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10-21-1990 Sunday Journal Magazine October 21, 1990 Sunday Journal Magazine

Tricia

V. Dion

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Recommended Citation Sunday Journal Magazine, Tricia, and V. Dion, "Sunday Journal Magazine October 21, 1990" (1990). AS220 Digital Archive. 2067. https://digitalcommons.ric.edu/as220_root/2067

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• PROVIDENCE RAP

MUSICIANS HAVE

A LOTTO SAY.

BUT IF THEY

CAN'T GET AIR

TIMEORCLUB

DATES, WHO'S

GOING TO HEAR

THEIR MESSAGE? • BY V. DION HAYNES

A GREEN '76 Seville makes a skid stop, parking backwards in front of a clapboard cottage on Sum­ ter Street, in Providence's Elmwood, and out pops Eric Xavier Winters. Winters is hyped. Even though he had to clean out his bank account to­ day, Winters has bought a classic auto for just $700. The Cadillac - with its passen­ ger-side quarter-panel window patched with cardboard, its right cornering light hanging down, and its right brake light burned out - has seen better days. But no matter. Winters sprints into his parents' house to get buckets and rags, with which to wash his prize. His mom, sitting in front of an electric fan, trying to beat the damp D.J Buck (Tim Comns), summer heat, razzes him about his sagging Bermuda shorts and his Providence's main rap­ penchant for buying junk on wheels. music producer, works - on a song In his studio. • PHOTOGRAPHS BY RUBEN W. PEREZ SUNDAY JOURNAL MAGAZINE/OCTOBBR2I,l990 7 6 RAPPERS

