Title: Rapped Up In A New Idea
Topic: Article/Interview
Source: The Ottawa Sun
Source: Showbiz; Pg. 22
Author: Ian Nathanson
Date: March 7, 2001
Rapped Up In A New Idea
Teen Crooner Carter Takes Tunes In Different Direction
The Little Prince of Hip-Hop?
Can't imagine clean-cut Floridian Aaron Carter getting away with bad-attitude cussin' and hollerin', trying to upstage, say, Lil' Bow Bow in the 'parental advisory' category.
"I'm trying to bring back the old-skool rap because that's what I like to listen to. I love (DJJazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince's) Parents Just Don't Understand. That's what I want to be -- like a Will Smith, you know -- having fun rapping without having to talk about all that crap to make myself look good," Aaron says reassuredly during our brief phone interview, discussing his second album, Aaron's Party (Come Get It). That's one way for Carter to escape the younger-brother-of-a-Backstreet-Boy tag. Let pop-singing be older sib Nick's schtick. Aaron will take care of the rappin' end of things.
So what does a 13-year-old spike-haired blond -- who possess a motorbike collection, talks of being a marine biologist when he grows up and toured with his brother's group and Britney Spears in the past couple of years -- have to rap about?
"The party of the year/All the fine girls couldn't turn it down/Now all I gotta do is get my parents out/Should I send 'em to a movie (Nah, send 'em to a show) ..." he sings on the title cut to the album, already a platinum seller south of the border since its release last fall.
Parental advisory! Mischievous, rebellious young teen on the loose! A preview of what to expect for his upcoming Congress Centre show Friday night, along with funk-pop newcomers 11:30 and Aaron's sister Leslie in tow. Neighbours, lock you doors!
Er, not quite.
Despite rising to fame three years ago with his self-titled debut, despite holding the Guinness record for being the youngest singer to have four consecutive Top 10 singles in England, Carter still needed parental approval for the songs he wanted on Aaron's Party (Come Get It) such as the Cajun-flavoured Iko Iko and a light-hearted take on Bow Wow Wow's I Want Candy.
"Nobody's ever done that one a lot," Carter says of Candy. "So I thought, 'Well, I could do it.' And I mean, I could ask, 'Oh, I like to get this song or that song,' but they'd still have to check things out."
Sometimes, celebrity does have its privileges. A basketball fan, Carter managed to get L.A. Lakers star Shaquille O'Neal to appear with him on the video for the uptempo That's How I Beat Shaq. "He was really nice," Carter says. "I thought he would just come in, do his thing and leave. I was surprised how nice he was."
So how come on his video for Bounce, he's wearing a Toronto Raptors jersey? "Uh, that was done before I became a Lakers fan," Carter says with a blush in his crackling voice.
A big draw in Asia and Europe (although Carter says, without explanation, he's less popular with the Europeans these days), Carter had a taste of "Aaronmania" in Germany when one female fan climbed on the back of his tour bus.
"For two hours, she was standing there," Carter says. "The weather was freezing and I was walking around the bus and this one girl was just standing there looking at me, giving me the scariest look."
He gives a kid-like laugh before an authoritative voice then pipes in: "We have to wrap this up."
Gosh darn-it! Celebrity can have its drawbacks, too.
GRAPHIC: photo; AARON CARTER is trying his hand at "old-skool" rap music on his new disc.
