Black Sheep: A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing

The Black Sheep in the Native Tongues tribe? Hmmm, I guess. As the Jungle Brothers turned on the suck machine, these guys stepped into the limelight with their club and white-guy fraternity hit, “The Choice is Yours (Revisited).” Every song is some sort of gimmick, filled with phrases that they are trying to coin. My favorite is the exclamation “Van Damme!” (as in Jean-Claude) that they use throughout the album. These guys paint themselves as good-time brothas who are neither into the gangsta thing, or the uplifting black power movement. Unabashedly egotistical, their songs are filled with bragging, but most of it is tongue in cheek. One of my favorite tracks on the album, “Gimme The Finga,” is about everyone wanting to tell them to fuck off because they are so cool and do whatever the hell they want. These guys fell off the face of the earth after this energetic and entertaining debut faded. It’s a shame, really, as I really needed another big-dancing, runningman anthem like “you could get with this–or you could get with that!”