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YOUNG MC (Buy CDs by this artist)
Stone Cold Rhymin' (Delicious Vinyl) 1989

Having made himself invaluable to Delicious Vinyl by cleaning up Tone-Loc's too-funky lyrics on the chart-topping "Wild Thing" and co-writing "Funky Cold Medina," London-born University of Southern California economics grad Marvin Young helped himself to a hit with "Bust a Move," a goodnatured romantic tale with funny lyrics and a rhythm track built mainly on a bass line for effortless pop accessibility. Putting a more adult spin (except for the high-schooled "Principal's Office," another smash single) on the same kind of friendly middle-class raps that made stars of Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince, Young MC smooths the hardness out of hip-hop and the colorful colloquialisms out of B-boy rhetoric. If Stone Cold Rhymin' too frequently succumbs to PG-rated blandness, Young instills this unchallenging platter with enough winning personality to make a good time.

[Ira Robbins]