Newspaper Page Text
Monday, November 11
THE MAROON TIGER
PAGE 16
Sugar Down the Spine: Sweetback’s Baaadass Debut
By Quentin B. Lynch
Staff Writer
"Sweetback?" "Who?"
"What?" Sweetback! Yes,
Sweetback has finally arrived,
or rather, has returned to
forcefully claim their place
amongst the recognized
constituency of elite bands
once and for all. For those of
you who are not die-hard
Sweetback has an identity of
its own and let me assure you,
the discovery of this identity
can be quite intriguing.
platinum clad Sade crusaders,
let me bring you up to speed.
The well-noted, emotion-
evoking artist, poet, singer and
producer Sade Adu has
released four dynamic,
moving and successful albums
over the past eleven years:
Diamond Life (1985,) Promise
(1986,) Love is Stronger Than
Pride (1988,) and Love Deluxe
(1992.) Sade has touched the
lives of many with her somber,
unwavering voice, powerful
lyrics, and profound
mysticism.
However, all the credit is
not owed to her alone. For
more than a decade,
Sweetback, the rather modest
trio of Stuart Mattewman,
Andrew Hale, and Paul S.
Denman have provided the
innovative, prolific, and
extremely rhythmic
instrumentals over
which Sade has been
globally received. The
three have garnered
massive attention
from Earth's
musical
community, for as
long as I can remember,
with tracks like
"Paradise", "Nothing
Can Come Between
Us", and "Kiss of Life". So I
do not think that it is an
overstatement when I say that
this album has been eagerly
awaited.
Sweetback is not Sade,
although many of the cuts do
contain some Sade-like
qualities. Sweetback has an
identity of its own and, let me
assure you, the discovery of
this identity can be quite
intriguing. The album opens
with "Glaze," a solid and
unassuming christening of the
group's self-titled debut
album. This track features
the soothing, instrument
like background vocals
of Amel Larrieux,
the female half of
Groove
Theory. The
bass
closely by another soul stirrer:
"Softly, Softly" features the
always-hot-to-trot Maxwell
crooning to the highest of the
high octaves. The drum track
on this one rides and slides
while Maxwell vocally
slithers over the vibrato
cadences of the
Fender Rhodes.
The tune even
gets intense
with some
electric
guitar
across
landscapes
of drifting
piano chords,
keyboards, and
synthesizer space
sounds to the drum
beat. Ms. Larrieux
comments occasionally with
her own unique
instrumentations.
This cut is followed
action
behind
Maxwell's
pleading call
for soft
destruction with
care. The song is four
minutes and twenty-five
seconds long and both
brothers and sisters will surely
be wishing it were longer,
unless they put their joint on
repeat.
The album grows with
each cut. Bahamadia appears,
dropping the science on "Au
Natural," and Amel Larrieux
returns to rock "You Will Rise"
This album is one
which every true lover
of music should have
in their collection,
laughing to it,
lounging to it, and
loving to it for many
moons to come.
to the fullest- check for the
single. Sweetback can also
hold down the square for delf.
On cuts like the hypnotic
"Cloud People," they prove it.
Undoubtedly, Sweetback
came forward to prove their
rep and they did so in excellent
form. This album is one which
every true lover of music
should have in their collection,
laughing to it, lounging to it,
and loving to it for many
moons to come.
Portrait of the Artist as an Xzibit
By Kenji Jasper
A&E Co-Editor
It's a shame. Traditional
hip-hop has found itself living
a guerrilla existence. Instead of
spending time developing
new material and concepts,
many artists use their LPs and
compact discs as soap boxes
and rail against the wiles of the
commercial and the crossover.
Xzibit's At the Speed of Life
seems to be a part of this camp.
His 15-track debut effort is
a compactly constructed, well-
produced product. The mostly
West Coast production team/,
features tracks by DJ Muggs,
Craig Sherrad, E-Swift from
the Alkaholiks, Diamond
D and Thayod Ausar.
Guest appearances
include King Tee, the
Alkaholiks (on whose
albums Xzibit was first
introduced), Ras Kass and
Hurricane G. With these
credits alone, one might think
that this work is untouchable,
but it is Xzibit himself who
brings about the album's
downfall.
Rhyming in his razor-
sharp raspy voice, Xzibit rides
over the same territory time
and again, namely,
the.concept of
fake rappers
trying to be
hard and
brothers
not
keeping
it real.
The
is prominently
featured on "Paparazzi," the
first single; here, one of the
most beautiful string loops
ever provides the background
for Xzibit's rhymes about
rappers who are hard on
camera and nowhere else.
Still, the beats are
innovative enough for
the average hip-hop
consumer who only
wants to bob his head in
the jeep with one hand
on the wheel, the other
on a 40 ounce of malt
liquor. Maybe that's who
Xzibit is targeting.
However, the next time
around he might want to
widen his scope so the
rest of us can enjoy as
well.
There are projects,
there are
showcases, and
there are memorials, but
now there is also Xzibit.
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