Biz Markie

Let's hear it for the return of Marcel Hall, clown prince of hip-hop and endearingly
wretched singer -- remember his caterwauling on 1989's deathless "Just a Friend"? His
funkiness is undimmed on his first record in ten years, Weekend Warrior: He ebulliently
celebrates the dishes he adores ("Chinese Food") and pines for the departed Aaliyah and
Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes in "Turn Back the Hands of Time." Biz falters only once, on t... More >

Veteran rapper Biz Markie commands a delivery so distinctive--"flow" nothing, its good-humored charm is all spittle and grunt--that he can cameo on other people's records for as long he breathes. Biz's own albums, however, were never unexceptionable. His first since the best and most obscure of them, 1993's All Samples Cleared, begins with the unlikely claim that he's "the funkiest brother on the earth" and damn near proves it with the help of a Curtis Mayfield beat. And though nothing equally down ensues, it's refreshing to hear a professional who's as proven as LL Cool J tend to bizness: "Not number one but here to have fun/Guaranteed to proceed and get the job done." (Grade - ***)