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November 23,1995 AUGUSTA FOCUS
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N.A.L.S. enjoyed much creative control on their debut LP.
From the steamy musical hot
bed of Louisiana comes N.A.L.S.,
four talented singer-songwriters
who celebrate the rich creative
traditions of their native state,
while forming a distinct harmonic
sound of their own. The group’s
Scotti Bros. Records debut album,
Str-8 from Da’ Boot, is a 14-song
collection composed, produced and
performed almost entirely by the
quartet itself. The musicis a silky
amalgam of r&b, hip-hop,jazzand
gospel influences, performed
against a backdrop of luxuriant
instrumentation.
The foursome admits that the
culture and traditions of their
home state have had a major in
fluence on their music. Indeed,
the album title is a reference to
Louisiana. The natives fondly re
fer to the Bayou State as “The
Boot.”
N.A.LS. consists of three tenors
and one baritone — a vocal config
uration that results in exception
ally smooth midrange harmonies.
“There’s a sensitivity you get when
you sing in that upper register
that makes for a sweeter sound,”
C-Dub says.
Boasting an abundance of var
ied musical talent, all four mem
bers share equally in the delivery,
composition and overall creation
of the N.A.LS. sound. K.T, a
AZ delivers strong debut Doe or Die
On Doe Or Die, AZ delivers one
of the strongest debuts in Hip-
Hop history. Working with a
variety of different producers
including newcomers Loose and
Wiz, AZ is able to create a versa
tile collection of tracks, which
are sure to appeal to rap fans
across the country. About the
content, AZ says, “My album
deals with reality and when
you’redealing with reality, you're
dealing with sex, money and
murder — ‘cause those things
control the world.”
One of the strongest songs on
Doe is “Ho Happy Jackie,” the
classic gold-digger story over a
breezy Buckwild loop. Despite
AZ’sunabashed diss to the neigh
borhood girl, he avoids being la
beled misogynist by dismissing
the young lady’s advances.
The two Pete Rock productions
(“Gimme Yours” and “Rather
Unique”) are smooth and rugged
at the same time. “Unique,” the
B-side of “Sugar Hill” sports
hardcore boasts which helped
him achieve the Source Hip-Hop
Quotable rhyme of the month,
while “Gimme,” features Nas
harmonizing the infectious cho
rus.
The title track was produced
by N.O. Joe (the man behind the
boards on Scarface’s “I Never
Seen a Man Cry”) who adds some
Southern funk flavor to AZ’s de
cidedly East Coast tale.
AZ’s early Five Percent influ
ence is revealed on the haunting
Grambling State University mu
sic major and an accomplished
keyboardist, serves as the group’s
chiefmusical director and arrang
er. Gucci, aformer Grambling stu
dent, handles programming and
contributeslyrics. C-Dub, a former
Southern University of Louisiana
student, is a vocal arranger and
composer. Rounding out the line
up, Bee, who attended Louisiana
Tech, contributes music and lyr
ics, and oversees the quartet’s
image.
“Being from the South I like to
describe our music as a gumbo,”
K.T. says. “Our music has a lot of
different flavors. We don’t concen
trate on just one sound. We've got
the r&b/jazz influence, the r&b/
hip-hop sound, the gospel influ
ence. It’s a mixture of things, but
balanced.”
N.A.LS. enjoyed considerable
creative control over the record
ing of Str-8 from Da’ Boot, which
resulted in an honest portrait of
the group.
“With us it’s 100 percent from
the heart,” Gucci says. “Each one
of usis an individual singer in his
own right, so we can all do solo
projects and still come together as
a group. Everybody here can hold
his own.”
As Gucci so proudly notes, the
songs featured on S¢r-8 from Da’
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AZ: always striving to acheive.
“We Can’t Win,” featuring the
unsigned 25-To-Life crew. With
the three minds interacting as
one, they speak on society’s ills
and the black man’s struggle in
America with candidness and
intelligence.
The album’s most poignant
trackis “Your World Don’t Stop,”
a moving tribute to his friends
who are still incarcerated. “I
made that record for my peoples
Boot are strictly about “relation
ships and women.” Gucci and his
comradesprove their pointon“69B
(Alize and me),” a straight-no
chaser funk ballad about romance
on the road.
“Performers are busy people,
and a lot of times all they can offer
is just a little of their time,” Gucci
says. “In the song we're saying
that if you want to hang out and
maybe take in a nightcap and
enjoy some conversation, that’s
fine. But we're going from city to
city, and we don’t have time for a
relationship. It’s a very honest
song.”
