4 - The Mch an Daily - Weekend etc. - Thursday, October 7,,1993 A 'Threat': music, not malice" Rapper Corey Lloyd meets the press in Detroit By DUSTIN HOWES Perhaps the most dangerous thing about the written word is its ability to separate ideas from their voice. When the words "former criminal" and "rapper" are thrown on paper they do not speak in the soft, reflective tones which belong to Corey Lloyd (AKA Threat, best known for his appearance on Ice Cube's release "Colorblind"). Most of all the violence, drama and controversy of the L.A. riots do not suggest the friendly atmosphere which permeated Threat Press Day in Detroit. Threat's debut album "Skinnahead" is a work of anger andhopelessness, sexism and sarcasm, with someproduc- tion (courtesy of DJ Pooh and Bobcat) sure to wake up the neighbors. On the album he's abrasive, but in person you're instantly comfortable with him. His words may be interpreted as negative, enlightening or simply a slice of reality. Daily: What was it like to work with Ice Cube? Threat: Scary [laughs]. Competition. You could feel it in the air ... 'cause you got to think, you're up against the man. If you're up against the man you've got to either serve 'em or you might as well not even get down with him, 'cause your gonna make an ass out of yourself. But you know, it's nice workin' with him'cause he makes me go all the way out ... [With] 2Pac it's like he trusts you, he's like "Well, what ever you want to do. I don't care. Whatever." D: How do you feel about the [gang] truce? T: Well, I kind of helped get the truce started ... as a matter of fact, it was the day after the riots. I think the reason I did that is because during the riots ... while we were lootin' and all that, everybody stuck together... D: Describe the riots for me., T: The riots man ... I don'tknow, it's hard to describe, 'cause it was like something I'd never seen before in my life. It was like, we had control of the whole world at that time. No police, no nothin' ... It's like OK, whatever you want to do you can do it. Actually, the gangs could have acted real stupid if they wanted to, 'cause we robbed all the gun stores. We had all the guns, we had grenades, grenade launchers, M-16's,fully automatic hand weapons [laughs]. And they was goin' for a little bit of nothing, people was practically passin' 'em out liken"Here, you want one of these?" And so we could have been killin' each other, or we could of even been killin' the police but that wasn't the case. People kind of stuck together, I mean blacks, Mexicans, whites - they even stuck together. Everybody. When you were ridin' down the street, there wasn't no gang signs, everyone was just going like this [holds his fist in the air]. ... It was different, I mean you won't see that today if you go there [laughs]. But, you know, that day, that particular day ... and days prior to that, everybody stuck together, I mean real close, Crips and Bloods and every- thing ... [On personal experience with the police:] ... They just got caught. Man, I done been Rodney Kinged a couple times. Not where bruises show, but damn it feel like it. Yeah, that's like a norm at home. Wayne State U: What kind of power do the police have now? T: Well, they really watchin' they step now ... Put it this way, we get to cuss'em out and everything in front of they Captain and they don't say nothin'. WSU: But can they still maintain order after the riotor did everybody lose so much respect for them? T: Yeah, and you can tell they still got a little chip on they shoulder about that too. Sotheykinda like, you know, stick they chest out a little bit, but other than that ... WSU: But no other problems since then? T: Naw. Well, yeah. There's been a couple ... See that's what the truce was all about. Sayin' "Look, let's organize ourselves. Let's stop just runnin' around, you know what I'm sayin', like idiots and killing each other, shooting each other, and get some rules and stuff goin' on around here. So we can keep ourselves in order, so we can keep down the killin' and make it safe for everybody else." And that's what the truce was all about and it was happenin' for awhile ... Rapper Corey Lloyd, also known as Threat, is best known for being a part of Ice Cube's "Colorblind" Bare essentials adorn 'Gas Food Lodging' By ALEXANDRA TWIN A blistering summer was 1992's. Blowing somewhere beneath the end- less swell of candidates' debates, Batman's bloated return and the un- comfortable reality of a long, drawn- out summer, lay a cool, dark breeze, undetected by most. Slowly and gin- gerly, it grew. Much like a desert flower that blooms amidst the dry, barren wasteland of that summer's films, "Gas Food Lodging," the star- tling debut from filmmaker Allison Anders, gently flourished. A sometimes campy, surreal trailer-parkfantasy, the film surrounds a small, fatherless family living in a bad part of New Mexico. It's popu- lated by people as strung-out and threadbare as the small town itself, which offers its youths dating, Dairy Queen and little else. Mom (Brooke Adams) has a dead-end job waitressing at the local diner. She flits from relationship to relationship with a host of unseemly men, always trying, but never really getting be- yond her somewhat bleak existence. Trudy (lone Skye) wants more than her mom's seemingly limited life, but lacks the strength and self-confidence to go after it. Instead she finds both her solace and identity in her easily exploited sexuality. The only one with any real poten- tial is the young, tremulous Shade (Fairuza Balk). Bright and imagina- tive, she is as equally fascinated by the local theater's tragic Mexican melodramas as its tragically hand- some projectionist.Sweet and accept- ing, sometimes quiet and aloof, she is easily overshadowed by her more demanding older sister, who is more than their mother can handle. It is, in fact, Trudy's promiscuity that eventually disrupts their already inconsistent lives. When she finally leaves, Shade and her mother are left Made for roughly the equivalent of one week's milk money on the set of "Batman Returns," "Gas Food lodging," uses all its resources to their fullest. What Anders comes up with Is stunning. with only each other and the scraps of their somewhatdistanced relationship. Without Trudy's obnoxiousness as a barrier any longer, they must face the fact that they don't really know each other too well and are not much of a family. Her mother is too worried about Trudy and her own problems to give much focus to this. It is only when Shade finally asserts herself, and gains her mother's notice and respect that the chance for some sort of future becomes present. This is ultimately Shade's story. It is her struggle, her search for identity, that is the strongest aspect of the film. It gives it its core. A good deal of the credit for this goes to Balk. She is extraordinary. Timid and petulantone moment, campy and hilarious the next; she is utterly believable in arole years younger than herself and more than makes up for the only competent per- formances of Skye and Adams. Clearly, this film is not withoutits problems. Certain inconsistencies in thestory, theoccasionalobviousneed for a retake and the sometimes shaky camera, are all indications that this is very much a first attempt.But what a first attempt. Made for roughly the equivalent of one week's milk money on the set of "Batman Returns," "Gas Food Lodging," uses all its resources to their fullest. What Anders comes up with is stunning. Intelligent and pure, it is necessarily bereft of all the ex- ploitative excesses that plague more high-budgeted films. Cut down to the bare essentials, that's exactly what it is: bare, essential and scarce, just as the title implies. As complemented by a great soundtrack, courtesy ofDinosaurJr.'s J Mascis, the film makes for the per- fect, soothing viewing; it is a relief from either a muggy day in the midst of the heat wave it was released into, orfromachilling night in the midst of a snow storm in Ann Arbor. Like the desert flower itresembles, "Gas Food Lodging," seems at first to be an anomaly, but on closer inspec- tion reveals itself to be a lot more crafted and beautiful than any one mighthave expected. This alone gives it credibility. Yet, beyond that, any way you take it, it's worth your while. GAS FOD LOGINGis available at Campus Video and Liberty Street Video. 9 1 I 1 SCENES 'FROM LIBERTY ST. 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