Word: rappers
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...single in Switzerland, Belgium and several other countries. Hip-hop mogul Sean ("Puffy") Combs is preparing to co-star in a movie with Al Pacino and planning to launch a line of urbanwear in 1999. Beastie Boys has a record label, a magazine and a clothing line. Rapper Master P is set to co-star as a computer specialist in Takedown, a movie from Miramax's Dimension Films about computer hackers. Master P may play a gangsta on his CDs, but in Takedown his character will work alongside the FBI. Says Andrew Rona, vice president of production at Dimension...
...Dupri, like Sean ("Puffy") Combs before him, is about to take the biggest risk of his professional career and step out from the safety of his studio. Like Puffy, he has been known primarily as a producer, but on July 21, Dupri will showcase his talents as a rapper-performer and release Life in 1472, his debut solo album. Well, it's sort of a solo album; hedging his bets, Dupri's CD features an impressive array of already successful guest performers, including rappers Snoop Doggy Dogg, Mase and Lil Kim, as well as R.-and-B. singers Carey, Usher...
...self-confidence. Asked if he was intimidated by the rap stars on his album, he replies, "I feel like I could rap better than all of them if I wanted to. But that's not what I do--I'm a producer. But if I was a full-time rapper, they'd be intimidated by me. That's how I see it." And he fends off Puffy comparisons by asserting, "The shoes I wear are a whole lot bigger than the shoes that he wears. I'm more hands-on than Puffy in terms of my production...
...rapping is relaxed but engaging. The CD's best cut is Sweetheart, Dupri's duet with Carey. Her lilting, soulful voice is a good match for his prodding raps. Much of the CD, however, is tainted with misogyny; the word bitch poisons many tracks. It's a relief when rapper Da Brat, on the war-between-the-sexes song, All That's Got to Go, shows up to defend women and fire shots at pushy "players...
...soulman Rachid's assured debut, Prototype, recently arrived in stores. Tony Rich and Des'ree also have CDs due out soon, and Seal--a veteran who could be considered the godfather of neo-soul--is coming out with an album this September. Lastly, Lauryn Hill, a singer-rapper-songwriter with the hip-hop trio the Fugees, is releasing in August her solo debut, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. Her album is the kind of galvanizing work neo-soul needs: unabashedly personal, unrelentingly confrontational, uncommonly inventive...