The quartet’s romantic streak
surfaces on “Giving Yourself
Away,” where N.A.LS. rushes to
the aid of a confused young lady.
(“It’s atruthful song about women
who don’t know the difference
between love and sex,” Bee says.)
Then there are the uptempo jams
like “Something Funky,” “Judy’s
Gotta Booty” and “Everything,”
where the group demonstratesits
ability to perform danceable funk.
The latter is a favorite, a musical
testament to the wonder of wom
en.
“We'relistingeverything welike
about a woman —the way she
walks, smells, dresses, talks —
everything,” says Gucci. “It’s an
appreciation song. It could be for
and everyone who’s locked up in
prison,” he explains. “I'm trying
togive them inspiration, let them
know their life isn’t over. That’s
the reason why they go right
back into the system. Since
there’s a lot of records out about
this topic, I wanted to approach
it differently, so I decided to put
the record in my vision.”
“Spiritual pain can bring forth
physical rain/But without knowl-
art » music » literature - theatre
your girlfriend, your wife or your
mother.”
Though the group’s members
all hail from Louisiana, it wasn’t
until C-Dub moved to Los Angeles
that N.A.I.S. came together in its
presentincarnation. Thesinger, a
native of Houma, Louisiana, had
been strugglingasa singerin L.A.
when his manager suggested he
contact K.T., Bee and Gucci back
in Shreveport. C-Dub heeded the
advice, and wound up providing
the missing piece of the group’s
puzzle.
“Once I got together with these
cats, it only took a week or so to
gel,” C-Dub recalls. “We finally
started writing, with me learning
someoftheir songs,and theylearn
ing some of mine. After a while it
was like we’d been together for
years.”
Which brings us to Str-8 from
Da’ Boot, the group’s scintillating
debut album that’s as much of a
musical revelation as a vocal dis
covery. It’s a gloriously listenable
disc that establishes N.A.LS. as
serious contenders on the contem
porary r&b scene.
“Everybody nowadays wants to
behard or slick, but we’re trying to
be simple and come across with
good music,” says C-Dub. “Our
goal is to get the message across
simply, but effectively.”
edge of self how else can a crim
inal change?/And being locked
up just ain’t the life for me/Sh—
is way to trife me/You coming
home soon sounds so nice to me.”
With an album entitled Doe or
Die, and a real life all or nothing
mind state, AZ’s sometimes grim
subject matter is based on his
strong personal beliefs. He ex
plains, “I’'m not afraid to die.
We're all gonna eventually die
and when you embrace it, that
takes away the fear. In order to
live, you got to know about death.
The body is just a vehicle and
death is just the closing of one
door and the opening of the next.
I don’t know what the next stage
is but it’ll be better than this.”
But, while he’s still living on
thisearth, AZ continues tostrive
forthe things he wantstoachieve
in life. When he says, “I want
acresinJamaica,” on Doeor Die’s
opening “Uncut Raw,” he means
it. Setting high expectations and
pressure on himself, AZ will not
be satisfied ’til one day he’s liv
ing the “Sugar Hill” lifestyle for
real as a successful black busi
nessman.
“Im going to make it in this
musicbusiness,” he says without
hesitation. “I ain’t got nothin’ to
lose and everything to gain.
Anything the mind can conceive,
you can achieve. With a strong
mentality, you can go far. I know
I got what it takes.”
The time has come for AZ to
fulfill his destiny.
Whitney Houston acquires film
rights to Dorothy Dandridge
NEW YORK
Whitney Houston has acquired
the motion picture rights to the
forthcoming book, Dorothy
Dandridge: A Biography, by
Donald Bogle, to be published in
the Spring of 1996 by Amistad
Press. Houston will produce the
film with Debra Martin Chase
and will star in the title role.
“I have always been intrigued
by Dorothy Dandridge and the
triumphs andtragedies ofherlife,”
said Houston from her Los Ange
les office. “She was an enormously
talented African American whose
gifts, like those of Josephine Bak
er, Billie Holiday and Paul
Robeson, were never fully appre
ciated because she was quite sim
ply ahead of her time. Donald
Bogle’s book will give me the op
portunity to bring the elegance,
dignity and richness of Dorothy to
the screen.”
Bogle, a leading authority on
African Americans in American
popular culture and the author of
three prize-winning works in the
area, will write the screenplay.
