Word: gangstas
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...Gangsta Remix...
...announcement was premature. Art Official Intelligence has an impressively eclectic lineup of guests, including Busta Rhymes, Chaka Khan and members of the Beastie Boys (Mike D and Ad Rock). De La Soul's songs, like the warm, stuttery Set the Mood, lack the vulgar, low-riding punch of gangsta rap, but they find strength in invention...
Which, of course, is standard fare for the cookie-cutter action movies Hollywood cranks out by the dozen. But I had hoped that a director as noted as John Singleton and an actor with Jackson's talent would produce something more challenging than a cinematic gangsta-rap song. The original Shaft--one of the first black movie heroes to talk back to the Man and get away with it--meant something special to blacks like me who came of age during the '70s. We could use another hero like that now. Instead we got the shaft...
...named White Skin, White Masks. Eminem, a.k.a. Slim Shady, a.k.a. Marshall Mathers, has managed to create a media-ready outsize racial persona--dyed blond hair, played-up trailer-trash roots--that can compete with the color and spark of other stars in today's multicultural music universe, from gangsta rapper DMX to Latin pop sensation Ricky Martin...
...part of the Queensbridge Housing Projects' (not to be confused with Queens) hip-hop legacy, which includes standouts like Mobb Deep and Nas. Its four members pull no punches lyrically, but the hard-knockin' beats and surprisingly melodic riffs are like spoonfuls of sugar that help the violent gangsta-speak go down, while guest stars like Prodigy and Biz Markie add street credibility and variety. "The Heat is On" and yes, "Who Shot Rudy?" are standout tracks in terms of pure catchiness, and an honorable mention goes to first single "F.A.Y.B.A.N." (an acronym that stands for a string of unprintable...