harmonic values. The idea is given
|
|
playful force on the cover of this latest effort by a photograph of a
|
|
telephone with multicolored buttons labeled with words like "Quality,"
|
|
"Smell," and "Territories."
|
|
Inside the jewel box, another set of keys is punched, and while
|
|
only two or three cuts have a distinctive hip-hop flavor, they're enough
|
|
by themselves to make every previous collaboration between jazz
|
|
musicians and hip-hop headz sound limited in comparison. The opening
|
|
track, "Street Blues," opens with a vague, Calypso-like feel (island
|
|
riddims are all over this disc) punctuated by hip-hop scratches. A
|
|
bluesy guitar ties together the Caribbean spaghetti of sounds,
|
|
alternating between familiar seventh- and ninth-chords and diced-up
|
|
fragments of blues turnarounds. This turns out to be a lead-in to the
|
|
wildly convoluted and multi-layered "Search for Life." Everything in
|
|
this track is doubled, including the vocals, which consist of two
|
|
simultaneous strands of speech. The first, a laid-back rap in a style
|
|
that sounds sorta like Nikki Giovanni, throws out its accents in
|
|
measured, cadenced lines:
|
|
|
|
These are the stories about your face
|
|
When no-one knows your race
|
|
You and I as a baby
|
|
A male or a female, maybe
|
|
You surrender to your gender
|
|
To join the world
|
|
To be a boy or a girl . . .
|
|
|
|
The other vocal, a bouncin' west-coast style rap with a much
|
|
more hardcore delivery, provides a looping rhythm for the rest of the
|
|
band:
|
|
|
|
No direction, ain't got no name
|
|
Not just tryin' ta be anutha pawn in the game . . .
|
|
|
|
When the light flashes before your eyes
|
|
There's no compromise, it's time to die
|
|
|
|
Each vocal fades in before the other fades out; most of the time
|
|
both are rolling at once, with a vaguely P-funky beat and bass -- along
|
|
with Ornette's soaring horn -- providing the backbone for it all. The
|
|
result is a mesmerizing trip, a voyage much more fantastic than anything
|
|
previous genre-crossing tracks have ever achieved.
|
|
The remaining 14 tracks return to more familiar territory, with
|
|
salsa and calypso beats, some finger-numbingly fast, providing the
|
|
structures within which Ornette and his players weave their alternative
|
|
sonances in and out of what others would call "keys." A characteristic
|
|
bit of fun occurs on track 4, which starts as a straight-up performance
|
|
of Bach's Prelude #1 in C Major (an ode to old-school harmonics if there
|
|
ever was one), which Coleman & Company proceed to unravel like mad
|
|
electricians pulling wires out of a telephone junction box. The only
|
|
other track that will stick out for hip-hop headz is the enigmatic
|
|
"Sound is Everywhere," which balances a sampled drum-loop with ambient
|
|
noises such as a people screaming and a string of firecrackers going off --
|
|
if the Orb were a jazz group, they might have cut a track like this.
|
|
The rest of the album returns to a frenetic island bop that,
|
|
while no less harmonically challenging, threatens to become formulaic;
|
|
it's hard to tell one track from another after a while. But it's in
|
|
those first few tracks that Coleman does something that, until now, had
|
|
never I think been done by a jazz musician -- which is to take hip-hop
|
|
totally into a jazz medium and take it for the kind of test drive that
|
|
can burn out an engine and wear the treads off the tires. The hip-hop
|
|
survives, but not without some fairly astonishing changes.
|
|
For those who really want to takes risks with their ears, "Tone
|
|
Dialing" has the 411, the 911, and every other number you might want.
|
|
|
|
pH Level -- 5/pHunky
|
|
|
|
|
|
***C***
|
|
David J.
|
|
--------
|
|
THE PHARCYDE, "LabCabinCalifornia"
|
|
(Delicious Vinyl)
|
|
|
|
The Pharcyde came out of nowhere in 1993 and charmed the hip-hop
|
|
world with their unique combination of microphone skills and comedic
|
|
hijinks. You'd be hard pressed not to laugh at tracks from their debut
|
|
LP such as "Officer," "Ya Mama," and "I'm That Type of Nigga," but at
|
|
the same time, you'd be noddin' your head to beats that were sometimes
|
|
jazzy, sometimes jumpy, always phat.
