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At a time when
rap is under
public scrutiny,
Cypress Hill,
LL Cool J and
Coolio are
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A&M
concentrating
on the music
Album
Cypress H8II **
Temples of Boom
ouse / Columbia
★★★ (out of five)
Rising from the ashes of this summer’s
Lollapalooza festival comes an album with
a distinctive smell. Yes, the nasal whine
of Cypress Hill is back, and ...
What’s this?
Oh my goodness, Cypress Hill made an
album about marijuana! Unbelievable, I
= know, that wholesome young men like the
boys from Cypress Hill would make an al
bum advocating the use of an illegal sub
stance, Stunning, just stunning.
On the third installment of the Cypress
Hill saga, Temples of Boom, B-Real and
Sen Dog pick up where they left off with
1993’s Black Sunday.
That’s the problem.
Blunts, blunts and more blunts litter
each joint, oops, I mean song. But there’s
nothing shocking in the marijuana-laced
rhymes of, though for “Spark Another
Owl,” “Stoned Raiders,” “Illusions” and
“Everybody Must Get Stoned.” B-Real has
to be running out of methods of preaching
the herb.
Musically, Temples of Boom is one of
the year’s strongest. DJ Muggs’ produc
tion is exquisite, drawing upon Middle
Eastern sounds and chants to create an
air of mystery ... and marijuana.
The most intriguing song on the album
is “No Rest For the Wicked,” a surprising
ly scathing dismissal of gangsta rapper
Ice Cube. In the same vein as famous rap
battles between Kool Moe Dee and LL
Cool J, Eazy E and Dr. Dre and Kid ver
sus Play (joke), B-Real rips into Cube’s
music and movies with a startling
vengeance.
What the group has failed to tap into is
the rhyme skills of Sen Dog. Constantly
playing second fiddle to B-Real, Dog’s
gruff voice is a welcome change of pace to
B-Real’s monotonous drone.
I suppose expecting anything but the
contents of Temples of Boom would be
asking too much from Cypress Hill. The
beats still boom and the songs will still
get any crowd moving.
B-Real and Sen Dog can sit back now
and watch fans eat the album up like a
junkie with the munchies.
The Battalion
It’s always a shame to watch musical
giants fall from their positions of
grandeur.
Of course, it’s easier to make fun of
them when they do ... but I digress.
Michael Jackson will never have anoth
er Thriller. Madonna will never recapture
the nation’s attention as she did with Like
A Virgin. And the artist formerly known
as Prince will never shower the charts as
he did with Purple Rain.
Despite rap’s relatively new status as a
musical force, it is by no means immune
from this tragedy. As recent as last year.
Public Enemy went from rap’s kings to
mere pawns.
And has anyone heard from Kurtis
Blow or Kool Moe Dee lately?
Next up for this dubious honor is LL
Cool J.
“Ladies Love Cool James” was one of
rap’s first heroes with the bravado-boast
ing “Radio” and “I’m Bad.” But even more
impressive was his landmark Mama Said
Knock You Out, complete with a knockout
performance on MTV Unplugged.
Times have changed.
Mr. Smith is a pitiful excuse for an al
bum. It sounds like LL wanted something
to do between takes of his NBC sitcom In
The House, and this was the best he could
do.
It seems the formula created by the
rub-a-dub love of his hit “I Need Love” is
what is on Cool J’s mind. LL is no Barry
White, yet he does his best to convince the
audience that he is Mr. Loverman. Almost
every song is on a mid-tempo vibe, miss
ing the power of “Mama Said Knock You
Out” or the humor of “Jinglin’ Baby” or
“Boomin’ System.”
The bravado is still there, but what
does it matter if it isn’t backed up by any
thing of substance? Trying to be hard (“I
Shot Ya”) and violent (“Life As...”) is diffi
cult when you star on a TV sitcom with
Debbie Allen.
It’s a good thing Cool J has In The
House on television, because he couldn’t
be further from the house when it comes
to rap.
Not since the baggy-ass pants days of
M.C. Hammer has the music industry
been so enthralled with a rapper.
But Coolio’s emergence as rap’s next
spotlight grabber has done more than
create a fascination with gravity-defying
hair. He has become the latest crossover
phenomenon, accessible to both the pop
and rap charts.
With the release of Gangsta’s
Paradise, Coolio provides the reason
why. By combining the west-coast gangs
ta sound with socially responsible lyrics,
he has found the commercial and artistic
balance between Ice Cube and Skee-Lo.
No blood and guts, but no sell out.
The only problem with Gangsta’s Par
adise is that it aims a bit too high. With
Public Enemy essentially gone, Coolio is
attempting to become the conscience of
rap by policing the gangstas and dismiss
ing the popsters.
The album is a blow-by-blow descrip
tion of problems in the ghettos. Begin
ning with the newscast-like “Geto High-
lites,” Coolio then tackles inner-city
hopelessness (“Gangsta’s Paradise”),
AIDS and safe sex (“Too Hot”), alcohol
abuse (“Kinda High, Kinda Drunk”) and
women’s rights (“For My Sistas”).
