Vanessa Williams has ‘the right stuff’
By Kelly Anders
Staff Reporter
Vanessa Williams
The Right Stuff
Polygram Records
Once a beauty queen, now a
Grammy nominee, Vanessa Wil
liams has made quite an interesting
and successful transition.
—
Her debut album, “The Right
Stuff,” is not the work of someone
who’s merely toying with the notion
of becoming a recording star. It’s the
w ork of an artist
The album starts with the title
track, ‘The Right Stuff.’’ The song,
sporting a funky James Brown
sounding beginning, has a catchy and
danceablc bcaL
Throughout the song Williams
warns would-be suitors not to bother
to try to win her affection unless
they ’ve got the “right stuff” (what
ever that is).
This same song was nominated
for a Grammy award for Best r
Rhythm and Blues Song by a i
F emale ArtisL
Up against Pebbles’ “Girl
friend,” Anita Baker’s “Giving You
the Best That I Got,” Taylor Dayne’s
I'll Always Love You" and Karyn
White’s “The Way You Love Me,”
Williams’ chances of winning are
questionable.
All of the songs nominated are
good, but they vary so much in style
that it’s hard to judge them against
each other.
Because of their differences, it’s
almost unfair to put them all together
and decide which one’s best. It’s like
putting Branford Marsalis, Luther
\ an dross and L.L. Cool J in the same
category and choosing a winner from
those three very differently styled art
ists. They just don’t mix. To
speculate who will win is ridiculous.
Let s just say that under these
circumstances Williams has as much
of a chance to win as anyone else. It’s
truly ^ a subjective thing because
there's no way to compare them.
Other tunes on the album are as
good as, if not better than, the title
track. Included are “Dreamin’,”
“(He’s Got) The Look,” “Am I Too
Much?,” and “Security.”
Dreamin,” a song about a
woman’s wonderful thoughts about
the man she loves, has a soft and
flowing feel to it - like a dream. This
song displays Williams’ talent better
than any other cut on the album. High
and low notes are hit with apparent
ease.
The flirtatious quality of the re
cently released “(He’s Got) The
Look” is contradicted by Williams’
low, mature-sounding voice.
But unlike many Madonna wanna -
be’s on the market now that chirp and
whine their lyrics like spoiled little
girls, Williams sings like a woman.
“(He’s Got) the Look,” could
have been sung with higher notes, but
the low notes make it a little different.
They make one take the lyrics and the
chanteuse more seriously.
“Am I Too Much?,” another fast
track on the album, is a really sexy
r
song. Its daring lyrics are about a
woman who’s extremely sure of her
attributes asking her man if he can
handle her.
“Can you take the heat, boy? I
wanna know...are you just a weak
boy?” Williams purrs.
“Security,” a mid-tempo song,
has a beat that’s relaxing. Although
it’s nothing new or innovative, it’s so
well-done and pleasant to listen to
that it’s well worth mentioning.
Whether Williams wins a
Grammy for her efforts this time isn’t
important. Provided she sings like
she does on this album, there’ll be
more nominations and eventual vic
tories. She does indeed have the right
stuff.
/THE GRAHW GOAPvb \
m i ill n 11 mi m
Tammy Taylor/Oaliy Nebraskan
‘Innovative rap’ tape to
help homeless’ plight
HDEF from Page 6
samples (electronically reproduced
sounds from a keyboard).
Richard Conradl writes the music
for the band. Conradl is an 1985
graduate of the University of Nc
braska-Lincoln with a bachelor’s dc
gree in psychology. He is also a for
mer captain of die Nebraska swim
team.
Vince McKinney, “Juice,” pro
duces the cash beats, or drum beats.
He attends the University of Western
Illinois on a football scholarship.
Klassy K said Juice works with the
band when he is back in Lincoln for
vacation.
“We work pretty hard when he’s
back,” he said.
Conradt said the band first got
together about a year ago. He said a
mutual friend introduced him and
Romeo to Klassy K and they started
jamming together.
“They just had drum beats and
scratches and I wrote the music to
what they had.” he said.
Conradt described their music as
innovative rap.
“We’re aggressive. We’re hap
pening. We’re the difference bc
See IIDEF on 8
■ —
Courtesy of II Osf.
From left: Richard Conradt, Vince McKinney, Grant
Kauffman, Donnell Jones of il Def.
Warning can alert parents
CENSORSHIP from Page 6
there’s no warning."
There are a number of reasons a
warning might be included on a rec
ord, but most of them relate to sex and
bad language.
“Mostly, it’s language - they use
the F-word’ a lot. The rap stuff is
mostly sexual, while the hard rock
and heavy metal tends to be objec
tionable because of language, ’
Gilbertson said.
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