Shyheimaka
'The Rugged cnua:
By llJREKA lURK
"#Chill n Cltlz.n
This society has often
placed adult characteristics
on our children to make them
"cute". A young Alfonso
Ribero, dressed exactly like
Michael Jackson, was the
tar of the Pepsi commercials
back in the day. The more he
acted like a twenty-five-year­
old man, the morejobs he got.
Paula Abdul thought that
it was cute for her to dress
young girls up like the grown
white women with slick back
hair, red lipstick, and tight
dresses that appeared in
Robert Palmer's "Addict d To
LAve" video in her own "For­
ever Your Girl" video. And
let's not even mention the
Calvin Klein model, Kate
Moes, whose image verges on
child pornography itself.
All of the above exam ples
had white faces behind the
scenes. But now, the rap in­
dustry has dipped itself into
the practice of placing grown­
up characteristics on chil­
dren for the sake of novelty.
Enter Shyheim, aka "The
Rugged Child".
Shyheim is down with Wu­
T Clan. r p �p th t
has lown up the East ebast
tunes like "Method
Man". Aside from their un­
usual style of rapping that
has landed them in the spot­
light, the group makes refer­
ences to weed laced with
crack so their eyes bleed.
Now they have a "shortie
(youngster)" in their stables
to further the tales of life.
SHYHEIM'S SINGLE
"On and On" is a tale of the
neighborhood in urban areas,
from his viewpoint which
isn't original enough to make
a big fuss over.
Th r t of "AKA The Rug­
ged Child" is a testimonial as
to how hard core thi young­
ster, who d n't mention his
name (but he could easily be
15 years of a ) really is. "I
tell it like it is," he explains.
"And no one is going to ever
get my spot my props. I'm
always gonna make sure of
that."
Howeve many ways you
can think of to expr that
statement, multiply it by 15
and that's the essence of Shy­
heim's debut. Granted hip­
hop is about representing
one's self but the object is to
do it as, creatively as possible.
Somebody forgot to tell this
kid.
Starting out five years ago,
Shyheim was listening to LL
Cool J, lie c and Run
DMC and got bit by the rap­
ping bug. After memorizing
and repeating the legends'
raps, he started writing his
own lyrics within months.
"Then, when I was finally sat­
isfied with my ski lls, I de­
cided to come ou t of the
closet," the youngster says.
RNS, Shyheim's producer,
heard the kid battling on the
street one day' and the pair
started to work together in
1991 in Staten Island.
. The rest is wrapped up in
"Rugged .Child" history. It is
not Shyheirn's age that
mak him a "y ungster", it .
hi rap tyle nd hi content.
IfW t co t r pper C ual,
at 17 ye of age, can flow
effortle ly a ou variou
thin within one r ck, then
he i no a youngs r. If Shy­
heim continu hi un-origi-
nal r p tyl in hi
forgettable ton (he can't
make his 'voice flow like an
instrum nt) then h will be
easily wiped out in this big
industry called rap. .
................ I 0 L Y one
step away from the rebellious
playground inhabitan , An­
other Bad Creation. The
same attempt at the grown­
up game of being hard core
where Another Bad Creation
found their niche is the one
.\"/l_r hci III is (JI1(r one st ell
lIU'l'Y jrom the rebellious
playground inhabitants,
Another Bad Creation.
Shyheim usee to validate his
rap ty1e.
It would indeed be differ-
nt if it w r society that
turned Shyheim into trying
to be more grown than he
thinks he is, but in this case
it is the busin of the rap
industry. Throw some baggy
clothes on a Black boy that
thinks he can rap and you're
supposed to have a star.
Never mind the years that
rappers like Rakim, KRS One
and Slick Rick put into their
craft. Now, they've got a "rug­
ged child" to carry on the tra­
dition. Shyheim can't go on.
,.
THE SCOOP By Janice Malone
,
It's been two and a half years
'since gospel.music great Vickie
Winans has released a new al­
bum. But, 'the long wait is about
to end for her anxious fans.
Vickie recently signed a new
contract with Intersound. Vet­
eran gospel music pioneer
J ames Bullard was reeently ap­
pointed vice president of the At­
lanta-based music organization
Mr. Bullard will lend his exten­
sive years of expertise of work­
ing in gospel music to h lp
pearhead Intersound's artists
to the top of tb charts.
Ms. Winans is one of the first
gospel artists that the veteran
music oompany has signed, with
some major nam to follow later
this year. "I'm so thrilled about
being with Intersound," Vickie
said from her suburban Detroit
area home. "I've been with two
other record labels, but now I'm
as excited as I was when I did my
very first album," she beamed.
Her new album will re-
leased sometime in April or May
and in true Wmans tradition,
the music will undoubtedly be of
stellar quality. Her team of pro-
ducers will include Vickie's son
Mario "Skeeter" Winans and
producer/oomposer Jerry Peters.
Mr. Peters' is Intersound's A&R
director. He's arranged many of
pop star's Whitney Houston's
live performance shows.
Vickie says her new album
will offer music hat's in the
more traditional ound, similar
in arrangement 0 h r rendition
of "We Shall Behold Him, "
Vickie revealed.
"During those years, I really
don't think ·these other labels
lmew exactly how to promote, a
gospel artist. They would put my
records out and did not really
push them enough.
But with this company, all of
the preliminaries are already
rolling. We've done some pre­
production work and I'm doing
pre-publicity and the album
doesn't even have an official
name yet!" Vickie explained.
The careers of many recording
artists often lie dormant be­
tween albums, but not so with
Vickie Winans.
WH E WITH H two.
other label , Vic i received
Grammy nominatio for e ry
album she' recorded. "I [I I so
blessed for such an accomplish­
ment because tb Christian mu­
sic ne is so h vily turated
th e days," shared Vicki .
ow that she's wi h Inter­
sound, Vickie's n xt p 0 obvi­
ously will follow the s me
golden, selling foo teps her
previous efforts.
The oompany is pulling out all
the stops to ensure I that Vickie
ge its full support. "There's a
world of difference bet n be­
ing with Intersound and the
o her lab Is I've been wi h,"
CT, he' had 0 many
offers for ooncert bookings, that
sh 's had to turn down count}
concert requests. "That d n't
make me think that I'm so im­
portant. It hows me that people'
still want to hear me with or
without a new album and that's
tb real beauty of it; Vickie said.
When she's not being Vickie
Winans, the recording arti t,
he's Vickie Winans, the televi­
ion personality. For the
,
five years she's hosted the syndi­
cated 'IV show "SingSation. "
Sh also does TV oommercials
for the Quaker Oats Company,
as well as being its spokesperson
for its "Voices of Tomorrow"
youth gospel choir eompetition.
In addition to adhering to a
rigorous schedule for her own
career, Vickie is also a wife and
mother. As many know, she is
married to Rev. Marvin Winans,
of the Winans gospel music fam­
ily. Rev. Winans is pastor of Per­
facting Church in Detroit.
IN ONLY OUR 'years, the
church' oongregation has grown
to n ly 1,000 membe . Vickie
says that she finds being a pas.
tor wife equally rewarding as
her other or "It's like other
aspects of my career, sometim
challenging, but the end results
are 80 fulfilling.
According to Ms. Winans,
ther may be a Vic ie and
Marvin Winans duet album in
the not too distant future. It' on
both oftbeir agendas, but an ex­
act date for rei e is yet to
00