Page 8--The Michigan Daily- Wednesday, October 28, 1992
Tongue twisting into the big leagues
by Scott Sterling
From the first spin of their head-nodding de-
but single, "They Want EFX," throughout their
hard-hitting disc "Dead Serious," Das EFX have
shaken up the hip ,hop nation with a funky fresh
new style of speak.
Das EFX is Dray and Skoob, two (former)
students at Virginia State whose dope twist on
'pig Latin' takes the rapid-fire rhyming style of
rappers like Busta Rhyme (Leaders Of The New
School) to the Nth degree.
"It just developed," Dray related on the phone
from their homebase of New York.
"You pretty much have to know me and
Skoob to understand where it came from. We're
kinda spontaneous, and it sounded cool, so we
just rolled with it. When we started rhyming, we
were rhyming at a fast continuous pace, with
hardly any pauses, and that's where it came,
from," he said.
The two started rapping in the 1988-89 school
year, where they shared the same dorm and many
of the same classes. Word got around campus
that these guys were serious after they turned out
a Delta Sigma Theta talent show that Spring.
Continually making tapes, they took a laid-back
approach to getting their music to influential
ears.
"We'd been making demos and stuff, and
wanted to make a record. We wanted to just
make a tape and hand it off to somebody.
Damien from (New Jack Swing band) Guy came
from our school, and so we planned on hooking
up with him," he said.
Instead, it was the East coast duo EPMD that
ended up giving Das EFX the break they were
looking for, at the now-infamous talent show that
they lost at a nearby college.
"This is the scene," Dray remembered. "We
were new faces, while everybody else was al-
'We're trying to let people
know that this is a hard art,
and that we're straight up.'
- Dray, Das EFX
ready down with each other. So here comes these
new kids with dreads in, and from a rival school.
Even though we were the best band there, EPMD
couldn't let these new guys win and sign them to
a contract, I mean that's just too much. So being
the fair people they are, they let the next best
band get the prize, and hooked us up with a con-
tract.
"Looking back, it makes a lot of sense, even
though at the time it didn't. We were like
'What?! A hundred dollars?! We got rent to
pay!,"' laughed Dray about the prize money.
Now a staple on rap video playlists nation-
wide, Das EFX's image as underground hip hop
terrorists, sporting crazy dreads and coming
"Straight From The Sewer," at times overshad-
ows the music.
"I hope people are seeing that there are other
sides to us. When we first appeared on the scene,
a lot of people thought we were this cartoon
group, but we're not," he said.
When Das EFX talks about coming straight
from the sewer, it means something more than
just a video image.
"That's more like a metaphor, a state of mind,
that we're straight from the underground. We're
trying to let people know that this is a hard art,
and that we're straight up, not this watered down
stuff people have been seeing for the past couple
of years," Dray intoned.
Currently on tour with the hip hop posse of
bands known as the Hit Squad (EPMD, RedMan,
K-Solo, Das EFX), Dray is happy with how
things have been going so far.
"The tour is hittin.' It's the whole Hit Squad,
and everybody's down. The Hit Squad doesn't
just consist of the artists, it's a whole crew of
people that's always chillin'," Dray said. "And
tell the people to come out in peace."
'Giggles' shows that all it takes is hearts
Conjunction Band
Can 10 slightly goofy-lookin' men make music which thickens your bones,
tickles your spine, swings your feet, and opens your mind? Save some
money and make a little time for music you can sink your teeth into. At 8:30
p.m. this Friday night at the MLB, Eclipse Jazz/UAC present the Boston
based ensemble EITHER/ORCHESTRA. This up and coming group plays a
unique blend of high energy jazz, smoothly integrating slices of funk and
modern improvisational technique into the Big Band tradition. Tickets are
$5 for students, $13 for non-students. Call 763-0046 for info.
Psst!' You wanna be
a Ro-man em__peror?.
*I
by Michelle Phillip
It can be quite difficult to take
this movie seriously, especially
when you can't even pronounce the
title with a straight face. But as the
old adage says, "never judge a book
by its cover."
Dr. Giggles stars Larry Drake
sweet, gentle Benny of "L.A. Law")
as a maniacal vivisectionist who es-
capes from a mental institution to
exact revenge on the town of
Moorehigh which had him put away
many, many years ago. Of course,
good vivisectionists are made, not
born and the good doctor is no ex-
ception.
An early childhood trauma left
Giggles a few cans short of a six
pack. The elder Giggles, in an at-
tempt to save his wife's life, rum-
maged around Moorehigh looking
for a replacement heart. Dr. Giggles'
father would have gotten away with
it if there had not been a minor
technicality in the law that stated
stealing hearts from living people
constituted murder. You win some,
you lose some.
Anyway, this left a deep impres-
sion on Giggles, Jr. This time
around, however, Dr. Giggles has a
I
touch of altruism and decides to help
save the life of a high school senior,
Jennifer Campbell (Holly Marie
Combs), who suffers from a pro-
lapsed mitral valve in her heart.
