from the 12” single, Circa Records, 1988Fearlessly straddling several beats-based genres at one time, Neneh Cherry enjoyed well-deserved acclaim from critics and the underground alike upon the release of this stellar mash-up of breaks, synth pop and hip-hop; I had this song on one of those single cassettes, played that fucker until the tape got so warped that Ms. Cherry sounded like she was hitting on a nitrous tank! Neneh had already been in the musical underground for some time, having been a member of the post-punk crew Rip Rig & Panic since the early ‘80s, enjoying a brief tenure with the Slits and even getting to record with Nico once at the BBC; she also DJ’d for a pirate radio station while still in her teens, spinning electro and early hip-hop singles, showing a love for variety in music from the very beginning. Her tom-girl attitude here is both fierce and irresistible, “…the girls on the block with the nasty curls, wearing padded bras, sucking beers through straws, dropping down their drawers, where did you get yours?” My favorite line comes right as the sax-led breakdown begins, “…smokin’, not cokin’…” Word.
