CANDYMAN - AIN'T NO SHAME IN MY GAME

I bought this CD because I read in a magazine somewhere that Prince had written a song on it. Right before I moved to Europe this disc came out. So the copy I ended up buying was a European release or an American import. I can't really tell which. Anyway, I thought I was getting a new Prince song and really looking forward to the disc. What I actually got was rather disappointing. Candyman came out right towards the end of the 80's. He was part of that same rap movement that M.C. Hammer and Fresh Prince came out of. Rap artists who targeted a pop audience and tried to come over with a mass appeal. However, unlike other rappers of the same type, Candyman never had a song with an incredibly catchy hook.

There's the traditional and oh so annoying segues. The first one actually opens the album and mimics a game show based on rap trivia. The first contestant is a white surfer kid while the second is a self-proclaimed Asiatic Black man from the motherland who spends most of his time ridiculing his white opponent. Any type of racism, whether it be white people hating on Hispanics or African Americans, or African Americans hating on white people is not cool with me. All it does is encourage people to look for differences and find reasons not to like each other. Usually when I hear someone bad mouthing white people I tune it out. Probably because I don't associate myself with the white majority. My sexual orientation puts me in a minority group and I've faced prejudice before. When I hear this kind of stuff in music, I just kinda shake my head and feel sorry for the artist spouting such nonsense.

Candyman aims for a mass market crossover, but never succeeds in getting anywhere as far as creating a hit single. He had some mediocre success with 'Knockin' Boots'; which features the chorus from Rose Royce's 'Ooh Boy'. This is probably the only song that has any potential. The rest of the album is total crap rap with generic arrangements. The supposed Prince track, 'Nightgown', is a terrible number featuring music samples taken from the song 'Irresistible Bitch'. 'Irresistible Bitch' is a b-side from 'Let's Pretend We're Married' single. It's just a blatant ripoff. The term used for this kind of sampling is "biting". And sadly, this number bit off pretty much everything of value from the Prince number.

There's nothing else to really write about this release. I've regretted it since the day I bought it. I used to think groups who sampled Prince material should count especially if they credit Prince as a writer. But after the crappy use of his samples I've heard, I've changed my mind. I'm not really interested in collecting that kind of music anymore. Unless the group uses a musical element to create a new song like MoKenStef did with 'He's Mine' or Danny Elfman did with tracks from his Batman Score, I'm not including them in my list anymore. So Candyman is no longer an official Prince song in my opinion. I have looked on the internet to see if Prince was involved with him in any way but thus far nothing. There's nothing that leads me to believe this track featured any input from him.

I guess I'm gonna offend lots of people by putting this recording down, but the truth is, considering the crap sales of the record, I'm guessing no one will feel too bad about it. My final words: IF THIS WAS MY GAME, I'D DEFINITELY BE ASHAMED.

CANDYMAN - AIN'T NO SHAME IN MY GAME
01. Ain't No Shame In My Game (Show)
02. Candyman
03. Don't Leave Home Without It
04. Knockin' Boots
05. Melt In Your Mouth
06. Playin' On Me
07. Today's Topic
08. The Mack Is Back
09. Nightgown
10. Who Shakes The Best
11. Keep On Watcha Doin'
12. 5 Verses Of Def