Dance.

Rip It Up, Issue 208, 1 December 1994, Page 40

Dance.

URBAN DISTURBANCE 37° Lattitude Urban Disturbance have come a long way since they first emerged under the name Leaders of Style. Their first demo, ‘No Flint No Flame’, was a raucous thumping party rhyme that got them a lot of attention, including a deal with the Deepgrooves record label. Since that time, however, the boys have matured and decided to step away from the braggadocios attitude that song, and their LoS name, represented. Now we get jazz rhythms and lyrical rhymes that run circles around their early material. Lead rapper Zane is truly a talent to behold. He flips, twists, and spits out words like he was born to it. THE HARD WAY Old School Prankstas Anyone into NZ hip hop will know lead rapper Boy C from the late 80s crew Total Effect, which, amongst others, included The Les Man and Sample Gee. Boy C then joined 883, which became the nucleus for 3THW, who had a No. 1 hit earlier this year with ‘Hip Hop Holiday’. When I first heard that song I almost wet my pants — it was madd flavor doing the bomb two times. Listening to this album I almost wet my pants again. That same rich, phat sound on ‘Hip Hop Holiday’ has carried through to the whole album. Some critics have dismissed it for sounding too American, however, for me that’s just the point. Sure, it’s got that P-Funk sound, but the boys rap about life in New Zealand, not Compton. How many LA Gangstas would give props to their parents, as 3THW do on ‘All Around’? Dewdrops In The Garden New York’s finest loft act return with a new album which picks up from Groove Is In The Heart and gets on the techno funk tip. Super DJ Dimitri proves he knows how to take a 70s soul jam and funk it up for the 90s. Plenty of 70s disco organ melding into 90s techno synth, while the divine Lady Keir warbles over the top. Many of the lyrics are quite meaningless — Deee-lite’s mission is only to put you on the plane — they let the vibe take you wherever you want to go. Don’t expect any radio hits, this time round; Deee-lite have gone for a summertime trip out. BRAT Funkdafied Jermaine Dupri consolidates his position as a hit producer with this hard rap outing by 17 year old Da Brat. She sounds a lot like you’d imagine Ice Cube did before his voice broke, and she’s just as hard. The album opens strongly with ‘Da Shit Ya Can’t Fuc With’, and keeps on rolling. ‘Fire It Up’ is a dope jam in both senses of the word, and Dupri gives it a low end buzz to make ya feel mighty real. Clearly Dupri is in control (Mac Daddy from Kriss Kross, and Kandi Burmess and LaToucha Scott from Xscape keep popping up as guest vocalists) but Da Brat finally gets to cut loose on ‘May Da Funk Be Wit Cha’, flipping rhymes back and forth over an Isley Brothers jam. Warning: this album is only 31 minutes long. The Diary With a name like that you gotta know Scarface is into gangsta rap. Unlike many others though, he does it with style and finesse. Sure, it’s all about violence, drive-bys and guns, but Scarface knows the culture of gangsterism. Songs like ‘The White Sheet’, ‘Jesse James’, and ‘I Seen a Man Die’ all treat the violence with respect rather than glorification (which I know is a contradiction in terms). Ice Cube guests on ‘Hand of The Dead Body’, but the weirdest shit is saved for ‘Goin’ Down’, which I swear steals the vocal arrangement (albeit slowed down) from ‘99 Luft Balloons’. This is perhaps one of the smoothest sounding, reality rap albums I’ve heard in a while. JEFF Jazz Hop Soul Wow, is this guy related to Def Jef or what?!- Both come from the West Coast, both are on the mellow jazz funk tip, and both know how to rap a rhyme that’s right on time. Jeff has a flow that rolls on like the fog across the San Francisco Bay, which is probably the right weather because, listening to this album, you kinda wish it would rain — it’s something you and your partner could get real cosy with under a duvet on a cold day. Look, there’s even a track called ‘Rainy Day’. The best track has to be ‘Let The Man Command’, but only because I’m especially partial to the 84 classic Beat Bop by Rammelzee. If you like your hip hop jazzy, but not jazz, then you’ll love this

(CJ LEWIS Dollars .J ‘Sweets For My Sweet’ left me cold, but mercifully it’s buried midway through this album, which opens with his other radio hit, ‘Uptight, Everything’s Alright’ (which I do like). CJ calls this reggae, but most kiwis would call it raggapop, since reggae is that stuff that Bob Marley did back in.the 70s. This is definitely uptempo, 90s funk with a touch of ska thrown in for good measure. CJ has a rich Jamaican roll to his vocals, which lend new charm to old hits like ‘Best of My Love’ (originally by the Flowers). Sure, it’s pop, but at this time of year that’s not a bad thing. On Vol. 1 * \ Speaking of pop, these guys are pop personified. Originally a duo, D:Ream slimmed down to vocalist Peter Cunnah when sideman Al Mackenzie couldn’t handle the overnight success of Things Can Only Get Better. (Well, that’s Pete’s version of why Al left - Pete being the bloke who told Attitude mag that even tho’ he’s slept with men, he’s hetero). D:Ream stick closely to the formula that worked so well with their singles, and that’s the problem. Sure, it thumps along, but there’s a certain sameness to it all, which is not helped by adding the remixes of their three radio hits to what is really only a 10 track album. WHITE Make Him Do' Right J White sells just enough records to get her next one released, so this album probably won’t be her last. White has a good voice but this sort of MOR soul/ballad stuff has been done to death, and her time would be up were she not partner to Terry Lewis — one half of super-producers Flyte Tyme Productions. Perhaps I’m being overly mean — the target audience is women, the kind who want to hear songs like ‘Here Comes The Pain Again’, ‘l’d Rather Be Alone’ and ‘Make Him Do Right’. That rather cheery menage a trois comes slap bang in the middle of the album, making it hard for a defensive misogynist like myself to bother with the rest. At Your best (You Are Love) Next time you hear this smooth and soulful cover of the Isley Brothers song ask yourself: how did R. Kelly get mixed up with a 14 year old girl? KELLY Summer Bunnies In case you didn’t know he was a dirty young man (see above) R. Kelly proves it with this inane but infectious romp about women’s buns. Judging by the sleeve art, R. Kelly has access to some fine specimens, so let’s see the video on RTR?? LOGIC Can I Get A Yo . This Canadian trio can get all the yos they want. Nothing to set the . world on fire, but a fine slice of hip-hop nonetheless. (They probably find the idea of New Zealand rap equally quaint). CRAIG MACK Flavor In Ya Ear , , Oh, yes this aint bad. Standard hip-hop rap, with a nice phat production courtesy of Easy Mo’ Bee. Oddly enough, his radio edit is longer than the club mix — figure that one out. Flipped with Shinika, which isn’t so strong. No-one J) .. If you’ve heard this already, it’s probably because you’ve been making a last minute dash for a toned body for summer at your local gym. Yes, everybody’s favourite aerobics muzak machine bust loose with another tribal stomper. If techno pop is your scene then... hey, even l like this. It is summer after all, and this is the perfect beat to get the party started. QaDE 5-4-3-2 (Yo! Time Is Up) From their album Mind Body and Song, the vocal soul trio Jade launch with this wake-up call to guys who don’t know what time it is. You gotta treat Jade right or they’ll boot you right out that door. And I’m down with that sistas, cos I’m a 90s kinda guy.

NICK D’ANGELO