Gasoline Alley/MCA recording artists Shai were in New Orleans for the Bayou Classic weekend. They performed during halftime of the football game between Grambling and Southern universities. The group’s single “If I Ever Fall in Love” went to No. 1 on the Radio & Records chart and No. 2 on Billboard‘s Hot 100 singles chart. Shai’s debut LP, If I Ever Fall in Love, was released in late December. Other artists who were in town to take part in Bayou Classic festivities were Lo-Key, Jade, Milira, Glenn Jones, Too Short, Luke Campbell and Scarface.
Tickets are on sale now for Bobby Brown’s “Get Away” tour (sponsored by Budweiser), which arrives at the Kiefer UNO Lakefront Arena on Monday, January 18. Brown is bringing along some of the hottest names in reggae, rap, hip-hop and R&B as opening acts: Shabba Ranks, Mary J. Blige and TLC. Tickets are available at the arena box office and all Ticketmaster outlets.
Rapper Queen Latifah has formed her own independent record label, Flavor Unit Records. The label’s first single, “Roll wit tha Flava,” will be released February 9. The cut, produced by D-Nice, features D-Nice, Heavy D, Naughty by Nature, Black Sheep, Fu-Schnickens and Freddie Foxx. Flavor Unit has named Charm Warren-Celestine president of the label. Celestine previously worked for Tommy Boy Records as Director of Black Music Promotions. While at Tommy Boy, she played a major role in the development of artists like Queen Latifah, Naughty by Nature, House of Pain, De La Soul and Digital Underground. Watch for big things to happen with Flavor Unit Records in ’93.
In her controversial single “Eat the Cat,” 19-year-old rapper Ju’C (Cicely Crawford) says she’s getting even with male rappers. “You get tired of hearing guys mess over girls,” says Crawford, referring to rap records that demean females. When Crawford was approached by the president of Ready-or-Not Records, Aubrey Francis, to produce a rap record, she jumped at the opportunity. The single “Eat the Cat” was released in October with both clean and explicit versions. Since then Ju’C’s been performing throughout Louisiana, and she’s currently planning a promotional tour of Texas. “She’s the female version of Luke Campbell,” says Darrel Honore, Promotions Manager for Ready-or-Not Records. “She’s controversial and provocative.” Ju’C is working on material for her debut LP, scheduled for release in February.
Black Menace is in the studio finishing its first LP, A Warning to Amerikka, to be released this month. The LP includes cuts “Paradice,” “Ban Tis” and “Live on the Front Porch” featuring local rappers. Black Menace released their first EP earlier this year on Hollygrove Records. They later signed with Prime Suspect Productions and released a remix radio version of “Going Off.” Black Menace is JMC (Ronald Jones, Jr.), The Threat (Wilson Williams) and DJ Jaz (Edward Woods). They got together in 1989 after competing against each other at a gong show. When they started performing as a group, they won first place in the gong show for the next few months. They shopped around for investors to back their first project and hooked up with DJ Precise (Leroy Edwards), who produced the beats for the EP. Besides promoting their own project, the members of Black Menace are working with other rappers and plan to start their own production company.
B.B. Davis (aka The Boogerman) always dreamed of being a singer and signing a record deal with a national record company. Not in his wildest dreams, though, did he ever imagine that he would come by his first record contract as a result of an off-the-wall, novelty song he calls “The Boogerman Jam.” It started out as a joke during a radio station promotion. Davis (a former deejay at Q93-FM) and his co-worker Davey D. were goofing off in the production room when they recorded “Boogerman Blues,” a novelty blues song about a crude, fictional character called the Boogerman. Several months later they revised the song, adding new lyrics over a hip-hop beat. “The Boogerman Jam” got airplay and started getting requests at radio and record stores. Excited about the interest in the song, Davis went to the studio and produced “The Boogerman Jam,” this time with an original instrumental track.
While in town for the National Association of Broadcasters Convention, Sean Ross, A&R Manager for Profile Records, heard the record on the radio. When he returned to New York, he contacted Davis, and they negotiated a deal. On December 7, Profile released “The Boogerman Jam” and “The Boogerman Christmas Jam” nationally. It’s already getting airplay on stations in Philadelphia, Columbus, Tampa, Orlando, Tucson, and Phoenix.
DJ Rob Fresh (Robert Marsalis), who can be heard on WYLD-FM Friday and Saturday nights mixing other groups’ music, is again making music of his own. Marsalis teamed up with Sugar Ray (Rene Douglas), D. Love (Derrick Adams) and 8th Ward Nard (Raynard Jones) to form Fullee Loadead. The group released its debut EP on B-Head Records in November. The EP has six cuts, including “Another Day at Work,” “Whiff of the Spliff” and “Matter of Life.” Marsalis and Douglas recorded the tracks for the EP in California and returned to New Orleans to finish the project. Cassettes, 12-inch singles and CDs are available at local record stores. Marsalis says the group is planning to distribute the EP in Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas.
