One thing you can say about Camp Lo is that the boogie-down Bronx duo of Geechi Suede and Sonny Cheeba have style. With confidence on par with most mic gripping veterans, these new jacks effortlessly spread their lyrics over the mostly intoxicating funk grooves of burgeoning producer Ski with never-let 'em-see-you-sweat-like panache that's hard to resist. As you can gather from the title of their debut album, these young soul brothers are big fans of the '70s blaxploitation film era. Unfortunately, like many of the flicks that hindered the genre, Uptown Saturday Night has its fair amount of highlights, but suffers from an influx of material that should have been left on the cutting room floor. Things start off well enough with a consistent and entertaining first half. "Luchini" is a champagne cork popping tale of the pursuit of riches; "Black Connection," the disc's strongest moment, spotlights inviting strings, while special star cameos also provide much needed assistance and diversity. De La Soul's Trugoy The Dove adds the Native Tongue touch to "B-Side to Hollywood," and Butterfly shines on "Swing," a kinetic duet with the Lo's Geechi Suede, who incidentally sounds strikingly similar to the Digable Planets' leader. Despite the help of these outside forces, as Uptown Saturday Night grows in length, the crew's appeal begins to dwindle with each subsequent musical scene. - The Source (2/97). Uptown Saturday Night was ahead of its time and often misunderstood, so the rest of the review and the 3-mic rating are off to me. Revisit it below...
You can read the full review in The Source below...