|
|
Imani, Romye (a.k.a. Bootie Brown), Fat Lip and Slim Kid 3 have
|
|
matured a bit since their first album, though, and that shows through
|
|
the most on their sophomore effort, "LabCabinCalifornia." Oh, sure,
|
|
they'll still be trippin' here and there, but for the most part, this is
|
|
a more serious hip-hop effort, and one that simply drips phatness.
|
|
The main thrust of the lyrics centers around their experiences
|
|
in the industry, a lot of which haven't sounded very positive. Every
|
|
other track seems to hand out disses to anyone who's in hip-hop just for
|
|
the money, or whoever is biting their style. "Bullshit," "Pharcyde,"
|
|
"Drop," and "Hey You" all have someone in the industry on which to go
|
|
off.
|
|
|
|
"Now they're washed up, hung out to dry
|
|
Standing there looking stupid wondering why.
|
|
It was the fame that they tried to get.
|
|
Now they're walking around talkin' about represent
|
|
and keep it real. But I got to appeal,
|
|
'cause they existed in a fantasy when holdin' the steel."
|
|
|
|
I guess those folks know who they are.
|
|
Then there's "Runnin'," the ultra-phat first single chronicling
|
|
the member's learning to take responsibility for themselves and try to
|
|
maintain in the entertainment business. Responsibility is a pretty big
|
|
thing for the Pharcyde on this album. They insist they "do this shit
|
|
for the people of my nation" on "Somethin' That Means Somethin'," a true
|
|
lesson in the meaning of the word "represent." Then they break it down
|
|
completely in "Devil Music," where the chorus pretty much explains it
|
|
all:
|
|
|
|
"Every time I step to the microphone,
|
|
I put my soul on two-inch reels that I don't even own."
|
|
|
|
Very deep, yet very catchy at the same time.
|
|
Women also get plenty of air time on this album. Fat Lip throws
|
|
a verse on "Bullshit," a title that really doesn't match the smooth
|
|
music of the track, about how he handles "club-hoppin' hoes" looking
|
|
only for the cash. "Groupie Therapy," produced by Diamond D. (the only
|
|
track not produced by Jay Dee or members of the Pharcyde themselves),
|
|
goes into more detail about all those women hanging out backstage,
|
|
looking for fame, and about the toll it takes on real relationships.
|
|
Not all the women on this album are hoes, though; take a listen to the
|
|
slow groove of "She Said," a Slim Kid-produced cut about showing respect
|
|
for all the real women out there.
|
|
Of course, there's the ode-to-blunts track thrown in for good
|
|
measure ("Splattitorium"), but even this has a sweet piano playing in
|
|
the background -- a far cry from the scattered sounds of "Pack the
|
|
Pipe." In fact, it's the overall sound of this tape that will draw the
|
|
listener to this album. Musically, "LabCabinCalifornia" doesn't miss at
|
|
all. Thick with jazzy keyboard riffs, a boomin' bass, and a few live
|
|
instruments thrown in for good measure. Add to that the improving
|
|
lyrics of the MC's (and they were mighty phat to begin with), and you've
|
|
got an album that's worthy of being called one of the best of 1995.
|
|
The Pharcyde is a true original in hip-hop, something that hip-
|
|
hop has been sorely lacking as of late. Maybe this tape will remind
|
|
people what the music is all about. Tall order, but if anyone can do
|
|
it...
|
|
|
|
pH Level -- 6/pHat
|
|
|
|
|
|
***D***
|
|
El Surround
|
|
-----------
|
|
RBX, "The RBX files"
|
|
(Premeditated)
|
|
|
|
Everybody heard that psychotic soundin' MC from Dr. Dre's
|
|
classic "Chronic" LP. This then-unknown artist has created by himself
|
|
some of the best known West Coast cliches. ("Haven't you ever heard of a
|
|
killa," "I drops bombs like Hiroshima," "I have no remorse," etc.)
|
|
CREAM, however, caused RBX to fuss with Death Row, and look for his own
|
|
record deal.
