II
"Ie -T Ch ng
: Ge r Ag in
It' gettin rder to fig- .
we out here Ice- T' career
i going next. From hard­
core gang ter rapper, Ice
made a trong move into
· film. Now, he' bl ting
heavy metal music ith hi
new group, Body Count.
Ice' ctually no tranger
to metal. In fact, a lot of the
musical inspiration behind
· hi rap come from rockers
like Blac Sabbath, Slayer,
· and Van Halen.
Ice-T and Body Count are
· currently on a n tionwide
tour. An album w set for
rele e last month.
: New Group­
: Geto Girlz
The "Octo Boy " have in-
· directly given birth to a new
group called the "Oeto Oirlz".
The female group has done a
rendition of the Octo Boys hit
"My Mind Is Playing Tricks
0" M' y /.
Playing Tricks 0" Me. "
It's been getting airplay in
New York and Tex nd sold
almost 40,000 copie in three
weeks.
Janet Jack on's
New Leading Man
Rap artist, Tupac Shakur
has landed the lead role op­
posite Janet Jackson in John
Singleton'S upcoming film,
"Poetic Justice. "
Shakur, a member of the
rap group "Digital Under­
ground", made his acting
debut 'last year when he
landed one of the leads in the
controversial film, "Juice."
He currently enjoying suc­
cess as a solo album with his
single entitled "Brenda's Got
A Baby", from his
"2Pocalypse" album.
Shakur will play a fledg­
ing rapper who falls for Jus­
tice (played by Janet).'
Rapper turn
to acting
Heavy D. is one of many
rappers now setting his sights
on acting. Now it turns out
that top female rap duo Salt
N' Pepa would also like to try
their luck at film. The two
blazed onto the music scene
in the late 80's and have
broken all the barriers.
· In Hollywood
· News·
Halle Berry landed the
coveted starring role in the
upcoming CBS mini eries
"Queen," which is based on
Alex Haley's account of his
paternal grandmother, the
daughter of a Black slave and
a white master.
Concert
Mint Condition will per­
form at the State Theater,
2115 Woodward, (wID milD
Dame A Ready For The World)
Sunday, April 26. For ticket
information call (961-5450).
- oompled by K. e.rk
- special contrtbuto,..:
RadIoScope ... The Column & u.a
eo.llne (Behlnd- The-Soenee)
Th r '
demic to ing Kri Kro . "Every­
thin we do i � d out," Y
Chri Smith, k D ddy M ck, Hi
p rtner Chri Kelly. ak Ma k
D ddy, h clarification t h nd:
"We j t do th oppo ite of wh t'
usually don ." h ay.
Thi Atlanta-b ed rap duo flie
in the fa of expectation on Total­
ly Krossed Out, th ir Ruf­
{house/Columbia debut lbum.
Kelly, at age 13, nd Smith, age 12,
may appe r cool and dorable on
the album cover, but when they
rhyme they com on like junebug
pugilists re dy to go twelve rounds
with Holyfield. "We're hard
little kid can get without u ing
profanity," ay Kelly.
How doe Kris Kro ound?
Think of Naughty By Nature in
junior high, or Run-DMC back in
the day. The e two kid re taking
it to the treets, not the playground.
Totally Kros ed Out wa
produced by 19-year-old Jermaine
Dupri, who e credits includ TLC,
Silk Tyme Leather, and Damian
Dame. The album bop in with its
head down, and fi ts clenched: The
soundscape consist of multi­
layered COllage with delightfully
rough edge and lots of masterful
hooks. As one cut declare , the e
song "got more kicks than a Bruce
Lee Flick."
If U P," the first
(re ease e ruary, 1992) i lap­
rap lng-along track that Smith ays
wa "written for t people." The
track display rhyming kill that
belie the duo's ages. They spew
swift, insinuating lines like "I'm
bad. givin' you omething that you
never had/l 'Jl make you hump,
pump, wiggle and hake your
rump." And in "Warm It Up Kris,"
they insist th y were born to rock.
Other funky flavors on Totally
Krossed Out included "The Way of
the Rhyme," a tumbling jam about
taking no shorts; "Party, " a P-Funk­
style narrative that finds Kris Kross
slipping into da spot before getting
kicked out; and "Li'l Boys in Da
Hood," a detailing of the goings-on
in Any Gh tto, USA, of "beepe ,
new n ke , nd a whole lotta
ge r," 0 "Five-o doin' wee ," of
kitt d-up Jeep crui ing down the
blo bla ting th n w noize.
"We're ju t tellin' it like it i ,"
Y Smith. th y I ment the
cru I reality of tr t life in "It's A
Sham, " fully-compo ed note to
the crimin I-minded: "It' not a
mall thing I'm ddre in', it' big
thing ... take it from the Daddy a
le on."
Kri Kros may rap traight-
head, but their clothe re 11 back­
wards. The tyle i called the
Kro ed-out look, and bas been get­
ting attention in th fashion pre
recently. It' oversized overall
worn back-to front, it's ba eball
cap twi ted in reverse, front-to­
back t-shirts, and upside-down ear­
rings. "The Kro sed-out look i a
feeling from within," ays Kelly.
