Friday, December 07, 2007

90's Extreme Flashback! Snow

In 1993, a white man from Ontario, Canada scored a massive hit with a dancehall single titled "Informer." That reggae-rapper was known as Snow. Armed with superfast rhymes and an unusual dialect, Snow garnered a brief, but renowned success with his album 12 Inches of Snow (with tracks numbered from "inch one" to "inch twelve").

In the wake of Vanilla Ice's strange popularity, Snow was able to break through in the R&B and Pop charts. They even shared chilly-sounding names. Essentially nobody could understand what Snow was rapping about, but that really didn't matter when his sound was so unique to the rest of pop radio. In Living Color even took notice, with Jim Carrey's hilarious send-up, "Imposter" (check out the video here).

Admittedly, I can remember playing Snow's cassette for hours and hours until the tape started to warble. As a youth of the early 90's, I can say that Snow held a special place in my musical upbringing, right there amongst Kris Kross and Another Bad Creation.

But how many of us can actually name another song in Snow's catalog? Well...I mean... I can.

"Lady with the Red Dress" is a personal favorite from 12 Inches... With a much clearer pop influence and a funky keyboard line to back it up, this track finds Snow trading his standard raps in favor of a more decipherable singing voice.

I rediscovered this song during college, and have been hooked on it ever since. If you need to get down 90's style, give this one a whirl!

Snow - 'Lady With the Red Dress'

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

its the one mc shan and the one that is snow. together we're like a tornado...!!

xpsytor