|
|
But the most interesting thing about RBX's LP is the crystal
|
|
clear way it shows the changes in attitude that affect every region in
|
|
the USA which had success in the hip-hop world. You probably know that
|
|
the early Compton artists were "happy rappers," like the Wreckin' Crew,
|
|
Egyptian Lover, and Disco Productions. They rhymed mostly about
|
|
parties.
|
|
Then came the "funny gangsta" era -- the early NWA tracks, like
|
|
the 1986 "Fat Bitch." Funny gangstas were artists that showed a rather
|
|
comic view of thug livin'. The next era in Compton Rap was "hard
|
|
gangsta", the CMW's and NWA's from 1989 and on. Then, Ice Cube left
|
|
NWA, and he like other MCs started to rap about political issues in the
|
|
next era.
|
|
I'm not saying that the other era's artists are not still
|
|
representin' (the best example is DJ Quik, who still rocks the "funny
|
|
gangsta" attitude), but it's safe to say now, that the same thing
|
|
happenned to Long Beach. Until now, people have though about the LBC as
|
|
a sun-filled city were life was RELATIVELY okay, some gangbangin' but
|
|
mostly chillin'. And why shouldn't people think about it like that?
|
|
That's exactly the portrait that artists like Warren G, Twinz, Daz, and
|
|
Snoop paint, although the latter may dipped into a little more hard
|
|
shit.
|
|
|
|
"Escape from Death Row, RBX is awol!!"
|
|
|
|
Now, in '95, RBX's escape from G-Funk and lite-hearted
|
|
gangsterism may mark the whole emergance of LBC artists to the darker
|
|
side -- the harsh, scary, real, Eastside Long Beach. RBX says "fuck
|
|
you" to the melodic, easy-listenin' LBC LP's. RBX's flow? You might
|
|
say you get RBX's flow if you cross E-40's versatility, Ice Cube's
|
|
attackin' of the mic, and Paris' revolutionary views.
|
|
In "AWOL," the first single of the LP, RBX drops the scenario
|
|
about what went down with Dre. He compares Death Row to Ruthless at it's
|
|
NWA years. RBX parallels himself with the first awoler of NWA -- Ice
|
|
Cube, who got out because of his views and his underpayment. He
|
|
compares Dre to Eazy, Suge to Jerry Heller, and he even claims that
|
|
Snoop is the next one to leave. (Yeah, right.)
|
|
RBX's lyrics are on-point, but he tends to loose all his energy
|
|
and strength (he is a very aggressive rapper) in long verses. I guess
|
|
this is why he never had long verses before. However, RBX created
|
|
something OG. Tracks like "The Tundra" are so wicked with their Gangsta
|
|
Dancehall flava, and conscious tracks like "It's Our Time" and "Mom's
|
|
Are Cryin'" are a graphic display of ghetto life, though he doesn't
|
|
emphasize on "Smokin' Indo" and all. RBX can scare the fuck out of you
|
|
with tracks like "Burn", "Slip Into Long Beach" and "AWOL", where the
|
|
chant "I Drop Bombs like Hiroshima" is followed with ear-destroyin'
|
|
explosions.
|
|
"The Edge" is a great Gangsta fairytale, where RBX does
|
|
somethin' that sounds both east coast, because of the Gangstarr-like
|
|
sax, and west coast, because of the typical keyboards. RBX escaped from
|
|
Death Row, but he seems that he didn't got away totally from the Death
|
|
Row flava. His lyrics more often than not sound like Death Row's. He
|
|
claims that he is the originator of this style, but who knows?
|
|
|
|
pH Level -- 4/pHine
|
|
|
|
|
|
***E***
|
|
Flash
|
|
-----
|
|
SOUTH CIRCLE, "Anotha Day Anotha Ball"
|
|
(Suave/Relativity)
|
|
|
|
You can try to write it off as another phase of AmeriKKKan white-
|
|
boy obsession with gangsta lyrics and funk beats, but something larger
|
|
than that is happening with Suave Records. Building from the ground up
|
|
and establishing their rep in the streets by the amount of Pathfinders
|
|
pumpin' their beats, artists like EightBall and MJG dug in on the
|
|
underground and turned up a gold mine of success. Nothing else in the
|
|
game has been comparable since E-40 put Vallejo, CA and The Click on the
|
|
map. In the same way, you could say that these Suave Records artists
|
|
all seem to be family; one artist puts on another, and each represents
|
|
on the other's albums.
