Contributing Reviewer
When people say that 1996 was a dismal year for hiphop, I don't know what they're talking about. Gangsta rap may have fallen off, but the East Coast represented with hype tracks from De La Soul, Tribe Called Quest, Busta Rhymes, Nas, the Fugees, Foxy Brown and the Roots (to name but a few).
This year is off to a similarly auspicious beginning with Camp Lo's Uptown Saturday Night. Heads got a taste of Geechie Suede and Sonny Cheeba on the The Great White Hype soundtrack and the December release "Luchini a.k.a. This Is It," but this LP with the old school dance parTAY liner notes cover takes their smoove groove to the next level.
The album's vibe is transplanted from the luscious 70s zeitgeist that our parents try to forget and that one uncle you know still lives in. Call it the "sweetback aesthetic:" wiiide collars, big shades, phat sideburns and bright horns. Resting heavily in a Blacksploitation/Chinese karate flick ("I be kickin' like Bruce Lee's Chinese Connection") motif, these Bronx b-boys blend a new jack swing and a Richard Roundtree righteousness to synthesize a convincing product.
All their flow is not solo. Trugoy the Dove, of De La Soul, brings that group's sound (heard most recently on Stakes Is High) to "B-side to Hollywood," and Ish (the artist formely known as Butterfly), reminds you of that high school high when he rocked with Digable Planets on the sparse, percussive "Swing." Jungle Brown, Bones and Karachi R.A.W. also signify on guest spots.
But with samples from the Stylistics, Dynasty and Curtis Mayfield, Camp Lo stands on their own quite a-ight. My favorite tracks were immediately the vibes- and conga-laced "Sparkle," the hypnotic "Black Connection", and the "get fly" anthem, "Black Nostaljack a.k.a. Come On." This album finds the industry-standard tales of urban intrigue turned on their heads; while Nas is "in the jeep, sunk in the seat/ tinted, with heat;/ beats bumpin'" and waiting to smoke a dude who owes him money, Camp Lo chill in a permanent state of perpetual escape from "stonin'/robbin'/...heistin' merchandise and gunnin'" as they all the while utter those unforgettable lines, "the Sonny Cheeba he be sippin' Amared-do/ the Geechie Gracious he be sippin' Amared-do."
Yo, this is the steelo that your Pops used to get with Moms back in the day. I've seen sistas get geeked over Geechie Suede's perfect teeth in the "Luchini" video. If anyone notices fellas walking around campus with a toothpick in their mouth, trying to slide -- you know where they got the idea from.
Put it in your changer with: the Roots, the Fugees, De la Soul, any Blackploitation CDs you might have.