Trouble Funk

Rip It Up, Issue 210, 1 February 1995, Page 14

Trouble Funk

‘The Black Panther’ of rap has been gettin’ busy, but this time round he’s not had nearly as much trouble. In 1992, when Oakland rapper Paris delivered the final cut of the album Sleeping With The Enemy to his record company, he was shown the door. He opened a bigger one himself, by forming the independent record label Scarface, and has just released an incendiary mix of rap, funk and R&B called Guerrilla Funk.

Paris takes aim at black on black violence, police brutality, and comes down hard on

rappers who promote the sale of liquor in black communities. “I rap about negative aspects of America, but I do it in a positive way. I know what effect positive musical messages had on me because I listened to Public Enemy and, to a large extent, I am a direct result of listening to them. My ideologies now, and the social commentaries I promote in my music, are a result of me listening to them. There’s a lot of negativity out there now and that’s why I do things this way. There can never be too much positivity.”

JOHN RUSSELL