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Pop: Hot Ticket
By GINA VIVINETTO, Times Pop Music Critic
© St. Petersburg Times
published November 14, 2002
Getting to the root of Southern rap
[Photo: Atlantic Records]
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Sure, Nappy Roots rap about food, as evidenced on Watermelon, Chicken & Gritz, the Kentucky hip-hop act's promising debut, but that's not all these six Nappy rappers have on their minds. The group celebrates rap's Dirty South aesthetic of keeping it real and rhyming about ordinary life.
That means tunes about being broke -- Po' Folks -- and having a good time. Life's a Risk warns against joining street thuggery and the gangsta scene. On Peanuts, the Nappy guys discuss the craziness of growing up in the South.
The group is also responsible for one of the year's catchiest singles, Awnaw, which deftly blends countrified banjos and harmonicas with slick urban beats. It's the best of both worlds, y'all.
Nappy Roots performs at 8 p.m. Sunday at the USF Special Events Center, 4202 E Fowler Ave., Tampa. $14.45. (813) 287-8844 or (727) 898-2100.
-- GINA VIVINETTO, Times pop music critic
A 10-gallon talent
Country rock guitarist Junior Brown delivers hard-core honky tonk with humor. Years ago, Brown, 50, created an instrument called a "guit-steel," a combination six-string and pedal-steel guitar that he conjured up in a dream.
The quirky Brown intrigues fans and critics alike with nutty compositions such as My Wife Thinks You're Dead and Venom Wearin' Denim, but it's his fiery guitar licks -- think Jimi Hendrix meets Ernest Tubb -- that most impress. The licks, and those fancy, tailored suits.
Junior Brown performs at 8 tonight at Jannus Landing, 16 Second St. N, St. Petersburg. $20. (727) 896-2276.
-- GINA VIVINETTO, Times pop music critic
Gato is back, saxophone in hand
Gato Barbieri's brand of jazz has a distinctive Latin flavor. The Argentina-born saxophonist can play a mean, almost screaming tenor, but Barbieri more often goes a less experimental route, incorporating sensuous South American melodies and beats that appeal to the mainstream as well.
Barbieri gained a huge audience in the early 1970s when he scored the sexy flick Last Tango In Paris. (Later, he contributed music to Miami Vice.) The star lay low during most of the 1990s after triple bypass surgery and the death of his wife and musical confidante, Michelle.
Now performing again, Barbieri still specializes in steamy Latin jazz, perfect for lovers, as evidenced on I Want You, his classic take on Marvin Gaye's make-out tune.
Gato Barbieri performs at 8 p.m. Friday at Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center, 1010 N W.C. MacInnes Place, Tampa. $36.25. (813) 229-7827.
-- GINA VIVINETTO, Times pop music critic
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