The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 81, No. 19, Ed. 1 Friday, February 11, 1994 Page: 11 of 20
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ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
THE RICE THRESHER FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 1994 11
The Product
The inscrutable signs of Hip Hop Hieros
BY KIP FERGUSON
1993 marked the explosive arrival on the Hip
Hop scene of the Oakland-based Hieroglyphics
crew, a collection of young talented lyricists.
When asked what the name "Hieroglyphics"
means, one member of the crew said, "Hiero-
glyphics is a language that's difficult to decipher
and the lyrics that [the crew] kick are definitely
hard to figure out"
Hieroglyphics is comprised of five different
Hip Hop acts and their supporting cast The roll
call goes like this: Souls of Mischief, Del
Thafunkeehomosapien, Casual, Extra Prolific
and Pep Love & J Biz. Del and Souls have albums
out now, Casual's album will drop within the
next month or so, and the other two groups are
working on projects slated for release later this
year.
Del Thafunkeehomosapien
No need for alarm
Del Thafunkeehomosapien became the first
Hiero to release a record when he debuted with
his LP I Wish My Brother George Was Here in
1990. The album was produced by his cou sin Ice
Cube; Del himself had little control over the
project
On his new album , he says, "1 felt hella of
ashamed, having to go on tour and perform
songs I didn't even like."
Nevertheless, the first single,
"Mistadabolina," made some noise on the na-
tional scene and gave Del some national recog-
nition. Del returned with a bang in 1993 with his
new album, No Need for Alarm, and this time
around he made sure to take control of every-
thing from making the beats down to the design
of the album cover.
As soon as the first song comes in, you realize
that Del has a style and a sound that isall his own.
His basslines and drum beats are so thick that
you would think he dug them out of the depths
of some ancient lagoon. This foundation is
VODOO SCRIPTS
complemented by eclectic jazz samples in which
you can hear thecrackling of the old records that
he used. To top it all off, he adds battle lyrics that
are more intricately woven than my mother's
crochet
The hook to his last track, "Thank You's,"
goes "It doesn't phase, 1 amaze, with my phrases,
play this in your jeep, so your neighbors lose
some sleep." His rhymes cover everything from
girls with whom he played in elementary school
who now pretend to be too good for him ("Boo
Boo Heads"), to thanking his mother for sup-
porting him through the rough periods of his
career ("Thank You's").
The choice cuts on the album are "You Had
Your Chance,""Boo Boo Heads," "Wrongplace,"
"In and Out" and "Thank You's." (As you can
see, i basically like the whole thing!) 1 give it
three and a half out of four golden nuts on my
squirrel scale. Whether you didn't like I wish my
Brother George Was Here or you just straight up
slept on it, you should still pick up No Need for
Alarm.
Souls of Mischief
'93 Till Infinity
The Souls of Mischief burstonto the scene in
the summer of 1993 with the hit single ""93 till
Infin ity" from their album of the same name. The
Souls are a group of energetic 18-year olds who
go by the names A-Plus, Opio, Phesto and Tajai
(tie-jay). Tajai was accepted to Stanford to study
education or medicine and Phesto will attend
Berkeley, where hell study architecture. Keep-
ing this in mind, it is easy to see why the Souls'
lyrics always seem to be a cut above.
The Souls specialize in kicking lyrics off the
top of the dome. That is, "freestyling." Tajai
comments, "A written rhyme is one missile, but
the ability to freestyle—that's spraying up sh it!"
Don't let this throw you, however. One listen to
their album, and you immediately know that
their lyrics aren't haphazardly put together like
a 1:56 am. pizza from Domino's.
Phesto rips the second verse of their latest
single "Never No More" with the line "Men get
spindled, swivelled, pivoted by my riveting cen-
trifuge rhymes, dwindelling crews, bringing a
fist to bruise." Just reading it makes you wonder
how in the world he put that thing to music.
My favorites on the album are "Live and Let
Live," "Never No More," ""93 till Infinity," "Any-
thing Can Happen" and Tell Me Who Profits."
(Once again its hard to find a wack track.) The
album gets eight full 40s and one half bottle of
Mad Dog out of a possible ten full 40s on my
gangsta scale.
Casual
Fear Itself
Casual is a 6-3 lyrical giant whose debut
album Fear Itself on Jive Records should be
hitting the stands in the very near future. Ill be
sure to give you the "bare facts" review when I
can get my hands on it
For now, you can catch Casual on the re-
cently released first single from that album, "1
Didn't Mean To" or on one of his guest appear-
ances on tracks with Kurious or Souls of Mis-
chief.
The single "I didn't mean to" is an innocent
song we can all relate to about doing extracur-
ricular activities with someone else's girlfriend.
The chorus consoles the poor chump who got
cheated on with the line, "It ain't my fault that
your girl got caught I didn't mean to." While
Casual's lyrics may be a little easier to follow
than the acrobatics of the Souls, his rhymes will
still blow your mind. "I didn't mean to" gets a
perfect four out of four Heimlich maneuvers on
my Super Bowl Choke scale.
The Hieroglyphics have a little something
for everyone while burying the perception that
Oakland is strictly for players like Ant Banks and
Too Short (Nuff Respect!) The various groups
making up the gang each have their own indi-
vidual styles and they all come correct Be true
to Hip Hop. Don't sleep on the Hieros.
He was careless: another lost Welles movie
BY KYLE HENRY
Orson Welles: genius, enfant terrible,
wunderkind, Father of American Cinema, God!
It is hard to control the mind of any true film buff
from reeling when one mentions his name. Each
one of his films conjure up indelible and baroque
images of pure cinematic pleasure: Citizen Kane
(1940), The Magnificent Ambersons (1941), Ixidy
from Shanghai (1948), and Touch of Evil (1958),
just to name a few.