"We like to have fun, and our look
ay that."
Chri Kell y and Chri Smith
have known each other ince the
first grade. At first they didn't get
along, but the two soon became be t
friends. "We',re twins who don't
look like each other," says Smith.
THEY GREW UP in Atlanta,
and till live there. When they're
not in chool or inside the recording
studio they can be found pursing
their hobbie of going to the movie
and the p rk, listeni to hip-
tapes and playing video games,
hangin' t the mall and watching
.' ronis walk by.
It wa at the mall where Jer­
maine Dupri spotted the two of
them. "They just had that look,"
say Dupri. "I knew they could be
large, so I asked them if they could
rap. They aid, "Yeah'." From
there, the duo started fine-tuning
their technique, "till Jermaine told
u we were ready," says Smith.
"We'r true to this," adds Kelly.
"We practiced and rehearsed, and
'We can hold our own with anybody.
We're definitely stopin' and
pumpin'."
"That's how Kris Kross had to
come out in order to have a life in
D hay 'featuring Curly - (I-r)
C�rly and D hay debut with R&B Style.
Kris Kross
tbe rap community," ays Dupri.
And the uniquene s ae the tic that is Totally Krossed 0 t . I
u prorm es a ong-term career for Kri Kross.
De hay-featuring Cur y
pair recorded a ingle, "Girlies," (a
newly- recorded version appears on
R&B styk)., This loping romp about
one of the duo's favorite subjects was
a regional club bit in Dallas.
Curly continued to deejay aoo
produce DllBic fur himself and otber
local acts, and Desbay booked up
with Vanilla Ice, who was just getting
his act off the ground.
For more than two years Deshay
was Vanilla Ice's deejay. It was an
exciting, educational wbirlwiOO ex­
perience. But after a series of busi­
ness and financial disputes, Desbay
dedded �'d bad enough of Vanilla
Vanilla Ice and the V 1.P. (Vanilla Ice
Posse) told from insider Desaay's
point of view. Leaving the group be­
hind, Deshay headod bade to the
studio to begin .making his oWn
mlfiic. �auty.
Desbay and Quiy, once again �
'team, made theirdebutaItiuma truly
collaborative effort. While Deshay
writes all the lyrics, they bare the
duties of rapping and cutting on the
turntables. Deejay Curly bm1les
most of the inging for the hooks "I
like to bear Curly sing because � bas
a good voice," commcn Dcsbay,
"but I like to bear him tap also." For
It's no accident that R&B Style is
the title of the debut album from the
Dallas-based y aI¥1 Curly. For
former teen deejay-turned rapper
Deshay and best friend Curly, R&B
Style is the culmination of years of
hands-on experimentation. The
Tabu Records release (disttibuted by
A&M) has yielded an intoxicating
mix of styles, what Deshay describes
as "R&B pop-rap."
Incorporating the production
talents of Aaron Smith (who bas
worked with the TemptationS, Gerald
Alston and Wang Chung, ampDg
otbe ) R&:B Style offers a mlBically
irresistible, dance floor-friendly, ftm
sound overlaid with trenchant, per­
ceptive and often amtrovetsiall yncs,
Desbay began his involvement
with rap at the age of 15 as a deejay
in the teen clubs of Dall . "I made
myself popular by being a different
kind of deejay," he says. "Theydidn't
have too many teen deejays that were
really popping then, m1 I had a few
tricks of my own." He later
broadened his reacb by experiment­
ing with his own style of rap.
II don't consider myself as just
a rapper, I like to think of
myself as an entertainer."
-O.h Y
Ice-mania.
his part, rapper Deshay IX) prob­
lem tepping in to help out with back­
grouOO vocals.
This ilkcn web of rap, R&B a1Xl
deejay expertise is perhaps best
bo on tbealbum'sfimtsingle
''FumyFeelin', "a� ftoomaIuIal
witba meJodiccbona mI a DIp ay
line.
Meet Deabay (HbJl'h. Cully. A
long, cool . drink. Q)ol,oot
frat.en. No ice in brew.
ttl STARTED EElNG other
rappees woo couldn't rap, but were
making money," be cxplaim, "and I
knew that I bettertban they were.
Butl really don' t c.or&der myself just
a rapper," be adds, "I like to think of
myself aD en1e11ainer."
In a move designed to tJ:engtla
his act, Desbay teamed up with best
friC'.lld Curly, biJmelf a deejay. The
"I BAD AN idea � 'Vanilla
thing' wouldn't I t too long, even
whm I filst met him, " ys Deshay.
"� just doesn't know bow to treat
peop . He thinks he' God' gift k>
� world am to be boocst, � only
thing be can rap is Chri tmas
presents." This' attitude' under­
scored forcefully on � cut "No Ice
In My Drink, "a sly zJJ-allacxx>unt of