H v you en looking for a
group that will give you refresh­
ing 1 nt on the youthful sound of
Blac Am rica? Peep no further
th n P.O.V. ver fore h a
young R&B act personified the
funkine and hip ferocity that
this quartet lay on the table.
Th t's probably because none
have ernbodi d the true musician-
hip, soul nd grit that i P.O.V.
The name means point-of-
"You Got What I Want" and
"Good Lovin:" to quiet tormer
like "Sitting Here Waiting" and
th explicitly provocative "Let
Me Do You." Of course they
couldn't Ie ve well enough lone,
so ther are a few tr ts like the
opener, ''All Through The Night,"
that r laced with the gemstone
vocals of Jade.
On other tracks, like "Tell Me"
and the first single, "Anuthalsuv;"
P.o.v. means
point-of-view, a new
d"ecUoninsuee�edged
music guided by group
members "HB.", Link, Marc
and "E".
view, a new direction in street- P.O.V. extols what amasses to
edged music guided by group what has become Giant's key to
members Hakim "HB" Bell, Lin- radio and chan dominance: slam
coin "Link" DeVlu t, Mar her- the j m t eep it con mpo rary ,
n nd Ew r Jv6·Ih-.'4RII ........... '·-.n buck-nat as needed.
me age i true c I to t I ry MUSic I
lesson in urban nsuality that evolution has allowed P.O.V. to
P.O.V. brings to life on their de- break on the scene wrecldngshop
but LP, Handin' Out Beatdowns. -a past-time that h grown into
The album i elf is a slam dunk the group's academic pursuit.
of higher education, with most of
its 14 cuts written and produced
by P.O.V. The group moves sen­
sually and deftly through the al­
bum, from rump-Shakers like
THE ROOTS OF P.O.V. lie
in the initial union of Hakim,
Mark and E. They were kicking it
pretty strong at Seton Hall Prep
"
"E", NHB",
BOOK REVIEW
Afrikuandika- The African
, .
hieroglyphic �riting y tern
other writing ystems.
. Consonants in this alphabet are
not followed by vowel sounds except
when the y tem i used as a yllabic
Afrikuandika-The African Hiero- alphabet, or what is described in the
glyphic Writing System contains book as' hort form.'
three paris. The book fully explains Thi i one of the very interesting
the benefits of the ystem and details and informative parts of the book
each character in a way that will where each method i thoroughly ex­
make it imple and C$Y to remem- plained. Quotation marks, Bantu
ber. Part one compares Afrikuandika clic ,and other ar of speech ar
to the English (Roman) alphabet and hown, explained and described on
method of pronunciation. page 27. Tonality i explained on
In thi section the diffe�nces are . pag 32.
clearly and f�lly explal,ned and Afrikuandika can help enhance
hown. The diffcrenc 10 act�1 the understandi ng of phon tics or the
o�nd compared. to the way 10 tudy of �h ounds, and how
Whl�h !hey. are wntten. the use of they are formed by showing how the
cap.ltal .. za�lOn, the uruquenes .. of vocal y tem as um the p itions
capitalization, and ho� word With required to create each di tinct
!he arne ��nd b�t, dlff�rent mean- sound. It al' 0 plac an emphasi on
1O� a� dlt�erentl�ted l fully ex- th manipulation 0 vocal and nasal
pJall1ed an thi. ctl�n. , air. B th are ential an the produc-
In the sectl?n entl�led, The �ene- tion of peech sound .
fi� ?�th Afrikuandika Sy tem , the Afrikuandika can be very useful
a�llltles. go�l, and purpo e of .Af- in th teaching of proper pronuncia­
nkuandl�a I clearl� tated. Plt�h tion, and the formation and control
and tonality are explained along with. of unds by the hearing impaired
how c�racters were developed and and th with peech di bilities.
are written. That can be- accompli hed boca e
The third part. f t�e book d - Afrikuandika' how ' through the
cribe the relationship between use 0 graphics and illu nations how
vow_el and con onant . Af- it i done.
rikuandika contains ix more vowel
sounds not in luded in th Engli h
(Roman) alphabet.
By PAUL ALFRED BARTON
Spec/el to the Mlchlflen CItlHn
TH • I
U 10
of th
One who cannot hear a und can
• ee' how hi peaking part must be
po itioned in ord r to create a par-
ticular und long h that,
p ility.
vowel i on f the pnmary reaso
why pronunctatron and the. way In
which a chara ter i written in Af­
rikuandika give it a feelin of
uniqu n ,00 an edge above many
OF »s-
TIl
nkuandika I to teach any ne par­
ticularly children, ho.v understand
y llables and how to learn pronun-'
elation, reading, and writing better.
Unlike other alphabets witha limited
purpose, Afrikuandika explores the
art of peech to its fullest extent.
