The Frontline – RIP
From 2007 Album: “Lock & Left”….. Frontline Myspace: www.myspace.com Get the music: www.amazon.com & itunes.apple.com The Frontline, commonly known as Frontline, is a rap duo from Richmond, California consisting of Left and Locksmith, also known as Lock. The group is associated with West Coast hip hop music. Despite gaining popularity around the time of the Bay Area hyphy movement, they are not associated as hyphy artists. Their lyrics are more socially conscious than most Bay Area rappers. One of the issues that has been brought up in multiple songs is being positive role models for youths. While they are not opposed to gangster rap and rapping about previous transgressions, Lock and Left don’t consistently make records about violence. Although, one of the tracks on their current album involves guns and violence. Their hometown, Richmond, CA has one of the top homicide rates not only in CA, but in the United States. Neither rapper smokes or drinks alcohol, nor glorifies it in their songs. While promoting their second album, “Lock & Left,” on Bay Area radio station 106.1 KMEL, they discussed the downside to drugs and alcohol abuse. Much of their work has been produced by EA-SKI, who also does not consume drugs or alcohol. Lock and Left are both UC Berkeley Graduates (LEFT is currently earning a PhD in African Diaspora Studies). Their dedication to youth and education is also reflected in their after-school mentoring and tutoring programs they have set up in the city of …
Video Rating: 4 / 5
Cliff ‘Em All is a compilation of video footage released as a tribute to Metallica’s late bassist Cliff Burton. Burton was killed in a tour bus accident on September 27, 1986, near Ljungby, Sweden during the European leg of their Master of Puppets tour. The homevideo contains also a performance with Dave Mustaine on March 19, 1983, shortly before his release for heavy drugs and alcohol abuse. The video is a retrospective on the 3½ years that Cliff Burton was in Metallica, presented as a collection of bootleg footage shot by fans, some professional filming and TV shots that were never used and some of his best bass solos, personal photos and live concerts. Photos and narrations by the band (Ulrich, Hetfield and Hammett drinking beer) are placed between songs which focus on Burton before fading into a title card of a performance. The video ends with the melodic interlude of “Orion” as pictures of Burton are shown. With this video, the band tries to show the unique personality and style he had. While ostensibly the film focuses on Burton, it also has given fans a rare glimpse of Metallica’s less-documented early career. This contrasts sharply with the ‘Metallica business’ represented in the feature film Some Kind of Monster. This is Part One of Ten, More will be uploaded soon!