A moment later Winters is dragging INTRODUCTION TO RAP a rag over the ~dillac's peeling vinyl BY TRICIA ROSE roof and remarking that the car is quite a contrast to the kind of rides he was I SUSPECT THAT many people have an feet customizing them. They would record driving just two years ago. image of rap music that is confused. On the their creations and share them with friends, Noting the children all over the one hand, it has been virtually impossible to through "beat boxes." Soon rapping became ~eigh~rhood - pedaling bicycles, escape the media's coverage of the contro­ the rage, and clubs would pack kids in with Jw;npmg tossing rope, baseballs - versy over obscene lyrics used by the popu­ such rappers (or "M.C.s," masters of cere­ Wmters also remarks on how just two lar group 2 Live Crew. On the other hand, it monies) and deejays as D.J. Kool Here, Kool years ago the block was overrun with has also been almost impossible to avoid the Moe Dee, Afrika Bambaataa, Kurtis Blow, people buying and selling all kinds of Las Vegas -style image of M.C. Hammer dope: a traffic that he helped bring. Grandmaster Flash, and Grandmaster selling sneakers for British Knight; his al­ Melle Mel. Dances and block parties began Reared in a solidly middle-class fam­ bum Please Hammer Don't Hurt 'Em is the featuring rappers, and soon "rapping bat­ ily, with both mother and father em­ number-one pop album in the country. ployed and living at home, Winters tles" began replacing some of the gang bat­ What gives? Do these guys reflect the range tles that dominated New York in the 1970s. was given love, discipline, and all the of rap music? No, absolutely not. material things he needed. But the lure Deejays would attach their equipment to First, the media's accounts of rap music of quick money, flashy sports cars and the power source of street lamps and hold the fast life drew the teenager ~ the are the primary source of confusion. Focus­ block parties and park festivals highlighted streets, where he began selling cocaine ing only on the extremes, the press has given and heroin. the impression that "good" rap music is "I was grossing like seven or eight what makes the Top 40 and "bad" rap is the MORE THAN A FAD, thousand dollars a week," Winters rest of rap music-the stuff you won't hear says. "I blew the money taking trips to on the radio. But rap is music much more New York, going out, spending money diverse than just these two extremes. RAP HAS MADE A on ~Is, buying a car and wrecking it, Rap has gotten a "bad rap" since its in­ buymg another car, wrecking it, and ception, in the mid-1970s. The early re­ buying another car." sponses to it were at best condescending­ MARK ON AMERICAN But now, three months out of the "lt's just a fad"- and at worst mean-spirit­ Adult Correctional Institutions, where ed: "Doesn't that rap music cause vio­ he served two years for drug dealing, lence?" It is sad to say that, even in 1990- CULTURE. the husky 21-year-old has turned his after rappers have almost single-handedly attention to steering youth- especial­ changed the sound of American popular ly black males - away from the music, supported the most worthy of social by rap battles. These experimental deejays streets. His vehicle: rap music. causes (such as the anti-@Brtheid and anti­ knew that the "break" in a record - the Under the stage name King Xavier, drug movements), and signaled a rebirth of part where the rhythm and bass lines were Winters -like several other rap musi­ black pride - rap is still a scapegoat for isolated- was what really got the crowd go­ cians in Rhode Island - writes, per­ America's urban ills. ing. So they would buy two copies of the re­ forms, records, and promotes his own Rap is an important part of black music cord, cue both up on "dueling" turntables, rap songs. Speaking in rhyme over mu­ and black cultural history in generaL But and play the break over and over, by turn­ sic with a hard beat, he communicates trying to find a tlXed point of origin for rap ing one reco1d back to the break after it had his experience of the streets. In raw music is impossible. Its roots have been vari­ played while releasing the other record on words, he preaches to people who live ously traced to blues queen Bessie Smith the break at the right moment. The deejays in the ghettos - especially African­ rapping to a beat in some of her 1920s songs; with the most original break beats were the Americans and Spanish-Americans­ "prison toasts,'' bawdy epic-style rhymed toast of the town (deejays would soak off the urging them to unify, to learn about stories; and the 1960s-style political verse of record labels to keep the source of their their culture, and to fight oppression: The Last Poets and Gil Scott-Heron. Some beats secret). Break dancing was the free­ Times are changing, rearranging, African-culture historians have gone fur­ style "show all you got" kind of movement But still the white .mans reigning. ther back, finding rap's antecedents among that was inspired by the breaks. White supremacy's been lingering so African oral traditions. But rap music as we And "scratching," involving playing a re­ long, "In a way I felt