BY ICH LA. GONZALES
With her ngelic voice of
moky passion and atin sophis­
tication, Sad would h ve made a
perfect H rlem torch inger. Im-
gine gorgeou lounge gal,
draped across a polished Stein­
way piano, her song of sorrow
like whispered secrets laced with
te rdrops and heartbreak. In this
melancholy world, lovers lie and
best friend die, 10 t souls cry and
promi es ar shattered like crystal
figurines.
But instead of wailing her sor­
rowful requiems for gangsters
and show girls in some uptown
bar, Sade (the woman and the
group) has achieved worldwide
fame as one of the most sophisti­
cated and alluring figures in
popular music.
From "Smooth Operator" to
"Maureen," from "The Sweetest
Taboo" to "Love Is Stronger Than
Pride, " Sade has long been drawn
to the darker comers of the human
spirit. But like one of the proud
sisters in Terry McMillan's Wait­
ing To Exhale, Sade doesn't want
to spend her life in olitude, feel-
i or 1 . j ay
wlj t has to be said, then moves
on.
"One of the biggest miscon­
ceptions about me is that of this
depressed woman, crying in my
ivory tower," Sade says. "When
you're a singer, it's impossible to
show the diversity of your per­
sonali ty. So often the picture one
has of you won't be completely
true."
Sitting in a midtown Manhat­
tan hotel suite whose simple
elegance mirrors that of its oc­
cupant, Sade relaxes with a
cigarett and a gl( ss 0 mineral
water. Bar foot, dress d in blue
jeans and a white .hirt, he smiles
easily and oft n while telling the
story of her Ii e.
"IW SRAI EDbymymum
in a tate-owned estate in
England. We had moved there
(rom Nigeria when I was four
years old. I was botn in Nigeria,
bu: we moved when my parents
eparated -just my mother, my
old r brother and me. Ther were
no problems with the fact that my
mum was white and had these two
Black children - no one ever
made us feel that we were dif­
ferent. "
"What one might find strange
is that there was not much music
in the house when I was a child.
Unlike my father, who sur­
rounded himself with music, my
mum didn't really care. The first
song that I remember liking was
Rod Stewart's 'Maggie May. "'
As she grew up, Sade's musi­
cal taste matured. "As a
teenager, I fell in love with soul
music. Gil Scott-Heron, Al
o n, C yfl ld M rvin
Oaye -1 always liked th really
heavy soul."
Eight years into her profes­
sional career, Sade can still be­
come as nervous as the first time
she performed live. "I didn't real­
ly consider myself a singer when
I was younger.
This all happened quite by ac­
cident" - an "accident" set in
motion in 1984, when a friend
asked Sade to audition for a lon­
don band called Pride. As one of
the group's backup sirens, her
most vivid memory is the night
her heel got stuck in a chipboard
stage. "For the first three songs I
could not move. In a way it was
good, because it made me forget
the crowd while I concentrated on
singing."
Love Deluxe arrives nearly
four years after its 1988 predeces­
sor, the multi-platinum Stronger
Than Pride. Sade admits she
didn't spend the entire time work­
ing on the album, but "there's
never a dull moment in my life.
There's always someone going
By SHOCK ROCK
Mlchla.n Cltlz.n
Sometimes names come from
strange places. In Redman's
case, it came from a s owball, that
gave him a name that would stay
with him for life: "When I was
young I got hit in the face with a
'snowball. My face was real red,
like. It was like bang! And
everybody started calling me
Redman."
Whut?TheeAlbum, Redman's
RAlJCHAOS debut album, will
undoubtedly rate as one of the
most successful hard-core rap al­
bums of the year - but it won't
be a success based on gimmicks,
controversy or gangster po ing.
Redman bas simply made one
of the funkie t albums ever
recorded; the sound will be
familiar to anyone who knows the
work of the Hit Squad, BPMD's
production team, of which Red­
man was a fo nding member­
big, spongy beats, a walloping
drum loop, and a deceptively
casual rhyming tyle.
Most of all, Whut? TheeAlbum I
i a compelling testimony to
Redman's background on tbe
treet. Pop the album into your
stereo and you can virtually see
the steam rising off the asphalt,
the boiling tensions of life in
Newark, New Jersey, one of the
nation's largest and grimmest
cities. The result is a musical riot
THE FIRST single, "Blow
Your Mind," i a rapturous one­
nation-under- -groove proclama-
mad, someone who needs my
help. There's alway a crisis.
Perhaps I' should contact (TV
producer] Aaron Spelling about
making the story of my life: Sade-
911."
HER VOICE BECOMES
softer. "And then I got married in
1989 to a man that I had a long
relationship with, but that didn't
work out." She smiles: "Yet
S e SADE, 811
tion. Redman it describes a
"strickly funk, no message, no
nothin' - just strictly funk.
Strictly gonna blow your mind."
"Time 4· Sum Aksion" has a
super-fat, blunted beat that as­
saults the listener with unstop­
pable, thudding force, and a
subtle, muted bass tone. "It's just
strictly getting busy," he says of.
the track, "no politics, no race,
none of that sh--,just strictly what
you wanna hear. I could get up on
the ,album and just preach, but a
lot of brothers . ust wanna hear the
sh--. "
On "How To RollA Blunt" (the
B side of "Blow Your Mind"},
Redman offers some very
detailed ideas about how he likes
to spend his recreational time. "I
smoke weed - crazy weed," be
openly admits. "I don't even
front." In that regard, h joins the
S e RED AN, 811