|
|
|
|
"That Suave click is so thick and we just picked up Tela
|
|
So now you know that nigga Mike ain't no joke
|
|
Now you know, that song by Rakim, yeah I co-wrote"
|
|
|
|
Let's bring in the South Circle, representin' like playaz every
|
|
day, all day, but bringing something more than that tired G-shit. These
|
|
beats are not stranded on Death Row, but bubblin' up from the depths of
|
|
funk hell. Listen to the the rolling jar of glass beats of "Geto
|
|
Madness," the synth-whine slow-ride of "It's Going Down," the smooth-as-
|
|
butter guitar licks and bass grooves of "Pimp Thing," and see if you
|
|
don't 'slide SLIDE slide SLIDE and get hiiiigh' to these grooves. These
|
|
guys know how to put in on thick, and they warm it up with above average
|
|
lyrics plus a good amount of flow finesse. Call it what you want to,
|
|
but they do get ill on a whole other level:
|
|
|
|
"Now if a pimp had no hoes would he be a pimp?
|
|
And if a hoe sucked no dick would she be a trick?
|
|
It's all about my grip let's take a trip
|
|
down the yellow brick road...
|
|
with some hustlers and hoes" -- 'Pimp Thang'
|
|
|
|
Why does it work? It just sounds right. South Circle doesn't
|
|
slouch in their voices, their music, their style -- it's convincing in a
|
|
way that nine out of ten other playa hustla albums just can't fade.
|
|
It's like asking, why does Too $hort make hits? He just puts all the
|
|
right elements together. If you're looking for something more complex
|
|
than Busta Rhymes, that's not what it's about -- they have tight lyrics
|
|
but it's not on a scientific plane, it's their own thing. They can drop
|
|
a line to bust ya head and they do, but they get most of their props
|
|
just for being smooth.
|
|
To all y'all at Suave, keep doin what you're doing and don't let
|
|
the corporate fuck with it -- it sounds hella nice.
|
|
|
|
pH Level - 4/pHine
|
|
|
|
|
|
***F***
|
|
Flash
|
|
-----
|
|
THA DOGG POUND, "Dogg Food"
|
|
(Death Row/Interscope/Priority)
|
|
|
|
"Like we always do about this time..."
|
|
|
|
"In the dead of winter is when I kick my coldest phrases.
|
|
Mental as telepathy, lyrically it amazes.
|
|
Construction of thoughts that's lethal as turpentine,
|
|
and that's brewin' up fresh rhymes feared like X signs
|
|
in my zone -- you can't even find like Atlantis..."
|
|
|
|
- Dat Nigga Daz
|
|
|
|
Well! Lyrically I can't complain, this album is no joke on that
|
|
level. Musically, it's not as phat as I would have hoped --- since Dr.
|
|
Dre is only an "Executive Producer" and that Dat Nigga Daz actually
|
|
produced the album. Still, on the whole this album works together
|
|
nicely, and is actually a fresh contrast compared to Snoop's LP -- not
|
|
better or worse but a different scoop of Death Row flavor.
|
|
If you liked any of what Daz and Kurupt kicked on "The Chronic,"
|
|
"Doggystyle," or the "Murder Was the Case" soundtrack, then you won't be
|
|
dissapointed. They drop that G shit that's, as always, on another
|
|
level, representing with more lyrics than bullets. C. Delores Tucker
|
|
and Calvin Butts are going to be dissapointed; this album does not cut a
|
|
new edge in hardness or graphicness -- to me it in fact seems tame
|
|
compared to rawness groundbreakers like "Efil4Zaggin". That's a good
|
|
thing, because Daz and Kurupt seem more worried about dropping dope
|
|
rhymes than in shocking the world, and the end result is a good product.
|
|
Musically, the best tracks are "Respect," "New York New York,"
|
|
"Smooth," "Big Pimpin 2," "A Doggz Day Afternoon," and "Reality."