stupid telling people, 'Don't use people seem to place so little black history and law and novels by such authors know it today, though sharing traits with all cord backwards - actually treating the So I developed my mind to grow this,' " he says. "But in the same token, the as Herman Melville and GUnter Grass. He earned value on life. King Xavier (Eric "I think it's just the way Xavier w-mters), these African-American forms, also has a turntable as a percussive instrument- was strong. (drug) money was so right." his high-school-equivalency diploma and took also developed in the parks and clubs of the that people are coming up - of Providence, discrete history of its own. _ Once while he was hanging out in New York some college courses. Bronx. WINTERS HAS BEEN writing and perform­ City, Winters witnessed the assassination of his But he mostly spent time examining his com­ in poverty, in strife, you know vwrites rap music what I mean? People don't TODAY'S RAP BEGAN as a street-cor­ Back in the early days, there were not ing rap music for about 10 years. At first he fig­ 19-year-old buddy, E-Rock, who was skimming munity and the world. And as a result, his music vvith a message. many female rappers or deejays. This was in ured rapping would be his ticket to the glamorous money from a supplier: really care, they have no value ner phenomenon. Rhymes recited over pop­ changed. Winters then began writing his hard­ part because hip-hop was a subculture of life and he wrote and performed rap songs about "Everyone was sitting on a bench in the pro­ edged rap songs about racism, drugs, and vio­ forlife,becausetheyreallygot ular music were first performed in the mid- the late-night streets, not a setting where partying - the good life, the fast life. But when jects and then a car rolled up - it-was all tinted lence in the streets - a topic that especially trou­ nothing out of life. What I noticed is the people who are 1970s in the neighborhoods of the Bronx, in his compositions failed to garner a response from windows, so you didn't know who it was. All of a bleshim. brought up with families who provided for them value New York City. This style of music was part women generally felt welcome. Nonethe­ record companies, Winters, at age 15, shifted his sudden the window came down - all you heard In just the past few weeks, Winters says, he bas life a little more. But the people who grew up in pover­ of hip-hop, a rich urban subculture that also less, such early female rappers as Lisa Lee; ty, with hardly anything- those are the people who the female member of The Funky Four Plus attention to d~ ~s. was ba-da-da ba-da-da ba-da-da. He just seen two people shot dead. He saw a Hispanic encompasses break dancing and graffiti art. "I seen the drug trade-making money- you dropped." man shoot another Hispanic man at a phone would take your life." The attempts made to discourage hip-hop, One More; the group Sequence; and Rox­ know what I mean?" he says, tugging the brim of Another time, Winters himself was tbe target booth on Broad Street, and he saw a young black Calling for youths to pick up microphones instead of by erasing the graffiti and trying to stop anne Shante were out there hangin' tough. his green cap, which covers his fade haircut and of a gunman. He was shot in the thigh at a Provi­ man shoot another in the head outside a night­ guns, Winters recites the words from one of his songs: the street dancing, only served to make rap That's my boy, I know that he got my back. asymmetrical part. "I said, 'Well, that looks kind dence nightclub by a young man, who had earlier club on Eddy Street. music hip-hop's primary expression. Today, THE EARLY RAPPERS were primarily of easy.' And I just jumped into it." been shot by one of Winters's friends. "The violence is ridiculous and it's got to stop," Fve been shot, but I haven'tshot them back. in fact, hip-hop and rap music are used in­ party M.C.s, calling on crowd participation But I will, not with a gun but with intelligence. Although his parents tried to stop him, Win­ Winters's drug business prospered, but it end­ Winters says. "It's giving the white man another terchangeably. with such things as "Let me hear you say ho ters set up shop in their house, on Sumter Street. ed when the Providence police - alerted by the Stop the violence, it has no relevance. As entertainment, teenagers from the ho! Somebody scream!" They were also reason to look down on the black man. When A brother shot another, now that leaves one brother He supplied goods to other dealers, who started heavy traffic in and out of his house and his ex­ they say, 'Black people are out there killing each most battered areas of the Bronx would take boastful storytellers, rapping about their trading on his block. pensive sports cars-busted him, in 1988. other,' what are you going to say? You can't con­ dead. the instrumental disco hits of the day and verbal, sexual, and physical prowess. A good It was while he was at the ACI that Winters, But still he's wearing green, black, and the color red. Continued on page 15 Meanwhile, Winters had begun appearing at test it, because we are." Why do you wear that? You knowwhatitmeans, my recite their own rhymes over them - in ef- shows in which anti-drug rap music was per­ who was housed in Maximum Security, decided Most of the shootings, he says, are the result of brother.