Afrikuandika will introduce into
the Pan-African world a writing art
and style that is uniquely African and
follow the African oral tradition of
sending m ag with the use of
drums d igned to imitate peech
the art of oral history recording and
recitation through grio , and the tell-
i ng of tories, parabl and fable
and art of 'call and response' ing­
ing.
I hope I answered your many
qu tions concerning Afrikuandika­
T� African Hieroglyphic Writing'
y tem. With the current worldwide
trend towards unification, reunifica­
tion and cultural, economic and eth­
nic unity around the world,
Afrikuandika helps Pan-Africans ac­
compli h that goal for th benefit of
all. Thi alphabet i one of the f test
way to acquire th goal of reaching
cultural and perhaps political and
economic unity.
It i part 0 the aim of creating and
e tablishing a in le Pan-African
communication y tem that will .
benefit all and will help improve th
relationship with other peopl .
I hope you will enjoy reading and
tudying this b k and that it will
help in howing a quicker more ef­
� ive way to I m pronunciation,
readin, pelting and the under-
tanding of language.
School in New Jersey, that's
when they decided to buckle
down and get rious about where
they wanted to go with their ca­
reers and what role each person
would play.
Hakim is the godfather 01 the
group, so to speak. In his early
years, Hakim didn't have to look
any further than hi father, Robert
"Kool" Bell (Kool & The Gang),
for inspiration. As h grew to un­
derstand more and more about hi
own musical prow s, Hakim be­
gan building the P.O.V. arsenal of
viscous beats.
Mark is de cribed by E. as
"Mr. Suave," a f rmer choreogra­
pher who now take on the roll of
rapper extraordinaire. His early
entertainment pur uit really
didn't involve vocals, but a he'
been overtaken by the infe ti u.
nature of the group music, he'
"Handin'
Out
Beatdowns"
is P.O. v.'s
debut LP. '
found him If turning sound lyri-
cal phra n wing with fine
E., n the oth r hand, i an­
other ch r cter all togeth r.
Whi I he to exud the m th
av ir faIr ttnbutcd to Mark, E.
rm thin 7 up ,With practical
joke and light-h an d ban r. H
generally lay a weet v cal, and
with his 0 f-th -cuff impre ion,
keep the tudio environment
relatively light.
Finally, there is the missing
Link, the serious lead vocalist
who croons in a laid-back style.
then turn the tab) to pepper the
P.O.V. und with dancehall
hants. He's all at nee bro ding
and analytical, and able to de-
cribe P.O.V. to a tee: "P.O.V. is
like one pe n who show differ­
ent facets of his personality. We
share the, same vi ion, but we ex­
prei ourselv in all kinds of
ways. I thi nk if we all tried to act
or) k the am way, it would
invalidat what we 'r a ut. And
we're the real deal. There' n
fakin ', no fr ntin '. ne f that.
We're about energy and mad
ounds and that's what comes
aero in our music and rform-
ance ."
stable of pr duce rs that were cor­
ralled for the project. Whil the
group itself wrote/pr duccd 90
percent of the album, th re wer
al 0 contribution. from such no­
tabl hit m kers a. Hakcem Ab­
dulsamad 0 Th Boy ("Anutha
Luv"); Alton "W kie" Stewart
(Keith Sweat, BBD); Vincent
Herbert: and Mikey Bennett.
Benn n, in fact, had t e group
r cord in hi King ton, Jamaica,
studio that he could liver the
am authenticity that made su-
perstars of reggae don habba
Ranks and Maxi Pri t.
Handin' Out Beatdowns pr -
sents a broader ctrum of mu-
ical y uth than anythin w 'vc
ver kn wn, making P.O.V.
poi d t rc tructure th uture of
contemporary hit radi . Handin'
Out Beatdowns i mor than just
a gT1 at but' album; It i a xt
k found and. tyl for the ir
peers t g to ch I n!
WHAT'RE ·0 a
strong debut LP for P.O.V. i the
Def Comedy Jam
re urn 0 D rolt
The criu aUy acclaim d HBO ri ,which eatu • up and
coming Black comedian, tak it on the road with Ru ell
Simmons DeC Comedy-Jam Tour. The tour stops in D troit for
one night only at the Fox Th If, 2211 Wo dward Av .on May
21 tat 7pm.
Featured comedian include Adel Givens Royal W tkin
Ricky Harris and Tony Woods. Th how will h ted by
Detroit comedian Tony Brown nd Kid Capri will th DJ.
"Ru II immons' Def medy J m" first ired on HBO j n
March 0 ' 2 and is the brainchild of r P imp! sario immon
who is the driving for hind su h rtists as Run-DM
01 J and P.E.
With th ucc of tit HBO n f th
d idcd to t e it on the ro d. Th m y T ur b
out venues nationally since it gao. Th t ur is grabbm
uention of th Black nd white audi nces.
Tickets for this must s show rc 22.50. Call 3