|
|
Lyrically, the nods go to "Dogg Pound Gangstaz," "Repsect," "Do What I
|
|
Feel" featuring the ever-fresh Rage, "Smooth" with Snoop, and "Dogg
|
|
Pound Gangstaz." As you can see by that list, you get a little
|
|
something of each as the album progresses, but it doesn't really slip
|
|
below at least a pHunky level at any point. The only thing I can really
|
|
be mad at is the useless and annoying "187.4 WBALLS DJ E-Zee Dick"
|
|
skits, which is getting really tired, and I hope Rage doesn't put any on
|
|
"Eargasms."
|
|
So what would you do, if you could fuck with the Dogg Pound
|
|
crew? Well you couldn't so don't even think about it. They leave no
|
|
doubts that Death Row will continue to represent with hits for the 9-6
|
|
and beyond.
|
|
|
|
pH Level - 4/pHine
|
|
|
|
|
|
***G***
|
|
El Surround
|
|
-----------
|
|
TWINZ, "Conversation"
|
|
(G Funk Music/Def Jam)
|
|
|
|
What? Another tacky G-Funk album?
|
|
No, all you nothin'-but-hardcore-no-R&B-strictly-East-Coast-G-
|
|
funk-hatin' headz won't like this one, but the Twinz are not tacky. In
|
|
fact, this album presents the BEST lyrics ever rhymed over G-Funk beats.
|
|
The Twinz are the first act released on Warren G's "G Funk Music" label,
|
|
and as expected, the production is tight from beginning to end, and the
|
|
instrumentals are FUNKY, though they tend to repeat themselves, in
|
|
typical LBC fashion.
|
|
After a tiny intro, we get into track number 1, "Round & Round."
|
|
This is the first single, and it's a hit. Tripp-loc kicks it first in
|
|
this one with some OG lyrics, and the funky bass line is there, complete
|
|
with females chanting, "Twinz got tha summer goin' Round & Round." The
|
|
Twinz sound very disarming, and of course the sport the laid-back Long
|
|
Beach look, created by Snoop. I must admit, before getting this one, I
|
|
thought that it would be full of gangsta rhymes, but I was surprised to
|
|
see that the Twinz minimized this effect, and they don't curse that much
|
|
either.
|
|
The second track is "Good Times", which sports the regular G-
|
|
Funk keyboards and bass, and it's basically about rememberin' where
|
|
you're from. Needless to say, the name "Long Beach" appears about 60
|
|
times in this one. Then comes the first of the only two Gangsta tracks
|
|
on this album. It's called "4 Eyes 2 Heads," and it is wicked!! It
|
|
features horrorcore elements, complemented by some Reggae.
|
|
"Jump Ta This" is what most G-Funk fans will jock from this
|
|
album. It has this ghetto-party vibe, and Warren's exclusive (but
|
|
overused) "Clappin' Hands" beat. The keyboards are fly, lyrics are on
|
|
point -- what else do you want? "Eastside LB" follows with some TIGHT
|
|
chorus and lyrics just payin' props to the Eastside of Long Beach.
|
|
"Sorry I Kept You" samples a Richard Pryor line at the beginning and
|
|
goes into these formulatic keyboards and Dr. Dre style bass lines.
|
|
Then there's "Journey Wit Me," which is the best track on the
|
|
album. It starts off with Tripp-loc rhyming over some low-volume
|
|
instruments but then -- BOOM!! The bass kicks in, the beat is flowin'
|
|
and the chorus is mad phat! "Hollywood," featuring Neb and Jahskillz
|
|
from the 5 Footer Crew, is about homies goin' Hollywood. I think Neb
|
|
and Jah are the PHATTEST female duo I've ever heard.
|
|
"First Round Draft Pick," originally featured on "Jason's Lyric"
|
|
soundtrack, and is another gangsta rhyme. This one, though, was a bit
|
|
too ruthless for me. The last track is "Pass It On," which is just
|
|
plain filler and just plain wack. Overall, though, for G-Funk fans,
|
|
this is one tight album.