-+ formed. to tum his life around. He devoured books on petty arguments. He is asked why so many young SUNDAYJOURNALMAGAZINE/OCfOBERll,l990 9 PHOTOGRAPH BY KRIS CRAIG 8 RAPPERS language does not reflect his own attitudes but is All because he likes to hang with the boys. so that way, in rehearsal or whatever, they could used to get through his It means the blood, the land and to audience. ' I get the impression you take guns for toys. talk to each other and then maybe each side can yes, the color. ' ' "Whe?. you use swear words in a rap record," The most I could say is just stop, get to know each other. I'm trying to bring them So stop shooting, ripping, and shut he says, you're more or less trying to speak their Because the story ends when the pistol goes back together, so that Providence can be safe." up. language. I'm not prejudiced; I'm just saying pop. And listen to my DJBuck cut up. what's going on out there." RAP RECORDS are no good unless someone BROOK BENTON, a.k.a. Brook-B, 21, grew hears them. That means getting air time on the _DJ BU~K, 26, whose real name is ALTHOUGH a small city, Providence has the up on French Street, in South Providence, with radio. But no black-oriented radio station exists T1m Collms, produces Eric Winters's same social ills as big cities. Because of this and many of the young men who are now involved in in this state, and the stations that play rap music - King Xavier's - records, as well as because there are some talented rappers to make street violence. His parents and a nearby Boys & tend to confine it to such commercial artists as thos~ ?f three other Rhode Island rap use of this subject matter, Brook-B says that Girls Club kept him away from trouble. M.C. Hammer. mUSICianS. Providence has the potential to become a great He says his impartiality helps him get the in­ Yet one station that does play local rap is Tonight, he is sitting at the console rap city. "I'm trying to let everyone know that side story about street disputes, from all sides: WRIU, at the University of Rhode Island. in his fir.st-floor apartment on Cheshire Providence isn't just something to push around " "I'm friends with everyone, so I can go on It's Wednesday, the first day of fall classes at Street, m the North End, getting to says the rap musician. ' Rhodes Street, Reynolds, the Village - I can go URI, in Kingston. The campus is brisk with the work on a recording with one of his art­ Rhode Island rappers, with their hard-core to any part, because I never had anything to do patter of sun-tanned students. ists, a young man who messages, are heavily influenced by the New with any kind of gang violence. I can go to any Shockmaster Laz, who has taken the day off goes by Brook-B. from his soldering job, arrives at "B bu-bu-bu-bup B bu­ Memorial Union shortly before 3 bu-bu-bup B bu-bu-bu­ o'clock. With a record tucked un­ bup B bu-bu-bu-bup ..." • der his arm, Laz is here to press a taps the soft drumbeat as ' ... STOP deejay at WRIU to play his song DJ Buck's thumb mashes on the radio. a button on his SP12 Wearing black sweat pants and a four-track synthesizer. THE blue T -shirt, Laz struts past the He leans forward and cafeteria, the game room, the To­ cocks his ear to the turn­ tal Image Hair Salon, and the table, spreading his fin­ VIOLENCE, bookstore, and ascends three gertips across the smooth flights to the studio. He has no vinyl and the purple label appointment but in­ troduces himself and hands his ofthe 1977 Rick James al­ re­ IT HAS NO cord to Ulysses Gallman, who bum spinning in front of is sandwiched in a closet-sized studio him. When the section between two turntables and a con­ he's interested in has RELEVANCE. trol board illuminated with rows of played, Buck reverses the flashing green and red buttons. record, guiding it counter­ Can Gallman play the record? clockwise. The riff re­ "Oh, definitely. Hell, I'll do bet­ peats and Buck presses ter than that. I'm going to make another button, activat­ you talk, man!" ing a tape machine, which In moments, Laz is introduced samples a snatch of bass • D-Srnooth (Danny to the world: "Ninety point three from the tune "Mary FM. Yeah. You got Ulysses and Jane." Sykes) holds his The Wednesday-Afternoon Party "Joong. Joon-joon- record at Rainbcwv Thang. Sitting across from me on joon-joon-joon-joon-joon. Records, in the microphone is a gentleman Joong. Joon-joon-joon­ Provideltce. It was a that I've just had the pleasure of jorm-joon-joon-joon. meeting. He calls himself hit in DetnJit.. Shock­ Joong ..." screeches the master Laz and I'm looking at his high bass. new twelve-inch single. It's called Seated high on a stool '1Feel4 U.' in the cramped room, whi.ch is domi­ York rap scene. Their styles and lyrics contrast street I want and get a point of view from "Shockmaster, say hello." nated by his king-size waterbed, Buck sharply with those of the so-called commercial everyone." Laz says, "Hi, how're ya doing?" and explains flips some