FEATURES 10
NOVEMBER 23, 1992 \
For the Record
Grand Puba has better than average effort, EE. misses the target
TJ Stancil
Music Kditor
Yo! What’s up people? At last,
their is some great stuff arriving at
record stores at one time! As 1 dal
lied around, I saw the latest from
Grand Puba, Big Bub (formerly of
the group Today), Prince and the
New Power Generation, “The South
Cenu^al” motion picture soundtrack,
and a reissue of Gang Starr’s first
album No More Mr. Nice Guy.
The reissue of Gang Starr’s al
bum includes the remixes of their
first two hits, “Manifest” and “Posi-
tivity.” This is just in time for the
November release of Spike Lee’s X
(I mention X because Gang Starr’s
Guru bears a sU’iking resemblance
to Malcolm X in the video for
“Manifest.” Look for it to be re-
released or find its way on the X
soundtrack).
Also, for those Bob Marley fans,
check out Island Record’s four CD
Marley Box set Songs of Freedom.
It is more extensive than Legend,
the old Marley standard. Other re
cent releases to check out: Trey
Lewd (produced by George
Clinton), Lo’ Key, Roxanne
Shame’, 2 Too Many, M and M,
Jacci McGee, Maxi Priest and
Compton’s Most Wanted. Also
coming soon are albums by Naughty
by Nature (19NaughtyH ) and LL
Cool J (named Crossroads with the
first single tilled “Ain’t no stoppin’
us”). Everybody be cool, and peace
till next time.—The Music Man,
way “Down South”.
Grand Puba
Reel to Reel
Elektra Records
Reviewed by TJ Stancil
At long last we finally have the
(debut?) release by Grand Puba
Maxwell. Puba has been a busy
New Yorker sincc leaving under
ground rap sensations Brand
Nubian, appearing on albums by
Brand New Heavies, Mary J. Blige,
Chubb Rock and Heavy D. He even
made a stop on the Strictly Business
soundtrack, enlightening us with
“Fat Rat.”
For those who don’t remember
F*uba, he was the front man for the
aforementioned Brand Nubian
along with Derrick (Sadat) X, Lord
Jamarr and DJ Alamo. Their big
gest hit together was “Slow down,”
a hip hop classic about sex, drugs
and the women who indulge in it.
Unhappy splitting the “ends,” Puba
jT-rx)
Puba goes solo
has struck out on his own, taking DJ
Alamo, the Brand Nubian style, the
smooth samples, and probably
Brand Nubian’s chances for much
future siKcess along with him. Now,
Puba has recruited New Rochelle
homie StuntDooRie to get “blunted”
with, and the new adventures be
gin!
First off, if you don’t like the
Puba style, this is not for you. As
usual Puba excels with his unique
vocals, but refuses to talk about
anything other than 40s (alcohol),
stunts (ladies), blunts (ladies) and
skins (ask a friend). But that’s Puba.
The samples are catchy, which en
hance the two best cuts, “Check the
Resume’” and “360 degrees.” They
also happen to be the first two cuts
so after those you go down hill. But
luckily that hill is not too steep.
“Lickshot” is a funky little song that
has samples of JJ. from “Good
Times.” “Back it up” was produced
by New York DJ Kid Capri, who
even lays down vocals on the track.
“Proper Education” may offend
some Christians as well as Jews
because of Grand Puba’s religious
views as a member of the Five Per
cent Nation of Islam. The song is
anti-church and anti-white, but he
doesn’t try to offend too much.
Reel to Reel gets a B-, because
even though Puba is one of my
favorite artists, I feel he should have
expressed himself more over this
15 track album. Puba limited him
self to “B-Boy” rhetoric, which is
not the sign of a true Hip Hop star.
Don’t get me wrong now, this al
bums has some hits, but some of
the tracks just don’t sound very
well thought out. “Check it out”
with vocalist Mary J. Blige could
have been done better, considering
the talent of both artists. “Baby
What’s Your Name” has F^iba
showing us his singing abilities,
which though his vocal quality is
nill, the cut was a pleasant suprise.