This weekend, the Rice Media Center pre-
mieres one of his early films, It's All True (1942).
Yes, premieres! The film's negative was lost by
RKO Studios in the early forties after they dis-
owned Welles in 1941. Apparently, audiences
thought thatThe Magnificent Am bersons was too
morose at test screenings, prompting the studio
to butcher forty-five minutes out of the film and
slap on a happy ending.
When the film still bombed at the box office,
RKO blamed Welles, cut off funding to It's All
True in mid-production and literally threw Welles'
Mercury Production company off the studio lot
This only goes to prove that Hollywood has
always been a pack of blood suciung, weak
willed, money hungry leaches! Lucky for us, the
film stock for It's All True was recently found.
Originally planned as a documentary tracing
the roots of samba, It's All True evolved into a
three part omnibus spotlighting a docu-musical
episode on Carnaval in Rio, a Robert Flaherty
short story, "My Friend Bonito," and the true
story offourfishermen who sailed the 1,650-mile
coast of Brazil without navigational instruments
to make a political statement about workers
rights. Richard Wilson, Welles' associate pro-
ducer, reconstructed both the Carnaval and the
fishermen sequences from the recovered foot-
age, which, along with a short documentary
introduction, comprise the film.
One of the funniest moments of It's AU True
occurs in thebeginning as Welles describes a
prickly encounter with a Brazilian witch doctor
moments before the film was canceled.
He flashes a crude sketch of & native Brazil-
ian: "This is a voodoo witch doctor. i ran into him
down in Brazil... i had planned to film him in a
voodoo ceremony, but the president of the film
studio had been replaced, and the film was off.
That sort of thing happens not only in South
American governments, but also in Hollywood
studios. But (the witch doctor) said, *We have
Orson Welles steps off the plane in Brazil.
spent money on new costumes.' Well, 1 left him,
and when I came back to the office I discovered
a long steel needle had been inserted entirely
through the script. This was the mark of
voodoo...and the end of the film."
For several years now, film historians have
debated whether or not the genius displayed in
Citizen Kane was really Welles or that of his
cinematographer, Gregg Toland. It's All True
squarely lays that debate to rest, I think. Using
an out-of-work Austrian cinematographer, Welles
crafts beautiful images that rival Eisenstein in
their compositional beauty. There are shots in
this movie that will literally make your jaw drop!
The stark crosses outlined against the sky, the
low-angle portraits of weathered villages, the
high-angle-from-the-heavens shots of the fisher-
men marching through ElSalvadon pure Welles!
Although slow in parts. It's All True holds the
viewer spellbound for most of its 90 minutes. I
wonder howWelles'would havedicedand sliced
the film together himself? It probably would
have been a lot more rip roaring, but we must be
satisfied with what has been left behind. This is
a definite must-see for any film nut and an inter-
esting novelty for the uninitiated.
0* Masterpieces, a play
J-l- about the Bronte
^ " ' familly, play* tonight
at 8 in Hamman Hail. See article,
p. 10.
Death Trap, Lovett Commons, 8
p.m. Call 630-8507 for reservations.
See article, p. 14.
It's All True, directed by Orson Welles,
was proclaimed a disaster by his studio,
lost, and retrieved from a California
vault only a month before he died. The.
spectacular footage of the movie, filmed
in Brazil, premieres in Houston at Rice
Media Center, 7:30 and 9:30 p.m.
Admission is $5.
Shepherd School Symphony, with
beloved conductor Larry Rachleff,
perform at 8 p.m. in Stude Concert Hall;
admission Is free. See article, p. 13.
4^ Baker Jazz Night features We
Are That, with members Eddy
S A T Hobizal, Nick Walker, Keith
Kamaky and MikeTittlebaum. At Baker
College from 8 p.m. to midnight.
Admission is free.
Masterpieces, Hamman Halt, 8 p.m.
Death Trap, Lovett Commons, 8 p.m.
It's All True. Media Center, 7:30 and
9:30 p.m.
4^ Biographical Indian and
â– '*<iP Palestinian Videos, a
SUN groundbreaking collection
exploring themes of exile, memory,
history and gender, plays at Rice Media
Center at 7:30. Admission is $5.
Shepherd School Chamber Orchestra
and the remains of an exhausted (but
still well-beloved) Larry Rachleff perform
at 8 p.m. in Stude Concert Hail;
admission is free. See article, p.13.
An evening of chamber music
in Duncan Recital Hall
features Shepherd School
faculty Kathleen Winkler, Wayne Brooks,
Desmond Hoebig and Tim Pitts in
sensitive and compelling performances
of three modem works. The concert
begins at 8 p.m.; admission is free.
t u e
±8
WED
A game of Sexual Jeopardy,
free condoms and other
games and prizes can be found
at the Coffeehouse at 9:30 in honor of
AIDS Awareness Week. The ranks of
coffee addicts everywhere welcome you
to their number.
^| mmm Adrienne Starr (Shepherd
â– School) sings at the
T H U R Coffeehouse, accompanied
by Anissa Carbajal-Diaz on acoustic
guitar. Do your homework to melodious
strains, beginning around 10 p.m.
Ex-Lady; starring Bette Davis in her first
major role, portrays her souring marriage
with Gene Raymond. The film, including
boudoir scenes that made censors
steam, plays at Rice Media Center at
7:30. Admission Is $4.25.
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Howley, Peter & Epperson, Kraettli. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 81, No. 19, Ed. 1 Friday, February 11, 1994, newspaper, February 11, 1994; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth245923/m1/11/?q=%22%22~1: accessed June 27, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.