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Album Review
by SashaS
17-11-2001
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| Bubba Sparxxx |
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Bubba Sparxxx: 'Dark Days, Bright Nights'
(Beat Club/Interscope/Universal)
Bubba Sparxxx spreads deep American South whitey-rap that is not cloning Eminem
Radio stations have ‘Ugly’ enough times that is bound to chart in the UK’s Top-10. It is an infectious rap from Bubba Sparxxx; it contains a poppy hook, a funky beat and lyrics that keep your attention tuned in. And, as on most of he album, ‘Dark Days, Bright Nights’, there is some sort of jollity about it all. If you are not aware, it might be a small surprise that this is a white boy from the backwoods of Georgia making a rap album but after Eminem set the standard for ‘white-hood’…
Bubba Sparxxx is a 220lb (okay, 100 kilos – don’t prosecute, please!) former High School Football star from the heart of the rural south has dropped off one of the biggest hip-hop bombs of the year. The album features six songs produced by Timbaland (Missy ‘Misdemeanor’ Elliott, Jay-Z, Nas, Ludacris, Snoop Dogg), also the owner of Beat Club Records and this is the label’s first release. Bubba produced the album on his own which then came to the attention of Interscope chief Jimmy lovine who played it to Timbaland, at the time concluding a deal on the legendary producer’s new Beat Club label.
Timbaland produced ‘Ugly’, an up-tempo corker with a rough edge and a Middle Eastern-type feel. The track represents the New South, as Sparxxx calls it. It is the vision of the Sparxxx’s world, painting a vivid picture of the rural south from the perspective of a white boy who grew up knowing poverty first hand. Throughout the album, Sparxxx demands respect for the south, especially the rural areas, and his music represents its clash of ideals and attitudes with urbanity. There are noises you can hear from a porch as well as aeroplanes.
Sparxxx was born Warren Anderson Mathis in LaGrange, Ga., 65 miles southwest of Atlanta, on March 6, 1977. The youngest of Jimmy and June Mathis’s five children, he was the only child who wasn’t from a previous marriage. Music wasn’t a big part of his life until 1988. “My closest neighbour was between a half mile and a mile away - he was a black kid and that was actually my first exposure to rap. His cousin was sending him mix tapes from New York.” The tapes contained material by 2 Live Crew, Run-DMC, the Fat Boys, NWA, Too Short and Eazy-E…
‘Dark Days, Bright Nights’ is full of great tunes that lyrically range from obscene to deep emotional cuts, crossing over so many genres, mixing some unusual elements and instruments… There are pure R’n’B tracks but it remains stubbornly independent of expression. Sparxxx described its overall style as “Southern hip-hop, with an emphasis on hip-hop, and a Rock’n’Roll edge.”
Bubba is the next music star to emerge from Athens, Ga., his home of the past six years, and he really sparxxx.
8.9/10
SashaS
17-11-2001
Bubba Sparxxx’s album ’Dark Days, Bright Nights’ is re-launched on 19 November 2001 on Beat Club/Interscope
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