Fun Lovin' Criminals

September 19 - 26, 1 9 9 6 [Off the Record]

**1/2 Fun Lovin' Criminals

COME FIND YOURSELF

(EMI)
Taking cues from Tribe Called Quest -- maybe even borrowing a little from Parliament -- New York City's Fun Lovin' Criminals and their debut, Come Find Yourself, are, quite frankly, da bomb.
Marrying some parts funk, some parts soul, and all parts boombastic, the Criminals have just begun to taste successes from this 1995 release. That's due in part to the "Scooby Snacks" single -- complete with tons of free publicity after Quentin Tarantino demanded writing credits for samples of Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction spliced into the song's message of robbery and hallucinogenic pleasure. The opening House of Pain-like "The Fun Lovin' Criminal" addresses the fusion of hip-hop and hardcore with full force; "Smoke 'Em" and "Methodonia" find the criminals deep into their roots of smoked jazz and beat funk. True to the new school formulas of hipdom, they manage to sample Skynyrd's "Freebird" into "Bombin' the L"; meanwhile traces of Love and Rockets precursor Tones on Tail can be heard beneath the slap-happy "Scooby Snacks." Through embracing the best of old and new in what many feel is a stagnant genre, the Fun Lovin' Criminals have proven that they are 2-legit.
-- Jonathan Vena
(Fun Lovin' Criminals play Lupo's Heartbreak Hotel in Providence, Rhode Island, this Friday, September 20. Call 401-272-5876.)