switches to blend the old rappers, from California, such as M.C. Hammer, Benton's "Providence versus Providence" also that his record warns about AIDS and criticizes funk and his new rap rhythms, and the Tone Loc, and Young MC. touches on how a fight for turf has shattered a those who discriminate against its victims. soundtrack is made. The West Coast rappers "don't really say any­ friendship. Gallman plops the disc on the turntable and "One, two, three, four," whispers thing meaningful in their songs," says DJ Buck. He talks about Willie Davis and Jose Doctor, the song fills the airwaves: Buck, tapping a foot and pointing a "They're just saying a buncl,l of rhymes and talk­ both 18, who were buddies. But one was from . . . Deadly as cancer, stronger than a heart finger. Brook-B, standing beside him ing about silly stuff' -partying and the like. Cranston Street, the other, from Saratoga Street, attack, with microphone in hand, is ready. Even the Southeastern rap music -led in Mi­ and so they found themselves on opposite sides in A-1-D-S, that's the spelling. Brook-B's rich baritone, competing ami by 2 Live Crew, whose use of obscenity has a drug-trade turf war. Last August 12, Doctor, ac­ All the addicts out there just fell into a trap. Let's with Buck's mix, now blares over two created a furor (even in Westerly) - pales in cording to Benton's account (corroborated by po­ get down to the facts, And stop this dead in its tracks massive speakers. comparison with the fiery social commentary lice reports), walked up to a car in which Davis . ... was si~, parked at Eddy and Globe Streets, After the record has fwished, Laz says he was The two men will toy with the song a contained in the raps done in Providence. Buck is also producing and began firing at his friend. asked to write and record the song by two recent few more times before calling it "Providence versus quits Providence,'' "I don't know exactly what's going through Brown University graduates who had formed a tonight. They plan to take the rough Brook-B's composition that will ap­ pear on the flip side of his "It Ain't these guys' minds when they shoot at each other nonprofit corporation to produce rap records cut into a recording studio, to add Where You're fm­ From, It's Where You're At." The like that," Benton says. "It's hard to go up to dealing with social issues. ishing touches, and then they will song depicts ship shootings among gangs on Elmwood Avenue, someone that just killed a friend of his and say, Gallman asks about the music. their product off, in the hopes of at­ Rhodes Street, and Wiggins Village, off Cranston 'Why did you kill your friend?' I'm trying to put ''The beat and bass line are taken from James tracting interest from a major record the song on the radio, and that way .maybe I can Brown," says Laz. ''The congas are from a Span­ company. Street: Rhodes Street, the Vill. to parts ofP-town, .get a response. ish record. Since I'm Spanish, I put my Spanish Called "It Ain't Where You're From, into my music. And the title of Sh-- happens, there~ a sound. "I think they don't have any idea of what the song, as you It's Where You're At," the rap has two The fire ofa gunshot, they're doing." hear in the breakdown, is 'Aye Bendito.' That messages, says Brook-B. Mach-lOs, Uzis let offmore than one Benton has even arranged for representatives means 'I feel for you' in Spanish." The song shot. uses profanity and racial Providence kills Providence is the plot. from each faction to rap a verse of the song in his ''What's in store for the future?" says Gallman. epithets for blacks, Hispanics, ~d Journal says another dealer got shot. ... recording. "Gold, ~ame, fortune, whatever?" whites to depict racism and gang VIO­ Continued on page 14 Another brother~ mother~ shedding tears, "We're~ to get them together in this song lence. Brook-B says that the explicit SUNDAY JOURNALMAGAZINE/OCTOBEB.ll, 199 RAPPERS G-ROCK, WITH HIS hanging ·tongue and away from drugs and stay in school. I guarantee close haircut, looks like a stepping, spinning rap­ you will get what you strive for. G-Rock." INTRODUCTION Continued from page 11 ping version of basketball wizard Michael G-Rock, whose real name is Jesse James Mc­ Continued from page 9 "I'm trying to reach my audience, which is a Jordan. Mahon, and Today's Specialty, a.k.a. Kevin example of party raps is the first com­ b~ck a~dience, but rm trying to reach mainly a He opens his mouth and then presses his lips Amaral, both 17, are two-thirds of Positive mercially successful rap record, Rap­ Hisparuc audience, because rm Puerto Rican. tight; as if in pain, he frowns and drops his glance Knowled~e, one of the youth acts sponsored by per's Delight, by The Sugar Hill Gang, There's not really any Hispanic rappers out to his screaming gold-and-black polka-dotted the ProVIdence Substance Abuse Prevention which topped the charts in 1979. But baggy pants, which seem to e:q>and and the:~ That's ~Y goal - and to keep putting out compress Council. The youths, part of the Urban League's gradually .rappers e~panded their ma­ over his shuffling feet and jerky leg positive messages." motions. ~-It-Up Rhode Island