REVIEW: 1000 Clowns, Freelance Bubblehead (Capitol)
- Bob Gajarsky
The four members of 1000 Clowns - Los Angeles club DJ Mr. Pao, backup singers and California collegiates Anita and Michelle, and lead freestyle vocalist Kevi - prove to be the antithesis of gangsta rap with their debut happy-go-lucky, De La Soul daisy-era album, Freelance Bubblehead.
The first single "Kitty Kat Max" might initially sound like a nonsensical novelty track about a lost cat ("Looking around all over the town / looking round for my kitty kat max"), but try and get the hook out of your head on a second or third listen. It's impossible...
There's another side to 1000 Clowns, and that one deals with a harsher reality. "Pretty Liar" details Kevi's father's bout with AIDS in a folk-meets-freestyle rap world that's both hauntingly beautiful and painfully emotional.
Possibly the standout track - and one which ought to be played to anyone filled with their own ego - is "(Not The) Greatest Rapper". A plea to Kevi's girlfriend to be his steady without the self-absorbed braggadicio too often present in rap songs, "Rapper" succeeds in showing the kinder, gentler side of 1000 Clowns.
Raised in Philadelphia and honed on rap from Run-D.M.C. to Schooly D, Kevi decided to spurn the trendy gangsta elements in recording Freestyle Bubblehead and stick with what he believed. "I wanted the album to be an amalgamation of all the music that influenced me growing up," he recalls "and rap and hip-hop were definitely in my world." But others tried discouraging him, by saying that "they either found the music too fun or they found me too happy-go-lucky. I was always told, 'If you're gonna use elements of rap, you have to be tough.' Basically, everyone was telling me to not be myself. And all I wanted to do was be myself."
Kevi already has a connection to greater success, albeit indirectly; that's his voice rapping on the Forest for the Trees single, "Dream". And, the man behind Forest for the Trees (Carl Stephenson) is the person who co-wrote Beck's first record and the hit single "Loser".
Let's see if, in 1998, radio can open its arms to a rapper who doesn't promote killing and violence with a softer message. Listeners' ears will be graced with the sounds of 1000 Clowns if they can.
