Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, April 16, 1990 TAG: 9004160019
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: E-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MELINDA J. PAYNE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Can you read that?
Probably not.
Try attending a concert where the lyrics coming from the performers' mouths are as easy to translate.
And add to that a sound system that made the music sound as if it were being piped in from the ocean floor.
That's how it was for many who attended the Easter Rap-A-Thon at the Roanoke Civic Center Saturday, starring rap king Big Daddy Kane.
MC Lyte and Queen Latifah - two of rap's rising female stars - and Digital Underground and 3rd Bass shared the spotlight - briefly.
Their time on stage was no more than 10 minutes.
None of the groups, except MC Lyte and the Big Daddy, performed more than two songs. It probably was good that the concert started more than 45 minutes late and that there was more than a 20-minute lull between most acts.
Anyone over the age of 18 at the concert, which there weren't many of, had to feel old and out-of-touch with music of today, if that is indeed what rap is. (Some music critics are debating that subject.)
Queen Latifah, 3rd Base, MC Lyte and Digital Underground were not what the crowd was waiting for. It was the Big Daddy Kane they all wanted to see and, uh, maybe hear.
Brooklyn-born Kane performed his hit single "I Get the Job Done," from his album "It's A Big Daddy Thing."
That brought a roaring reaction. Now that one wasn't bad.
Nearly 5,000 people attended the concert, said Mark Collins, civic center assistant manager. And only 600 tickets were sold at the door, a low number for walk-up sales, he said.
The audience was dominated by teen-agers - boys with box-cut hair and girls with crimped peak hairstyles - the medium age around 15.
For those not in touch with the latest trends in hair designs, a box cut most closely resembles soon-to-be-former University of Virginia basketball coach Terry Holland's hair, if it were about 3-inches higher.
What was unusual about the group is that everywhere, dozens of the teens seemed to be wearing the same outfit. It had to be planned; they all seemed to know each other.
"What'd he say," this reviewer had to repeatedly ask her 13-year-old nephew during the performances.
"Oh," I said, after the translation, trying not to look embarrassed or dumb.
And the lyrics got worse as did the dancing.
Two on-stage dancers referred to by some rappers as The Posse, thrust their pelvises toward the audience, a lot. The teen-age girls screamed with excitement.
by CNB