THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, June 10, 1995 TAG: 9506090151
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY RICKEY WRIGHT, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 54 lines
``THAT CUT FOR the radio'' is the how Rappin' 4-Tay's describes his hit ``I'll Be Around'' on his major-label debut album, ``Don't Fight the Feelin'.''
The radio, in fact, is just made for 4-Tay's update of the Spinners' 1972 classic. The San Francisco-based rapper will further consolidate his hold on the mainstream with an appearance at tonight's Super Jamz '95, an outdoor concert presented by WOWI-FM (``103 JAMZ'') at Little Creek Amphibious Base.
Rappin' 4-Tay, born Anthony Forte, gives manager Franky J credit for ``I'll Be Around.''
``He presented the old-school track to me,'' 4-Tay said in a phone interview earlier this week during a break in a Frisco recording session. ``I was going through some ups and downs in my life, and he said, `Here's an old-school track; what are you gonna do with it, what kind of lyrics can you lay on it? Think about what you owe yourself, your fans and your family.' ''
The result is a clear-eyed, positive message about education and strength from a rapper whose more gangsta-oriented tunes (``Keep One in the Chamba'') are based on his life as a former prison inmate.
``I like to keep messages in my music,'' he said, ``so that when I'm talking about being on the streets, explicit lyrics and all that, people will judge me on everything, my diversity.''
He also sees the song as an affirmation of rap and his place in it.
``Our character is assassinated by the way we live,'' 4-Tay said of attacks on hip-hop. ``There's AC/DC concerts, country concerts, jazz concerts. There's drama in every kind of concert, but they focus on us.''
In addition to 4-Tay, Jamz '95 will feature Blackstreet, Naughty by Nature, Adina Howard and other staples of its sponsor's programming. The station, long No. 1 in the Hampton Roads radio market, trumpets ``20,000 hyped fans'' as a potential audience for the gig, which will benefit the fund for Norfolk's Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial. ILLUSTRATION: Super Jamz '95
Who: Rappin 4'Tay, Rottin Razkals, Naughty By Nature, Soul For
Real, Changing Faces, Lords of the Underground, Patra, Blackstreet,
Super Cat, H-Town, Nine, Adina Howard and Vicious.
Where: outside at Little Creek Amphibious Base, Norfolk.
When: 7:45 tonight
Tickets: $10. To order, call 671-8100.
Blackstreet
On stage tonight at Super Jamz '95
by CNB