program, perform posi­ terial to mclude VIgnettes of urban­ Shockmaster Laz, whose real name is Derrick '_'Say, ho!" he imp~ores a crowd of teenagers, tive-message raps all over the state for the Boy black teen life, some of it poignant and children, Scouts, schools, churches, and other groups. Colon, brought his brand of rap to Rhode Island and adults m India Point Park at last brilliant. In this vein, The Message, by four years ago. He is 23 and month's Provide,nce Waterfront Festival. ' "By putting them onstage and giving them a grew up in the South Grandmaster Flash and The Furious Bronx, where such gangs "Ho!" they say. microphone you're telling them what they have as the Savage Nomads, Five, opened new territory in 1982. Bla~ Spades, and Sand Men, wearing heavy gold "Say it louder!" says G-Rock, waving his arms. to say is important," says Otis Read, 36, who di­ As rappers' rhymes grew more com­ chains draped over cut-up denim jackets, ruled "Ho!!!" rects the program, which he founded in 1988. the streets. It was here, in the 1970s that rap "Man, this crowd is hyped," says Today's Spe­ "They're honest, straightforward, and just come plex, so did the deejays' equipment. music was born. ' cialty, G-Rock's partner. "It's getting into it." out with bottom-line stuff." Today digital samplers have all but re­ The a?nosphere was charged, with roving A waft of smoked sausage and onions, sailing placed the turntables. Now if you want Puerto Rican, black, and white outlaws-as they CURIOUS EYES AND bopping heads appear a break beat, you can digitally "sam­ call~ themselves - dominating the scene with in windows whenever Alicia Brooks, 16, who calls ple" it off the record, layer it with other therr turf wars and the graffiti that proclaimed herself M.C. Spyce, and the two other members sounds, including old and new musical their names. At night, they channeled their ag­ of Positive Knowledge rehearse their raps in the tracks, and loop them endlessly. Such gression into their music. courtyard. Against a backdrop of bare clothes­ recorded fragments as a scream by Colon was terrified, yet fascinated: lines, their bellowing voices bounce off their ce­ James Brown or a famous phrase by a ''For me, it was scary watching all the fighting ment stage and reverberate through the rows of black leader are used as accents; they and shooting, {but) man, for these guys to know three-story brick buildings that surround them. serve as coded recontextualized cultur­ words like that and to rap over beats -over fast It is here in the Codding Court Projects, in the al memories. One result of incorporat­ beats or whatever-was incredible." West End - where Alicia lives, with her mother ing earlier music in rap is that a new Colon's mother and older sister managed to and four sisters - that the teenager sees pover­ demand for some of the older bands keep him out of the gangs, but they couldn't stop ty, crime, and drugs. She hopes her rhymes will has been created. him from hanging out at Echo Park, where he'd make a difference. The range of hip-hop is now almost Three years ago, Alicia's uncle took a massive hear the "outlaws" rap over old James Brown re­ endless. Rappers from all over the hit of crack cocaine; his heart burst and he died. cords and watch them break dance. country have created regional sounds, Deejays and rappers - Afrika Bambaataa, "That's what really. put me into rapping," says Alicia. "I have a message to put out to the chil­ and new styles of rapping keep emerg­ Grandmaster Flash, Grand Wizard Theodore, ing. There are now political rappers, Cool Hulk - sprang up around New York City. dren. I think some people will stop doing it once Amaral, .Jesse .Jatnes McMahon, Alicia gangster rappers, Afrocentric rappers, Rap music was catching on, and it was quelling they hear the story of what happened to him." white rappers, some of the gang activity. Brooks) rehearses in the West End. Some are listening. Many children in the pro­ Latino rappers, Jamai­ "After a while, the gangs just started to disap­ ject look up to Alicia, saying, "There's M.C. can rappers, Samoan rappers, British pear," says Colon. ''People wanted to party. They on a steady breeze from the Providence River, Spyce!" whenever they hear her rapping. Often rappers . . . each of whom brings were tired of fighting over the territories." and cloud-filtered sunshine spill onto the stage. they repeat her lyrics. · unique experiences to hip-hop. Hip­ A heavy rhythm and rapid-fire rhymes blare into Alicia says she's encouraged by the children. hop dancing is bolder than ever. The DESPITE THEIR EFFORTS to convey posi­ the crowd, pumping them into a frenzy. But at the same time she's discouraged by friends music-video market is filled with hip­ tive messages, the rappers of Rhode Island are And while I'm on the mike, I'm known to get she grew up with who are now involved in drugs. hop dancers, wearing distinctive cloth­ finding doors closed to them, because to many hyped, She has been heckled and bullied by youths ing. And some rap musicians are writ­ people their music carries a negative connotation. And I recite something funky, because I'm a who don't like what she