The Michigan Daily W tend Magazine - Thursday ovember 5, 1998
Left: With the
release of "Good AOI
Side Bad Side," r
Crucial Conflict is
ready to once
again take the
hip-hop world by-
storm. //
C ourtesy of Pallas,
Recordingse6"
........ .0
Crucial Conflict is
much more than just
a one-hit wonder
By JuQuan Williams
Daily Arts Writer
One-hit wonder: three small
words that every artist in the music
business dreads to hear. It is the
antithesis of everything they strive
for musically. They don't want it
attached to their names, because it
is a kiss of death that few, if any,
have been able to shake. The key to
avoiding the label is iongevity, and
the key to longevity is consistency.
Wiih this in mind, Pallas recording
artists Crucial Conflict release
"Good Side Bad Side," in hopes of
refuting any idea that they would be
fizzling out or fading away.
Since exploding on the hip-hop scene
with its smash single "Hay," the album
"Final Tic," Crucial Conflict members
Coldhard, Never, Kilo and Wildstyle
have bided their time, as the super-fast
rapping style this group helped make
famous became the lyrical style of
choice for a shipload of rappers and
singers. In fact, it looked as if the four-
some from Chicago would get lost in
the shuffle. Nowadays, immediate suc-
cess is important for up-and-coming
artists, and having a "sophomore jinx"
could be fatal for an artist's career. But
Crucial Conflict avoids the dreaded
label by returning with a second album
that may even surpass the first.
"Good Side Bad Side is more mature
than the Final Tic," Kilo said. "We've
got more variety for the listeners: gang-
bang songs, lyrical songs, posse cuts ...
it's going to be another roller coaster
ride!" Crucial Conflict chooses not to
try to recapture the magic that made
"Hay" such a big hit, and instead con-
centrate on growing as a music group,
and reclaiming the style that they
helped originate.
"When you send a style through the
airwaves," Kilo said about Cruciai
Conflict's imitators, "people are going
to want to try to flip things the way you
flip them. We appreciate these artists
who are out there using our style,
because they're showing us love that
way."
Crucial Conflict plans to tour to pro-
mote the new album. The group
promises a lot of energy at its shows,
along with "a whole new terrain of
flows." It began with a show at the
Michigan Union in Mid-September that
was co-sponsored by Black Vibes and
The Source magazine.
"We love the respect and peace that
(Ann Arbor) gave us when we were
there," Kilo said, who also mentioned
that they would like to come back and
perform here again. "When we do
(come back,) we're going to make
everybody bounce again."
To Crucial Conflict, "Good Side
Bad Side" is the second step in its
mission to bring hip-hop promi-
nence to Chicago, and establish
what they call the "Unseen Coast"
(a.k.a. the Midwest) as a major area
in hip-hop culture. The group's sec-
ond album is also supposed to show
the world that it isn't a one-hit won-
der, and that its members will be
making quality music for the fore-
seeable future.
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sort out the players and explain the process more
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HId