Admirable intentions indeed, but the
ambitious formula soon becomes obvious
and takes away from the fun of Coolio’s
style. The sheer enjoyment of tracks like
“Fantastic Voyage” and “I Remember”
from Coolio’s debut, It Takes a Thief, seem
to be thrown under the speeding socially-
conscious train of Gangsta’s Paradise.
There are a few flashes of brilliance,
as in the title track and “Bumpin’ New,”
which recalls the early days when hip
hop was primarily party fun. And the
“Papa don’t take no mess” theme of
“Smilin’” is as much of a family lesson as
it is silly.
Gangsta’s Paradise is a definite step
in an important direction for Coolio as he
takes his place among rap’s elite. Let’s
just hope he doesn’t take himself too seri
ously and lose what made him interest
ing in the first place.
Stew Milne, The Battalion
A black band was placed around the Menos "Paperclip" sculpture to
show the devastation caused by AIDS in the art community.
By Rachel Barry
The Ba rralign
B lack cloth covers the stat
ues as the disease has
covered the nation. For
A&M students, today will be a
day without art .
The Day Without Art is a col
laboration of students and cam
pus and community art institu
tions to raise awareness of the
devastation AIDS has caused in
the art community, Sheila Thorn
ton, registrar of the MSC Forsyth
Galleries said.
“This is how the art world par
ticipates in World AIDS Day,” she
said. “The purpose is to realize
how art and its expression
through paint, sculpture, photo,
dance and song have enriched our
lives and consider what the world
would be like without art. Art is a
part of our day to day lives
whether we realize it or not.”
Catherine Hastedt, registrar
and curator of the Stark
Gallery, said sculptures around
campus will either be shrouded
with black cloths or will have
black ribbons tied around them
to catch the attention of stu
dents walking to class.
“The idea is to imagine if
there were no art because of
the losses in the art communi
ty,” she said. “It is a way to
jump start people’s awareness.”
Erin Hilbun, a member of the
planning committee for the Day
Without Art and a junior bio
chemistry major, said she wants
students to pay attention to how
AIDS affects the art community.
“We want to indicate what the
world would be like without art
because of the fact that the artis
tic community has been so hard
hit by the disease,” Hilbun said.
Amy Day, of the MSC Forsyth
Gallery and a graduate business
administration student, said the
MSC Visual Arts Gallery and the
J. Wayne Stark Gallery will be
closed today and will display
posters in the windows with sta
tistics about the disease in Texas.
“We hope it will increase
awareness of the need for people
to educate themselves on how to
prevent AIDS,” she said, “and
also hopefully foster some com
passion for the people who have
been affected by AIDS.”
The MSC Forsyth Gallery will
be open and will display panels
of the AIDS quilt from three
families affected by AIDS in the
Brazos Valley. The panels
memorialize people who have
died of AIDS and are hand-craft-
ed by victims’ families.
“Most people are blatantly un
aware of how bad the situation
with HIV has become,” Hilbun
said. “This is an effort to get peo
ple to stop and think about it.”
Hilbun said the effect AIDS
has had on the artistic and gay
communities has caused them
to react.
Day said the artistic communi
ty has been vocal in its efforts to
prevent the disease.
“It (the artistic community)
has been so deeply affected by the
AIDS crisis,” she said.
“What if there was only one
artist left, and he got AIDS? Then
there would be no art. How would
people feel about that?”
The Center for Disease Control
stated AIDS is the number one
cause of death for Americans be
tween the ages of 25 and 44.
“The people who need to be
concerned are not,” Hilbun said.
“They are the ones who think
they can’t get it.”
Hilbun said the Day Without
Art is a chance to fight AIDS with
the last weapon available.
“The point is basically educa
tion,” she said. “Right now, that is
the only way to deal with it. Right
now, there is no cure for AIDS.
The only way of dealing with the
disease is to prevent it. People
need to be aware.”
The national Day Without Art
is Friday. A&M is observing the
day today so that its significance
is not overshadowed by Bonfire
and Elephant Walk
“We want to make people
think about what it would be like
if the art wasn’t there,” Hilbun
said. “It’s something they are
used to and often take for grant
ed. Hopefully, they’ll stop and
think about why it isn’t there.”
>7
<6
, immiifm,
Class of ‘96 Events
* Beginning Yell at Kyle Field
96 Minutes after Noon
Guest Speaker:
Former Yell Leader Chuck Flinton '76
STEP OFF!! fPP
3135. COLLEGE
End at Bonfire with 15 for Team 846-3343
* Pictures with a Live Elephant
* Party at Hurricane Harry's at 8 p.m.
* Help Feed 96 Families
GENERAL CLASS MEETING
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 30
7:00 RM.
111 KOLDUS
* APPLICATIONS FOR COMMITTEE
CHAIRPERSONS WILL BE AVAILABLE.
>ur
ior