says. At first she fought ing screenplays; the recent House Par­ The recent effort to prevent 2 Live Crew from delight! them, both verbally and physically, but now she ty was the first critically acclaimed performing in Westerly may be the most cele­ raps G-Rock, as a teenaged girl in the crowd with tries to reason with them, or else ignores them, movie with a hip-hop flavor. brated instance of the local community's inhospi­ long dark tresses and orange slacks pulls her because she feels that fighting contradicts her Women rappers are now vital mem­ message. "I told tality to rap music, but many less well known rap bended arms back, sways her hips, shifts her myself, 'I'm supposed to be stop­ bers of the hip-hop community. The ping the violence and I'm bringing it. I'd better musicians have also found it hard to get a club shoulders, and then claps and kicks - left foot, female group Salt-N-Pepa opened the date here anywhere, anytime. right foot - on the fourth beat. Her friend with take a chill pill, now.' " Her sister Yvonne Freeman, 23, door for M.C. Lyte, Queen Latifah, "Rap's getting a bad name, and I think it's rac­ the purple jogging suit and curly light-brown hair says that many of Alicia's old friends have abandoned her. Ms. Melodie, Monie Love, and dozens ism," says Danny Sykes, who calls himself D­ mirrors her moves. Two other girls join the chain. of others. I predict that this brand of For their next rap, G-Rock and Today's Spe­ "They're jealous, they're laughing, they're Smooth. thinking that she's not hip anymore, 'cause she's black female expression will be increas­ His first single, ''Droppin' Smooth cialty want the crowd to focus on the message. Lyrics," is rapping against drugs," says Freeman, cuddling ingly important in the 1990s. · getting heavy air play in Worcester and New "This rap contains explicit language," G-Rock her one-month-old son, Charles, as she sits on a York, and it reached number 11 on WDTR, warns. "If I don't use those words, I can't get my in courtyard bench beside her mother, Naomi AND YET, in the midst of all this Detroit. But the 23-year-old Providence native message across." The topic we're discussing is the spread of Brooks. "If they're dealing, they don't want to cultural activity, commercial radio laments that he is better known elsewhere than hear you say nothing persists in treating most rap music as a AIDS. about no drugs. That's neg­ 0 in his home state. ativity toward their business." stepchild, and rap continues to be asso­ ; Almost the only clubs in Rhode Island where Almost everybody's getting it nowadays. Nevertheless, Alicia, who spends up to five ciated with violence. But the violence CWT SPECIALTY STORES FILENE'S JORDAN MARSH rappers perform - and at that only sporadically It's a problem that has reached epidemic hours a night rehearsing, says rapping has boost­ that is thus associated has more to do 170 COUNTY RD. 400 WARWICK MALL 400 BALD HILL RD. - are Dennis' Lounge, on Providence's Eddy proportion, BARRINGTON, Rl 02806 WARWICK, Rl 02886 WARWICK, Rl 02886 Because we're having sex without using pre­ ed her self-confidence. with the rage that oppression produces Street, and the AS220, on Richmond Street. And it has brought her recognition. Probably CWT SPECIALTY STORES G. FOX Many clubs, Sykes says, are reluctant to book rap caution. than with the music. LINCOLN MALL ALL PARTICIPATING STORES Allyou got to do when you get an erection the only female rapper in Rhode Island, Alicia­ For rap music is a fusion of technical LINCOLN, Rl 02865 WARWICK, Rl 02886 musicians for fear of drawing a rowdy crowd. M.C. Spyce - has been asked to perform on a Sykes says that he was set in June to perform With a girl wear a condom, so you'll have pro- expertise, the power of the human tection. · new record, Playhouse, by the Boston-based rap­ voice, and the dynamism of black cul­ at a club in Pawtucket. The booking had been per Mike Junzun, It may sound rude but I'm stating a fact. and she has also received an of­ ture. Expressing the concerns and col­ made seven weeks in advance, but the day before fer to record with a New York - company. You can't lose control ofyour sexual acts. based lective memories of a people whose tra­ be was to appear, the club canceled his show. "Things look good,'' says the young rap musi­ "Everybody's kind of scared to have it, because We'vegot to stay afloat and begin to think, ditions are often ignored, rap is here to Or like the Titanic the human race will cian. "If I make it, I'm still going to do positive they feel as though it's going to bring a lot of vio­ things in my raps.... stay.• lence, which is not true. You have violence at sink. ... Tricia Rose, a doctoral candidate in these rock concerts and that story is untold. As the music fades, a small boy with a brush V. Dion Haynes is a Journal-Bulletin staff American civilization at Brown "They'll have singers and dancers, but they cut rushes over toG-Rock for his autograph. In writer. Ruben W. Perez and Kris Craig are University, is writing her dissertation Journal-Bulletin staffphotographers. won't have rap." black ink G-Rock scribbles: "To David, stay on rap music. 15 : 14