Grand Puba is worth a look
because the Pros outweigh the
Cons. Also, as an added bonus this
album contains a remix version of
“360 degrees” as well as “Who
Makes the Loot?” a Puba cut from
The Brand New Heavies’ Heavy
Rhyme Experience. The track is
’ hype, and is a great way to end the
album. B-
Brian McKnight
Brian McKnight
Mercury Records
Reviewed By Scott Johnson
Brian McKnight has arrived on
the R&B scene with his self-titled
Master of ballads
debut album. Brian McKnight is
definitely on the smoothed out tip
as he combines fat beats with sooth
ing lyrics to put together a quality
album. Most of the tracks are all |
purpose slow jams, with the excep- i
tion of “Yours” and “I
Can ’ t Go For That” which
both happen to be the
weakest songs on the
record. In the remake “I
Can’t Go for That,”
McKnight tries to speed
things up and add a little
rap. It just doesn’t fit in
with the rest of the album.
But with the exception
of those two songs, the
rest of the album is defi
nitely slamin’. It is hard
to pick the best songs be
cause all of them are
equally good. Leading the
way is the first released
song, ‘The Way Loves Goes,” and
following not too far behind are,
“One Last Cry,” “After the Love,”
“Never Felt This Way” and “Oh
Lord.”
Lyrically, McKnight is on point,
although most of the songs deal
with losing someone you loved. In
“One Last Cry,” McKnight sings
“My shattered dreams and broken
heart are mending on a shelf/....Got
to get over you/Nothing for me to
do/But have one last cry.” Musi
cally, the album is smooth because
of its light jazz sound.
Brian McKnight is a nice, all-
around album to listen to, so it is
worth buying. In addition, the al
bum is over 60 minutes long, so
don’t worry about not getting your
money’s worth. A-
PUBLIC ENEMY
Public Enemy's Greatest Misses
Def Jam
Reviewed by Scott Johnson
After Public Enemy changed its
style after their debut album, Yo
BumRush the Show, they managed
to revolutionize the rap world with
their follow up albums, It Takes a
Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back
and Fear of A Black Planet. PE was
known for its controversial lyrics
and fat samples, and put out hits like
“Don’t Believe the Hype,” “Rebel
Without a Pause,” “Fight the Power”
and “Welcome to the Terrordome.”
After a disappointing fourth album.
Apocalypse '91 the Enemy Fights
Black, Public Enemy is on the scene
again with a compilation of six of
P. E. comes off soft.
their greatest misses and seven re
mixes of former hits.
Chuck D and Flavor Flav con
tinue their tradition of solid lyrics,
but the music seems to be getting
progressively worse. Fiveoutof the
six new songs are, at best, average,
while Havor Flav’s solo “Get of
My Back,” from the “Mo’ Money”
soundtrack, brings up the rear. Songs
like ‘Tie goes to the Runner,” and
“Hazy Shade of Criminal” are the
best out of the six.
As for the remixes, there is only
one which is better than the origi
nal. The remix of “Louder than a
Bomb” has a funky beat and is the
best song on the album. Another
notable remix is the live version ol
“ShutEm Down,” but unfortunately,
this is only available on the CD.
Other remixes of “Who Stole the
Soul,” “Megablast” and “Party for
Your Right to Fight” are just plain
bad.
Public Enemy is rapidly becom
ing an enemy amongst the black
audience as their following is be
coming increasingly white. I hoped
that PE had gone back to their roots
and put together an album that was
slamin’ like in the old days, but
instead I bought an album that was
budget
Don’t bother wasting your
money on the new or used version
of Public Enemy’s Greatest Misses,
and try to dub it from a friend. PE
will be coming out with another LP
in ’93. Maybe they can avoid miss
ing the mark next time.
C-/D+