Light It Up
Whether a movie starring Judd Nelson can claim to be an authentic tale of survival at an inner-city high school is clearly debatable. Because the soundtrack for the movie features teen heartthrobs'N Syncharmonizing on aKenneth "Babyface" Edmonds's ballad, poetic license--if not straight-out romanticizing--is clearly being exercised here. The 13 tracks mostly present different dimensions of hip-hop, but none approaches the real menace of gangsta rap. The textures vary from the reflective, somber synthesizer ofJa Rule's "How Many Wanna" to the schoolyard taunt ofMaster P's title track.Pat Benatar's "Love Is a Battlefield" gets a rewrite as "Ghetto Is a Battlefield" from Blaze and Firestarr (featuring Fredro Starr, a former member ofOnyxand now an actor in this film).Bob Marley's "Waiting in Vain" is given the 1999 treatment byJon B., who went to Kingston, Jamaica, to cut the track at Tuff Gong studios, where Marley recorded many of his classics. Nowthere'sauthenticity for you.--Rob O'Connor