As far as plot goes, there really
isn't one. Dr. Giggles consists of a
series of loosely constructed scenes
so the doctor can come in, kill
someone, and say his one-liner for
the scene. There are a plethora of
them from which to choose. And he
doesn't come right out and say
something like "I'm only the doctor"
or "I'm just a doctor". Rather, he ut-
ters doctor-like phrases such as
"wait 'til you get my bill" or "time
for our medicine" or my personal
favorite, as he pumps a woman's
stomach, "I know this really sucks."
You can't write off this movie
Dr. Giggles t
Directed by Manny Coto; written by
Manny Coto and Graeme Whifler; with
Larry Drake and Holly Marie Combs
completely, however, due to the
pleasing visuals. Dr. Giggles looks
as if director Manny Coto actually
thought about his images and took
the time to compose them. The low-
key lighting gives the film a chill-
ingly distant look. The characters
move about in the shadows, but Coto
never lets them jump out at the
viewer. Rather he allows them, par-
ticularly Giggles, to come in and out
of the screen freely, letting the
viewer see what they are doing.
Coto doesn't resort to cheap
camera tricks to get the horror effect.
The most impressive sequence was
in the house of mirrors in which
Jenniferand her boyfriend, Max
(Keith Diamond) played a cat and
mouse game with Dr. Giggles.
While this may not be the most
original concept, it created suspense
and it looked damned good.
The cinematography adds to the
overall perversely humorous tone of
thefilm. Perhaps it may be just me
or the mood I was in when I saw
by Laura Alantas
For sale: the position of Roman
Emperor. Best price. Contact any
member of the Imperial Guard after
7 p.m.
Based on actual historical events,
Ann Arbor's Performance Network
presents "Julianus," a play that tells
the story of Didius Julianus and his
rise to the leadership of the Roman
Empire. The Imperial Guard (the
emperor's bodyguards) started to kill
off the emperors, whom they were
supposed to protect.
After they had successfully re-
moved two of Rome's Emperors,
though, they realized that they had
the ability to determine who would
be the next ruler. "They decided that
they could make a profit, so they
sold. the empire. Essentially, they put
it up for auction," explained play-
wright Al Sjoerdsma.
Enter Didius Julianus, a rich
Senator. By virtue of being the high-
est bidder, Julianus bought the right
to assume the role of emperor.
Along with presenting this pro-
cess and its aftermath, the play also
examines the implications of selling
a political office. "This is an idea
that I've had since I learned about
this actual historical event fifteen
years ago. The whole idea of the
story fascinated me," Sjoerdsma
said.
Although the history of Julianus
the next rave.
Combining scratches, clanging
bells, crashing keyboards, a female
choir and wispy lead vocals,
"Euttanasia" borders on the beauti-
ful. The first single off the album
and perhaps the strongest track,
"Edge of No Control," blows away
Drake
Giggles, but I could not help just
laughing at it. The whole film is just
so ridiculous that you can just sit
back and be entertained for an hour
and a half. The film has its moments
and it is worth, dare I say it, a few
giggles.
DR. GIGGLES is playing at Bri-
arwood.
RECORDS
Continued from page 5
even somewhat provocative lyrics.
The songs on "Satyricon" chronicle
the situation of today's urban
drugged-out youth, lost somewhere
between the nine to five grind and
lies at the script's foundation, Sjo-,
erdsma has manipulated the time'
frame: "We're simultaneously in
Rome in 193 and 1992," he said
This anachronistic manner in pre-
senting the play combines vernacu-,
lar language and historical charac-
ters. When some of the characters
curse, for example, they say "for
Christ's sake," even though Chris-
tianity had yet to reach Rome.
"I tried to stay faithful to what
happened historically. The names
are historically accurate, but the
characterizations are invented by
me," Sjoerdsma explained.
The modern twist on this story
performed with contemporary lan-
guage and random kitchen appli-
ances serves as a commentary on
pop culture. According' to Sjo-
erdsma, "We show how people build
themselves around these appliances;
and then get disconnected."
As to what the audience will take
away from his show, Sjoerdsma can
only guess: "Different people will
think different things," he said. "But
since this is a time of election, I
hope that affects the way that people
think about the play."
.JULIANUS will be performed Octo-
ber 29 through Ngvember 8, Thurs-
days through Saturdays at 8 p.m.
and Sundays at 6:30 p.m. at the
Performance Network. Tickets are
$9, $7 for students. Call 663-0681.
anything that Nitzer Ebb or K.L.F.
have even attempted, Lasting for
ahnost ten minutes, this song covers
everything from Rodney King to
broken dreams to censorship to self-
doubt and alienation, and you can
dance to it.
While there is a good deal of raw
power on "Satyricon," the band has
a hard time maintaining the energy
level throughout the album, and
some of the songs even border on
monotonous. Overall, though, Meat
Beat Manifesto have put out a wor-
thy and meaningful effort, an inter-
esting addition to an otherwise stag-
nant scene.
-Bryce Kass
ti L E T
)(TEN
9,
Date:
Time:
Place:
October 28 & 29
10:00 - 3:00 equired:
North Campus Commons
$25.00
0j lol al
92.673{CP.694)
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