The deal was negotiated by Will
iam Morris. Houston was repre
sented by Arnold Rifkin and Bogle
was represented by Amy
Schiffman inassociation with New
York literary agent Marie Brown
& Associates. Houston’s Morris
agent, Nicole David, was also in
volved.
“Itis particularly significant that
one oftoday’s mostimportantsing
ers and actresses will bring alive
on the screen Donald Bogle’s rich
ly detailed biography of the leg
endary Dorothy Dandridge,” said
Charles F. Harris, president and
publisher of Amistad Press. “We
believe this book will be a major
publishing event as it recalls the
life of a woman who played a piv
otal role in American film history
and who has become one of our
most treasured cultural icons.”
Amistad Press, the leading pub
lisher of books by and about Afti
can Americans, is the publisher of
Arthur Ashe’s acclaimed three
volume history of the African-
Motown artists meet the
media in “Motown Legends
Luncheon” held at label HQ
LOS ANGELES
Many of the classic Motown
Records artists attended a gala
media luncheon a the label’s Los
Angelés headquarters, drawing
attention toMotown’s aggressive
catalog development program.
Attending the luncheon were
Otis Williams and The Tempta
tions, Martha Reeves & The
Vandellas and The Miracles with
Claudette Robinson, along with
more than 100 representatives
of the television, print and radio
media. g
Special guests in attendance
were attorney Carl Douglas from
the law firm of Johnnie L.
Cochran & Associates and
RuPaul, as well as Marvin Gaye’s
longtime producer.
For many current Motown
staffers — all of whom were in
vited to the event — this was the
first time meeting the “old
school.” It was the first visit by
many artists to the company’s
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American athlete,A Hard Road to
Glory, thebest-selling In the Spir
it by Essence editor-in-chief Sus
an Taylor, Ebony publisher John
H. Johnson’s autobiographical
Succeeding Against the Odds and
jazzgreat Lionel Hampton’s mem
oir, Hamp.
The Dorothy Dandridge biogra
phy traces the trailblazing career
of the talented and sultry star
who became the first African
Americantoreceive an Oscarnom
ination for Best Actress (for
Carmen Jones), and who, like her
contemporary Marilyn Monroe,
achieved cult status that remains
alive. Bogle chronicles herlifefrom
her early years as a childhood
performer to the hit films Carmen
Jones and Island in the Sun in the
19505, through her troubled and
debilitating love affairs and mar
riages, to her shocking and tragic
decline and death in 1965 at the
age of 42.
Donald Bogle hasbased hisbook
on more than seven years of ex
tensive research, including inter
views with the late actress’ fami
ly, friends, agents, associates, ar
rangers, directors, lovers, chore
ographers, costumers, and co
stars. This includes frank discus
sions with her sister, Vivian
Dandridge, the late Otto
Preminger and Laslo Benedek,
director Herb Ross, Dandridge’s
first husband Harold Nicholas (of
the Nicholas Brothers), her clos
est friend Geraldine Pate, musi
cian Bobby Short, Maria Cole,
Brock Peters, Ivan Dixon, and
scores of others. Also included are
perceptive comments on
Dandridge from Sidney Poitier,
Diahann Carroll, and Sammy
Davis Jr.
Houston, world renowned for
her hit recordings, made her act
ing debut in The Bodyguard
(Warner Bros.), with Kevin
Costner. She is in the December
Fox release, Waiting to Exhale,
and in January will begin filming
Touchstone’s The Preacher’s Wife,
with Denzel Washington, for di
rector Penny Marshall.
new Miracle Mile headquarters.
It comes at a time in which
Motown reissues by S.O.S. Band
and Alexander O’Neal areriding
high onthe Billboard r&b charts.
Attendees feasted on South
ern fried chicken, gumbo, black
eyed peas, biscuits and gravy,
collard greens and peach cob
bler, catered by Angelina’s.
Many of the artists were in
town to tape nationally-syndi
cated The George & Alana Show,
which paid a week-long tribute
tothe history of Motown Records.
Motown has just released the
following reissues, containing the
above artists: Motown Year-By-
Year: The Sound of Young Amer
ica, including individual CDs for
every year of Motown; the
Motown Milestones series;
Funkology; Baddest Love Jams;
albums by Stevie Wonder and
Grover Washington Jr. in the
MoJAZZ Classics series and A
Motown Christmas Carol.
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answers on page 18