|
|
|
|
pH Level - 4/pHine
|
|
|
|
|
|
***H***
|
|
Flash
|
|
-----
|
|
"THE SHOW" Soundtrack
|
|
(Island/Def Jam)
|
|
|
|
Was this a movie to sell a soundtrack, or a soundtrack to sell a
|
|
movie? Neither one seems to have anything to do with the other but a
|
|
name, except for one thing: both have some severe weaknesses despite
|
|
some phat moments of hip-hop.
|
|
Let me stick to this soundtrack though -- I'll let some movie
|
|
critic talk about the movie. I'm diggin into what's right on this album
|
|
for a start. The Redman-Method Man combo was a definite winner that,
|
|
like an EPMD reunion, was/is long overdue, and "How High" could hardly
|
|
get any higher.
|
|
|
|
"Fuck the Billboard, I'm a bullet on my block
|
|
How dope, when you pay, for your Billboard spot?"
|
|
-- Red
|
|
|
|
"Dig it, eff a rap critic, he talk about it while I live it"
|
|
-- Meth
|
|
|
|
The smaller but still grimee heads of Onyx represented pretty
|
|
well on this soundtrack as well with "Live." Musically it's dirty, and
|
|
lyrically it's shining like a flashlight on the ghettoes of AmeriKKKa:
|
|
|
|
"Even my man got killed, now his family's mourning,
|
|
but from all the dirt he did I know that, hell is callin'.
|
|
Went to his wake, and shit got held up
|
|
by niggaz with masks on they face. I couldn't escape; I was
|
|
stuck."
|
|
|
|
The elements here are discordant though -- does the raw vitality
|
|
of an Onyx cut like this belong on the same album with a pearl of Q-Tip
|
|
genius like the Tribe cut "Glamour and Glitz?"
|
|
|
|
"You can ask Bo, but yo, that nigga don't know
|
|
about the dominant factor, the accurate rapper.
|
|
Here's the next chapter, page ninety-five:
|
|
Niggaz so hard, it's a wonder they alive.
|
|
But yo, we still survive through the danger that lurks.
|
|
My eyes remain wide, while you ask like Urk,
|
|
and yo my Family Matters, so all you mad hatters
|
|
put your thinking caps on and motherfuckin' brainstorm."
|
|
|
|
These cuts and a few others from 2Pac, Suga T, and Kali Ranks
|
|
set it off nicely, but it really doesn't all hold together when you got
|
|
weak tracks like Jayo Felony and G-Funk shit like Dove Shack and The
|
|
Twinz. This really isn't a soundtrack of jack shit, it's more like Def
|
|
Jam's "95 Artist Highlights" sampler. If you want a Def Jam sampler or
|
|
are willing to pay for otherwise unavailable cuts by artists like Bone
|
|
Thugz-N-Harmony, then go for it. Otherwise, take a pass.
|
|
|
|
pH Level - 3/pHair
|
|
|
|
------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
We know.
|
|
|
|
1995 turned out to be a rough year for HardC.O.R.E. Most of our major
|
|
players found themselves on the move in the last twelve months -- Flash
|
|
to Iowa State University, Sleepy to Europe, David J. to his own crib in
|
|
Bull City, Professa R.A.P. to another school, not to mention a whole
|
|
slew of our writers came and went. Plus, problems with VNet Internet
|
|
Access in Charlotte, NC, led to the untimely demise of our listserver,
|
|
leaving a lot of our loyal readers in the dark as to where we were.
|
|
|
|
We've struggled to give hip-hop headz the quality publication they've
|
|
come to expect in 1995. That all changes now.
|
|
|
|
1996 is here, and HardC.O.R.E. shall once again be the first place hip-
|
|
hop heads look when they want to know what's up. We'll be out there
|
|
recruiting writers, building up our Web site, and covering any new
|
|
albums emerging in '96. Plus, with the help of Charles Isbell, we'll be
|
|
putting together a brand new mailing list, so that HardC.O.R.E. will be
|
|
delivered via e-mail, as it was in the beginning and shall continue to
|
|
be in the future. Keep an eye out on our web site and rec.music.hip-hop
|
|
for the complete 411, coming soon.
|
|
|
|
In the meantime, may the best of your 1995 be the worst of your 1996.
|
|
|
|
PEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
|
|
|
|
L8A...
|
|
|
|
David J.
|
|
|