Jlortlanh (Oh se ruer
March 28, 2001
Focus
Page 3
112’s New Record Reveals Their Musical Maturity
G row ing up is hard to do, espe
cially w hen y o u ’re a m em ber o f a
platinum -selling R& B quartet. For
one, y o u ’re faced w ith the arduous
task o f trying to assert your indi
viduality while maintaining your role
as a team player. For another, the
developm ent o f groups like N ew
K ids on the B lock and N ew Edition
have dem onstrated that it’s not easy
for horm onal, young crooners to be
taken sincerely once th ey ’ve m a
tured into grow n men. Fortunately,
w ith the release o f their third album,
Part III, the young m en o f 112 -
D aron, Slim, Q and M ike - have
successfully m aneuvered this som e
tim es troublesom e sonic leap, and
i n
Show & Sell
Friday, April 6 &
Saturday, April 7
April 6 and 7 w ill m ark the elev
enth year that B uckm an A rts M ag
net E lem entary School and da Vinci
M iddle School have celebrated the
A rt Show and Sell. A nyone wanting
to check out the latest art in the
region is invited to attend. This is a
show o f o ver one hundred distin
guished, professional artists from
the community. Call Emily Crawford
at 503/636-8319 orT ia Regan at 503/
287-3223.
Riding Into the 21st
Century
Friday, April 6 -
Sunday, April 8
O regon E questrian T rails (O ET)
fo r the six th y e a r is sp o n so rin g
the R e c re a tio n a l H o rsem an sh ip
C lin ic , w ith the th em e o f “ R iding
into th e 2 1 " C e n tu ry .” T he clin ic
w ill be on A pril 7 and 8, beginning
at 9 a.m . at the C lac k am a s C ounty
F airg ro u n d s in C an b y , O regon.
T his y ea r, th e c lin ic w ill focus on
issues th a t are c o n fro n tin g and
co n c ern in g h o rsem a n and g o v
ern m en t ag e n cies. T he ev e n t is
FREE for all. C all 503/658-7185 or
503/637-3878.
crafted their m ost ambitious, reveal
ing and sensual album to date. But
in order to fully appreciate 112’s
rem arkable artistic m aturation, you
m ust first understand the evolution
o f their distinguished sound.
Daron, Slim, Q and Mike met while
attending high school in their na
tive A tlanta, G eorgia. U nited by a
shared love o f gospel, soul and hip-
hop, the guys form ed an R&B quar
tet and honed their harmonizing skills
and dazzling showmanship while per
forming at talent shows and local
churches. It d idn’t take long for the
then 16 year-olds to attract the atten
tion o f the Courtney Sills and Kevin
Walles management team, which in
troduced the group to Bad Boy
E n te rta in m e n t C E O S ean
“ P u ffy ” C o m b s. P u ffy
swiftly signed the foursome
to his label and renamed the
group 112, the nam e o f the
p o p u lar club in A tlanta
where he met them.
Now, with the release o f
Part III, 112 emerges as a
fully matured ensemble ofpas-
sionate young men in their early
twenties w hose personal and
musical growth is compel-
ingly translated in their rip
ened self-penned lyrics and sophis
ticated production. Take, forinstance,
the sizzling first single, “ It’s O ver
N o w ,” an infectious m id-tem po
groove about confronting a cheating
lover. Produced by Daron, the single
contains a sam ple o f the sam e rub
bery bass line that anchored G rand
m aster Flash and the Furious F ive’s
classic “W hite Lines,” as well as
M obb D eep’s thugged-out smash
“Q uiet Storm.” By contrast, “I’m Still
in Love,” w hich was also produced
by Daron, is a touching, piano-driven
pow er ballad about forgiveness and
enduring, unconditional love. A n
other standout is “Player,” a bluesy,
pro-bachelor, mid-tem po num ber in
w hich Daron unleashes soulful, 70s-
era grit: “ I’m a player/ A nd I’ve trav
eled all around the world/1 ’ ve broken
m any hearts/ And it really hurts m e to
say this to you, girl/ But I’m a player/
And it’s kind o f sad that it has to be
this w ay/ But I d o n ’t w anna lock you
down until I ’m ready .’’Then his group
members join him in thechorus“ . . .But
when I do get ready to settle dow n/
The first one I ’m calling is y o u ..
D espite the sharply contrasting
personalities o f the individual m em
bers o f 112, one th in g ’s for certain
altogether, they sure can sing somi
love songs! “W e ’ re not one o f those
R& B groups w ith one cat singing
lead, one back-up cat, and a couple
other cats who c a n ’t sing and are
ju st there to look good,” says M ike.
kmhd
“ W e all sing lead, w e all look good,
w e ’re dancing, ourshow m anship is
tight, and w e still give our praise to
G od at the end o f the day. ' ’ A m en to
that!
for the love of jazz
89.1