Newspaper Page Text
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 17
THE MAROON TIGER
PAGE 12
A&E
Dionne Farris’ development is
by no means “ARRESTED”
By John Jason L. Cecil
Many would agree that there are
enough female vocal artists with close-
cropped hairstyles. There is Zhane’,
Toni Braxton, BlackGirl, and the great
and wonderful Me’shell
N’degeOcello. In any case, for all
who think that the “low-hair” class is
full, make room for Miss Dionne
Farris.
Farris’ voice was first heard along
with Speech, Headliner, and the other
members of Arrested Development
on the group’s first album “14 Years,
8 Months, and 10 Days in the Life
of...” She was the one who kept
asking somebody to help her in the
song “Tennessee.” Well, evidently
someone came and helped her be
cause she broke away from Arrested
Development, and embarked on a solo
career that looks quite promising.
Dionne’s recently released debut,
“Wild Seed-Wild Flower,” is rather
impressive. In it, she implements a
vast array of musical genres, similar
to the way Nas used “many styles” in
his ground breaking “Illmatic”. Those
cognizant of hip-hop know to what
degree Nas’ album went artistically.
The same type of intensity is apparent
in “Wild Seed-Wild Flower”. Each
track is a combination of musical styles
that come together to make a flavor
just like gumbo— hot, spicy, and tasty!
The chief seasoning in the musical pot
is a lot of guitar. We hear licks that
sound vaguely Tracy Chapman-ish,
and riffs that are decidedly Lenny
Kravit-ish. In each selection, there
are nuances of either rock-and-roll,
gospel, folk, hip-hop, or jazz. At
times, there is a melange of styles, and
the cut,“Passion,” is just such a musi
cal fusion. Here, the guitar could be
found in either a rock song or in a
sophisticated jazz loop. The style in
which Farris chooses to highlight her
vocals in “Passion” could easily fit
into the rock, soul, or contemporary jazz
category.
Memorable tracks on “Wild Seeds-
Wild Flower” are the two versions of
“I Know.” The original version gives
a bluesy rock story of unrequited love,
while the “NY Reprise Mix” capital
izes on extracting some of the strings
and giving the song a more singular
tone. Miss Farris sounds like she is
sitting in with a funk/blues/jazz band
and they start an impromptu beat with
everyone chipping in to the groove. It
could almost be called “countrified
hip-hop.” The story of spousal abuse
is evident and empathy-building in
“Don’t Ever Touch Me Again,” and
“11th Hour” chronicles aurally her
break from Arrested Development
(“walking away was the best thing I
could ever do”). “Blackbird” is a
lullaby sung by a loving mother who
asks the Beatles for permission, and
“The Audition” is hysterically funny!
It showcases the comic talents of
David Alan Grier who reprises his
role as the unsuccessful blues singer
that he made so famous on “In Living
Color.”
The mixture of styles and
the creativity of Dionne Farris and her
producers makes “Wild Seed-Wild
Flower” an enjoyable auditory expe
rience; one that anyone of good musi
cal taste should go through.
Huey, Elridge, andLumphead: All Gone
By JohnJason L. Cecil
For most people, the history of the
Black Panther Party is one shrouded
in mystery, and tinged in violence.
The general consensus is that the Pan
thers were a group of black people
with guns. However, there are a few
who do know the truth about what the
Party was trying to do, by either being
around at that time or through their
own in-depth studying of the era. Un
fortunately, I am one of those who are
not too well-versed in the history of
the organization. Thus, with the help
of Jomandi productions, playwright
Robert Alexander and director Tho
mas W. Jones II, I was given more
than a little bit of insight into the goals
and ideals of Black Panther Party, and
what might have been going on in the
minds of its originators and partici
pants.
With an extremely talented cast of
actors and actresses, “Servant Of The
People: The Rise and Fall of Huey P.
Newton and the Black Panther Party”
made an obscure piece of history come
to life with scenes that were enlight
ening, humorous, disheartening, dis
appointing, and saddening. Marcus
Naylor is Huey P. Newton, a man with
a plan; a plan to get all us black folk
together, unified, and if need be, of
fensively ready to defend our basic
right to live. He is a man caught up in
his ideals to the point that it super
sedes everything else. One feels a
sense of pride in someone who is so
willing to do whatever it takes for his
people, but this willingness begins to
totally consume his life.
His plan starts to take hold though
and starts to spread, and as it does, the
personas of the other characters are
unveiled. Taurean Blacqueis Eldridge
Cleaver, poet extraordinaire, and
womanizer. He is the right hand of
Huey but one who butts heads with
him on almost every issue. Finally,
there is Thomas Byrd as Lumphead,
an illiterate pimp who is one of Huey ’ s
first converts. Lumphead is also the
primary narrator of the play, chroni
cling the timeline of the Black Pan
ther Party and its constituents.
As a white police officer (Officer
Frey), J. Scott Fugate does a phenom
enal performance of basically anger
ing us with his often infamously imi
tated terrorist police tactics. He does
an even more impressive job of comi
cally portraying a realtor of sorts who
sets Huey up, later on in the play, with
a safehouse and some good ol’ fash
ioned “nose candy.”
As the play progresses, the Black
Panther Party rise in the black em
powerment struggle of the 60’s is
shown. We are treated to the famous
shot of Huey P. Newton in the chair
holding a spear and a rifle, which
spurred a media campaign depicting
the Black Panther Party as being
“Niggers with Guns!” and not as an
organization that started literacy pro
grams and fed and educated inner-
city youth. Because of this image,
more than a few gun-toting, angry-at-
the-world brothers came to join the
Panthers for all the wrong reasons
(i.e. “Kill Whitey!”).
The Party rises even further after the
imprisoning of Huey for the shooting
and killing of a policeman (J. Scott
(continued page 8)
BLACK HISTORY
MONTH RAP PICKS:
(in no particular order)
“MAD IZM” - Channel Live
featuring KRS-1.
“HOW NICE I AM” - World
Renown.
“KEEP IT REAL” - Milk
Bone.
“NO HOOK” (REMIX) - Shaq
featuring RZA, Keith Murray, &
Method Man.
“I WANNA BE DOWN”
(REMIX) - Brandy featuring
Queen Latifah, Me Lyte, & Yo
Yo.
“SHOOK ONES” - Mob Deep.
“SHADOW OF A G” - Str8-G
featuring Barry White.
“LIFE AS ” - LL Cool J.
“WHAT THE KIDD DIDD” -
Jason Kidd (featuring Money B.).
“U BETTER RECOGNIZE” -
Sam Sneed (featuring Dr. Dre).