Since her tell r ' 88 debut album,
Tracy Chapman ha become the
heart nd voice of her generation.
Her eloquent folk ongs aren't only
con clou ne rai ing nthem;
they're true to life tales nd dreams
expre ed plainly and boldly. Ac­
companied by co tic guitar, Tracy
mel the gap between the personal
and the ocial. Her tone is both pain­
fully honest and a true call to arms,
bespeaking both vulnerability and
strength.
The qualitie spark her third
album, Mdtkrs o/t� Heart, hailed
by Rolling Stone as "a more intro­
pective tum for the woman who has
made the world safe for singer­
songwriters again."
In her rapid rise to the top, the
again. The ten-track album feature
Bobby Wom ck, Living Colour's
Vernon Reid, E Street Band key­
boardist, Roy Bittan and Tom Petty'
guitarist Mike Campbell. The ongs
range from bitter weet
elfdeclaratory odes to vigorous 0-
cial battle erie . As usual the high­
light i the unique mixture of
Chapman's guitar playing and her
plaintive vocal quality.
"Bang Bang Bang" i a obering
tale. Rather than condemn kids for
picking up guns, Chapman sheds
needed insight, indicting oclety'
lack of options for youth: "Ain't no
place to run," she chants mournfully.
ACCORDING TO Creem
Magazine: "The opening verses of
atter. of the Heart, the title
track i a en-minu e op ,
hypnotic and haunting. M atter.
of the eart i an individual
tatement abo ocial and
per. onal responsibility. And
: .. ��� co. nat
and hopeful wo� to date.
28-year-old singer sprang from cof­
fee-house obscurity to international
acclaim. She's shared the stage with
the likes of Peter Gabriel, Youssou
N'Dour, George Michael, Whitney
Houston, Sting and others for events
like Amnes ty International's Human
Rights Tour and London's Freedom­
fest in honor of Nelson Mandela's
blrthday.
On Matters 0/ the Heart, a hand­
ful of acclaimed artists join her
'Bang Bang Bang' read like early
Dylan, with his same calm irrita­
tion ... The ong, and a few others on
Matters 0/ tbe Heart, tank among
Chapman's best. .. She's like some­
thing from an earlier era, when a lone
woman and guitar could still capture
the pop audience's attention."
Born and raised in Cleveland,
Ohio, Chapman began writing songs
and poetry as a teenager. She sang on
the streets of Harvard Square, and
played Bo ton area coffee 110
and club , along with veteran per­
fotmers Odetta and John Hammond
Jr. Shortly after graduation from
Tufts University, he began work on
her recording debut.
Propelled by a mall but olid fan­
b e, Chapman rose to new heigh .
The Boston Herald described her
"tha t rare and chari ma tic
inger/Songwriter ... who can grab the
attention of a listener in a moment,
who can startle and amaze with a
single song." Her earlier hits "Fast
Car", "Baby Can I Hold You" and
"Talkin 'Bout a Revolution", have
become classics. .
Chapman virtually took over the
c 89 Grammies. Nominated in six
categories, she won "Best New Art­
ist," "Best Pop Vocal Performance,
Female" and "Best Folk Recording"
for "Fast Car." Tracy Chapman
went triple platinum, exceeding
three-million sales in the U.S. and
9.5 million worldwide. The album
shot up to #1 in the UK and w a
best-seller in the U.S. almo t simul­
taneously.
With producer David Kershen­
baum (known for his work with Joan
Baez, Joe Jackson and Graham
Parker), Chapman carved her own
distinct niche. A key to her signature
style i SimpliCity: a parse, no-fnl ••
pro4luctlon \why t
her bare, expreaalve two
carried that totdt thIOtJgII t '89
follow-up, Crossroads. Rolling
Stone deemed it "a self-assured, ma-
album." "Chapman's artistry is
genuine," wrote the LA Times. Two
tracks on Crossroads are banned in
SOuth Africa, a true testament to the
power of the messages in her sonp.
On Matters 0/ tM Heart, Chap- .
man teams up with producer Jimmy
Iovine. The title track is a seven­
minute opus, hypnotic and haunting.
Matters o/t� Heart is an individual
statement about social and personal
responsibility. And it's her most
confrontational and hopeful work to
date.
TRACY CHAPMAN
CL SMOOni AND PETE ROCK
"Our positive must alwa ys out­
weigh our negative, in everything
we do, that's our philosophy,"
declares rapper C.L. Smooth.
That is the essence of Pete Rock
and C.L. Smooth's first full­
length album, Mecca and the Soul
Brother - eighteen songs that "IT'S BEEN A RITUAL
offer hope as well as reality,. with Mt. Vernon that the OJ's
education and entertainment. take each other' place," C.L. ex-
Mecca is at once stree�ise plains. "Before Pete Rock it was
and effortlessly complex, bnm- . Eddie F. - if it was an Eddie F.
ming with an intricate, wide- party, it was official. If it wasn't,
ranging and highly developed there wasn't really a party going
musical talent. "The record ex- on." Eddie went off to a profes­
plains what we're about, what we sional career with Untouchables
stand for," says C.L. "We stay MUlic, but not before taking his
hardcore, we stay on the street. ·
We hit it with the basics - the
beats, the rhymes, the scratches:"
was a matter of having the dis­
cipline 10 do it - after school,
after homework we'd go to Pete's
room and work with the little bit
of equipment that he had to make
a plausible tape.
proteges to his room, which fea­
tured a 12-track instead of the
cassette-player-with -pause-but­
ton method Pete and C.L. had
been using.
The result was so impressive
that Eddie, who'd been working
on a remix of Johnny Gill's gold
single, "Rub U The Right Way," .
got the junior dynamic duo to par­
ncipate which led to their first
public performance outside their
neighborhood at dison Square
Garden.
"It was in front of 20,000
S e BR�THER, B4
Pete Rock developed an inter­
est in music early: "When I was
younger I used to play my father's
45's, stuff like James Brown,
\ when he wasn't home, " he admits
with a laugh. "I'd always get in
trouble because he had the stuff
in a certain way, so when he came
home, he'd know I messed with
it." he hooked up with C.L.
Smooth - and the burgeoning
rap scene of Mt. Vernon, New
York, which also produced AI 8.
Surel and Heavy D. -while till
in his teens.
"We were young," recalls
C.L., " nd didn't know anything
about the field of music. We just
relied on each other' talen . It