rEATVRES 10
DECEMBERJ4jJ992 n
For the Record
Trey Lewd gets a thumb up; Cube gets the bozack
By TJ StaDcil
Music Editor
Hello again. As ev
erybody tunes up for fi
nals, now is a good time
to ease your brain with
some good music.
There’s is plenty of it
out, along with the bad
stuff and it is my job to
give you an example of
both.
Ice Cube’s The
Predator opened up at
number one on
Billboard’s pop music
charts. That’s pretty
good for an artist who
makes his living by tak
ing shots at the estab
lishment.
“Malcolm X,” the
movie, is doing quite
well in its first weeks in
release and has grossed more than
26 million dollars . This is not as
much as “Home Alone 2,” but did
you expect it? This isa black movie,
remember?
Things I saw in record stores
this week: the “Trespass”
soundtrack, Sade, Common Sense,
Pharcyde and 2 live Crew’s greatest
hits.
Things I wish I wouldn’t have
seen this week: another album by
Positive K, Marky Mark’s album
on a rack at Schoolkid’s Recoed
store, someone buying that Marky
Mark album and Eddie Murphy’s
new video “1 am a King.”
Seriously, Eddie Murphy’s al
bum is chocked full of big music
names. “I am a King” features
Shabba Ranks and is filmed on lo
cation in Jamaica It still remains to
be seen what type of album this will
be, so stay tuned.
I would like to take this oppor
tunity to wish everyone good luck
on finals and a happy holiday sea
son.
Good luck to Carolina Football
in the Peach Bowl (January 2nd),
and to Carolina Basketball over in
sunny Hawaii late December.
Peace and HO, HO, HO. “The
Music Man.”
[On the road again...]
■Mm:
Son of George Clinton steps
on the scene.
Trey Lewd
Drop the Line
Reprise Records
Reviewed by TJ Stancil
Trey Lewd, (or Tracey Lewis,
whatever you prefer), is the young
son of Grand Funkster George
Clinton. On Drop the Line Lewis
doesn’t disappoint those true funk
lovers, because he sucessfully fuses
70s and early 80s funk with con
temporary rap
and house. On the
album Lewis also
showed skill with
his guitar, a trait
no doubt inher
ited from his
“uncle,” funk
great Bootsy
Collins.
The album is
a metamorphosis
of modem music,
as Trey Lewd
shows us his vari
ous skills at dif
ferent types of
music. The al
bum is produced
mainly by daddy
Clinton, but the
first two tracks
are produced by Sir Jinx (of the
Lench Mob). “I’ll be good to you”
is a hip hop cut with R&B flavor
which features Trey Lewd on vo
cals with Jinx Productions’ Dazzie
Dee. It has the sound to be club
favorite, but what DJ’s ever heard
of Trey Lewd? “Hoodlums who
ride” is the other Sir Jinx cut, which
is straight up fimk. Lewd funks about
inner city violence and black on
black crime, and asks the timely
musical question, “Should I go to
runnin ’ or come a gimnin? ’ ” “ Yank
My Doodle” and “Roostw” are more
Parliament-style funk cuts which
feature backup vocals and bass from
George Clinton and Bootsy Collins
respectively. “Nothing comes to
sleeper but a dream” is a techno
lovers dream while “Wipe of the
Week” is a house-style jam about
“backside” brothers.
The ups of this album are many,
since this is real funk, not Hip Hop
samples. But there are like any
thing, some downs. More times than
not. Trey Lewd either wines out the
lyrics, or simply distorts them to
almost no recognition. I know he is
trying to live the funk, but this is
overdoing it Also, is this really
Trey Lewd, or another George
Clinton album with Lewd mouth
ing the lyrics. Only time will tell
that one.
Drop the Line gets an A, be
cause if you want some P-funk, you
get it with this album. And, as I
previously mentioned, this album
hits many different styles of Black
Music and does each quite well. For
what this album is trying to accom
plish, it does its job. If you are not
really into P-funk, and can just live
with the Hip Hop samples, go buy
something like Redman or Digital
Underground because this is not for
you. A
Ice Cube
The Predator
Priority Records
Reviewed by TJ Stancil
Ice Cube has returned again, in a
familiar form with The Predator. It
was interesting to me to see how Ice
Cube would approach this album
since it would be written mostly
after the Rodney King verdict and
the Los Angeles uprising. With all
the events and media exposure since
the riots and with the coming hype
for his movie “Trespass” (with Ice-
T) I expected either a hip hop clas
sic or a hurried attempt at a possible
million selling album. Well, sadly
the latter may be the case.
Ice Cube’s career since leaving
supCT-group NWA has been mostly
ups, boasting 2 albums, an HP re
lease and two movies, but his lyri
cal skills and topics still seem to
WnrFfT
Ice Cube’s third album. The Predator, debut at number
one on Billboard’s charts.
hover at the same level. Admit
tedly, I’m not the biggest Ice Cube
fan, but The Predator just seemed
to be nothing more than a rehash of
previous Ice Cube albums. The
album is produced by The Lench
Mob’s Sir Jinx, Cypress Hill’s DJ
Muggs, DJ Pooh and Mr. Woody.
The majority of the tracks could be
hits if used by some other artists,
but are only messed over by Ice
Cube.
“Now I gotta wet ‘cha” is a
Muggs produced track where Ice
Cube tells about what happens to
someone who crosses him. Ice Cube
wrote the lyrics, but the style is oh
too close to Cypress Hill’s. “Check
Yo Self’ features DAS EFX and is
one of the albums better tracks. Ice
Cube sound more like himself, not
trying to mimic the sound of Cy
press or his new found friends in
DAS EFX.
“We had to tear this Mothafucka
up” and “Say Hi to the Bad Guy”
are almost the only true Ice Cube
sounding songs on the album, and
are not coincidentally my pick as
the two best. Ice Cube returns to the
style that made him famous, not to
what he thinks will sell him the
most records. “We had to tear this
Mothafucka up” describes the LA
riots, and “Say Hi to the Bad Guy”
imitates a classic Parliament track
and lets Ice Cube pay back those
crooked cops.
The Predator gets a C-, because
except for a few breakthrough
tracks, this album is on the level of
any othw two-bit Compton hard
head. I am sad to say that I am
disappointed with Ice Cube, who
now just contents himself with hang
ing out with East Coast r^jpers,
making movies and seUing malt li
quor. He gets a big kick out of
mentioning the names of famous
people he knows, but this is not
going to sell any albums (Or maybe
it will, as evidenced by his Bill
board debut). I was impressed
Predator opened up at numbCT one
on the Billboard ch^, but that is a
ranking of all pop albums, not just
rap. Who’s Ice Cube trying to sell
records to? Maybe he’s been
hangin’ withPublic Enemy too long!
If you are a fan of Ice Cube, con-