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"Three Feet" quickly
By RANDAL BULLOCK
Staff Writer
I have a dream that one day
little black kids and little white kids
will stop making fun of killing one
another and will play together,
laughing and dancing and poking
fun at those who truly deserve
scorn game-show hosts.
And since the cradle of this
dream is Sesame Street, where
blacks and whites already learn
Spanish and addition together
while they bum effigies of Bill
Culien, it is only fitting that De La
Soul would cover a Sesame Street
learning song, "The Magic
Number " as the opening track on
their debut album, "Three Feet
High and Rising."
The issue of De La Soul is def
initely one of black and white, but
it cannot be considered a black
white issue, we're talking hegem
ony politics here, and an
impromptu essay on the effec
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30
ACROSS
4. Often illegible handwriting, je ne
sais quoi
7. Prey
9. " . gloom"(Eliot)
10. Foul, distasteful stench or
display(critic's vocabulary)
11. Purple
12. Twisted
15. "I you, DON'T TOUCH
THAT DOORKNOB, THE FATE
OF THE WORLD HANGS IN THE
BALANCE!"
19. Insurmountable rival
21. Financially dependent
23. A Station in the
25. Subtle, delicate shading (critic's
vocabulary), je le sais seulement
28. "Get chummy"
29. Unkempt and shaggy
30. Lyric sung by Willie Wonka's
orange-faced midgets
DOWN
1. Crucial pier it ...
2. The god of love . . '.' :.t' '.
tiveness of a black man's voice in
a white man's world, the subtitle
of which would have to read "The
Decolonization of America: Ted
Turner's Worst Nightmare" or
perhaps "We're All Just Red and
Messy When We Get Mowed Down
in a Crack War, Anyway."
From the flowery, smiley-smile
cover right down to the full hour's
worth of mock game show within,
De La Soul rfrom the soul for you
Anglophiles") has made the first
rap album Gandhi might have
chilled with. The De La Formula de
emphasizes the chin-jarring
thunder-drum beats in favor of a
gentler, easier groove that puts a
smiley-smile in your booty and
then circulates about until you're
shimmying and shuffling and
showing nothing but teeth on
your way to De La Heaven.
So what makes them so De La
Special? Well, the material they
steal, for one thing. De La Soul
3. Cruel despot
4. Finesse, cleverness(critic's forte)
5. "Yeah, I thought I should go
this vacation and find my
roots"
6. Initials of the Political Activist,
Always Invisible Condition
8. Ecstatic promenade
13. Smooth and balanced
14. Yellow Dutch cheese rolled into
balls
16. Delicate burst(critic's
Vocabulary)
17. "I hate Turner!"
18. "You me, Edgar Tracy,
where are your manners!"
20. Meager, almost wholly
inadequate(critic's sense of reality)
22. Snub
23. Manly andor Latino
24. Egoist
26. Jason's ship in his quest for the
Golden Fleece
27. Symbol of pitch
See ANSWERS page 9
breaking the rules of
tests the boundaries between a
post-modern concern with inter
textuality and flat-out copyright
violation. But like Public Enemy, it
is not noble enough merely to
borrow one must borrow the
right stuff and get away with it.
To that end, De La Soul gives co
songwriting credit to the source
of the sample.
This accreditation only
scratches the surface, however.
The riff to just about every song
is recognizable. There is so much
sampling Jiere, it is not only
impossible to identify all of it, but
it would also be tough to prove
CHRP) H ft
Mariakakis
Restaurant and
Bakery
Famous in Chapel
Hill since 1963, offers a
variety of famous Greek
pastries and breads made
fresh daily in its on
premises bakery. Pizza is
the restaurant's trade
mark but many authen
tic Greek dishes are
offered along with sand
wiches, homemade
barbecue, chicken,
seafood and 60 brands of
domestic and imported
beers and 25 wines.
Marco Polo
International
Restaurant.
Chefs from Italy and
China prepare fabulous
dishes from the finest
provinni veal, stuffed
clams, to szechuan
shrimp. Thailand
chicken and spicy In
dian curried dishes,
pleasing the most criti
cal palate. Come for a
casual lunch or delight
ful dinner. The average
y if
De La Soul even exists as a group
of musicians.
That's a cheap shot really, since
not only is the unifying, subtle-as-daisies
groove distinctly theirs and
theirs alone, but De La Soul's choice
of samples and the De La Context
in which they appear are much
greater than the sum of the parts.
"Three Feet High and Rising" shows
a creative intelligence capable of
nudging rap onto a gentler course,
which could only prolong the
genre's potential life span.
Remember, raw energy only goes
so far before it eats itself alive.
Darby Crash, are you listening?
price of our 100-item
dinner menu is about
$8.00.
II Palio
Ristorante
There is no spectacle
in all of Europe like The
Palio in Siena, Italy. In
Chapel Hill there is no
finer dining than that at
The Siena Hotel. II
Palio serves breakfast,
lunch and dinner. Its
highly trained chefs
prepare magnificent
Italian cuisine that is
served by attentive staff
in an elegant setting. -
Colonel
Chutney !s
When it's time to
relax! Serving gourmet
burgers, super salads,
fresh seafood, prime rib,
grilled steaks and
chicken, homemade
desserts and lots of fun.
The best late night
menu avbailable seven
nights a week until one
a.m. at reasonable
prices. PATIO NOW
OPEN! Just a block l
rap music
Anyway back to that hegem
ony thing. Because De La Soul
ignores most of the dominant
white culture's music excepting
psychedelia, easily the most spine
less white-youth movement in
recorded history - it seems they
come in peace. And why not? Their
clever half-spoken lyrics stem
from an education which is as
much book-learning as it is street
smarts, and they show a scope
broader than any record in recent
history, regardless of genre. They
exhibit 'black meets white' in rap
See DE LA SOUL page 9
from campus, 300 W.
Rosemary St. 942-7575.
Brass Rail
Come enjoy "Magic at
Your Table" on Friday
and Saturdays at The
Brass Rail, 1301 E.
Franklin St. 933-1323.
Steaks, grilled seafood
and chicken dishes
served in an elegant
atmosphere provide for
a special evening that
won't kill your budget:
La Residence
Enjoy supper under .
the stars on the Church
Street deck or inside at
the bar. La Residence
has created a light,
moderately priced menu
for casual diners. No
need to dress up or make
reservations for the cafe.
Open nightly, 6-9:30
except Mondays. All
credit cards accepted.
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