Hoping to Hook audiences into panto this year will be rapper Vanilla Ice.
Ice, whose real is name Robert Mathew Van Winkle, will be playing Captain Hook in a production of Peter Pan at the Central Theatre, Chatham.
He has had a resurgence in fame in this country after his 1991 hits single, ‘Ice Ice Baby’, since appearing in Dancing on ice this year.
Tony Hill, the theatre’s general manager, said: “Ice is a huge name who I am sure will be a real draw for parents and children alike because of his musical and film career as well as his appearance on Dancing on Ice.”
He added: “(He) has never performed in a pantomime before, but I am sure that he will go down as a hit.”
Ice is no stranger to acting, having starred in his film Cool as Ice in 1991 before playing himself in the movie Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze in the same year.
It doesn’t happen very often, but ‘Give The Drummer Some’ is a solo album by a drummer. This drummer is Travis Barker; known widely for his involvement in various bands including The Aquabats, Blink-182, Box Car Racer, Transplants, +44 and more recently his collaborations with hip-hop artists. He has built up a lot of interest in the hip-hop community for his work on re-mixing tracks that artists wanted “rocked-up”.
This album is heavy on hip-hop with featured artists including RZA, Busta Rhymes, Lil Wayne, Ludacris and Snoop Dogg amongst many others. For the most part the tracks on this album are of a slower tempo so as to show off his skills as one of the most sought after session drummers on the circuit.
The best of these tracks are ‘If U Want To’ featuring Pharrell Williams and Lupe Fiasco for its old school vibe and crazy drum fills, ‘Let’s Go’ with Yelawolf, Busta Rhymes, Game and Lil Jon for its exceptional lyrical turns especially between Busta and Twista who truly are the fastest rappers around and ‘Beat Goes On’ featuring Cypress Hill which has a heavy funk bass line and a hard rock guitar riff harking back to Cypress Hill’s ‘Rock Superstar’.
Punk and rock fans might feel a little let down by an album by a performer best known for his roles in one of the biggest pop punk bands of the late 90’s/early 2000’s. Even the track featuring Transplants and Slash, ‘Saturday Night’, is a slow-paced affair that may as well not have Slash’s name on it. But if you opt for the slightly more expensive deluxe edition you get 4 extra bonus tracks including ‘On My Own’ which is led by Corey Taylor of Slipknot and Stone Sour fame. This is a little more like you would expect from Travis’ past projects; a quick, loud and aggressive song. The final track on this edition is ‘Misfits’ and is a collaboration with electro producer Steve Aoki. It is a blistering techno-hardcore assault on the ears and the most interesting song on the album, reminiscent of Mad Capsule Markets’ genre crossing style.
If you’re looking for material akin to blink-182 wait for the next release from them which is rumoured to come out later this year, Travis didn’t want to have the first Blink song in 8 years on this album. There has been some negative criticism, mainly from “closed minded” people who can’t get over the fact that he has started playing with rappers and in a recent interview he branded these people “Nazi bastards”, which goes to show how much of his love and devotion went into the project.
In short this is a ridiculously well produced album designed to show off the talents of one of the best drummers on the planet right now, but not if you don’t enjoy a bit of hip-hop.
Two prominent musicains have been found dead on both sides of the Atlantic on the same day.
In Surrey, Britain, David Emmanuel, better known to reggae and rap fans as Smiley Culture, died during a police raid on his home just a week before he was supposed to appear before magistrates on charges of conspiracy to supply cocaine. He was found with stab wounds which are speculated to be self-inflicted on Tuesday 15 March. (Ed. Emmanuel died of a single stab wound to the heart, the Idependent Police Complaints Commission is looking into the incident. 17/03/2011)
Smiley Culture was best known for his 1984 singles ‘Cockney Translation’ and ‘Police Officer’ and was a pioneer of the ‘fast chat’ style of Jamaican deejaying. He was 48.
The second was 41 year old Nathan Hale, better known to hip-hop fans as Nate Dogg, in Long Beach, California. It is unclear as yet what caused his death, though frequent collaberator, Warren G, alluded to health problems Nate Dogg suffered a few years back where he had a series of stokes which the rapper was still recieving physiotherapy for. (Ed. Nate’s lawyer, Mark Geragos, confirmed that he died from health complications caused by the strokes. 17/03/2011)
Nate Dogg worked with many estimed names in hip-hop including Snoop Dogg, Eminem, 50 Cent, Ludacris, Dr. Dre, Tupac, RBX and Daz Dillinger, some of whom have posted their respects on various social media outlets.
Ludacris posted on Twitter: “There is a void in Hip Hop’s heart that can never be filled.”
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