Sheep's Clothing

The '90s urban revival is well underway with Black Sheep joining the Hip Hop Legends Tour alongside Das EFX and DJ Tony Touch.

Black Sheep, from Queens, New York, was formed in the late '80s by MC Dres (AKA Andres Titus) and DJ Mista Lawnge (William McLean). Ironically, they'd met in North Carolina, Titus a military brat. The Native Tongues affiliates premiered with 1991's single Flavor Of The Month. Their classic debut, A Wolf In Sheep's Clothing, also took in the enduring The Choice Is Yours (licensed for a recent US hamster-featuring car ad) and brilliant gangsta satire U Mean I'm Not. Still, Black Sheep never received the wider recognition of A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul and Jungle Brothers. And Titus is far from being done.

In fact, the MC has previously been in Oz – as a De La Soul stowaway. But he's “very excited” to now be performing his own show. “I'll be with my dude DJ Strike – and it's a simple formula that works well for us. I'll be taking you on a good music trip, from some classics to some unknowns – all delivered in the vein of real hip hop [with] a true MC,” he explains.

As it happens, McLean has retired from Black Sheep. “Lawnge and I don't speak much,” Titus admits. “Once in a while something business-related may pop up and we'll correspond, but we're definitely in two different spaces at this point in our lives. I understand him to be well and a family man.”

Black Sheep self-produced a seminal – and eccentric – hip hop album in A Wolf... What does Titus recall of recording it? “One of the things that really sticks out was the writing. I would keep a notebook of sorts everywhere I went. It was common to find me in Washington Square Park with a joint writing in my book. I remember it being quite a task [because] I knew the first people to hear what I was writing would be the Tongues – talk about pressure!”

Though Black Sheep contributed to The Brand New Heavies' trailblazing Heavy Rhyme Experience: Vol 1, the music industry proved increasingly difficult for them to negotiate. After all, they were conscious hip hoppers in the gangsta rap era. Black Sheep's second album, Non-Fiction, floundered largely due to lousy promotion. The duo split from their label, Mercury, and then went their separate ways, eventually reuniting (briefly) in 2000. Any regrets? “Well, hindsight is always 20/20 so, of course, there are things that could be rectified and maximised, but such is life,” Titus ponders. “I've definitely embraced what was, but I've also let it go – [it's a] duality. I find it important for myself to not live in the past, but to live for today and prepare for tomorrow – something I don't think I really understood in totality when I was younger. As well, it's the experiences that give me the insight I now possess.”

Titus discovered new diversions – and not merely a solo career. He landed his first acting role in Laurence Fishburne's Once In The Life and has lately starred in Mr Complex's indie Fanatic. Titus is keen to do more. “I think it's a good transition for the older me.” In the meantime, he has a new outfit, evitaN, with ATCQ satellite member Jarobi White. (Check 'em out on YouTube).

There is a pervasive nostalgia for ol' skool hip hop – which Titus' ally Nas tapped into on Life Is Good – but this MC isn't preoccupied with it. (Titus concedes to following hip hop online, rather than on radio.) “I would say it's more about good music at the end of the day. I feel many of the older artists got a little caught up in what [hip hop] was and didn't necessarily bring it forward, but let it pull them back. Those that adapt found a medium that works for them. This usually resonates with the people. In my opinion, things truly have changed – embrace it, put your spin on it, make it better. Nas would be a good example of this.”

Black Sheep will be playing the following shows:

Wednesday 26 September - Surfers Paradise Beer Garden, Surfers Paradise QLD
Thursday 27 September - Civic Hotel, Inglewood WA
Friday 28 September - Prince Bandroom, Melbourne VIC
Saturday 29 September - Higher Ground Theatre, Adelaide SA
Sunday 30 September - Metro Theatre, Sydney NSW