Washington City Paper: Contents for Jan. 23

Rhyme and Punishment
Fickle fans, poor promotion, lack of label interest—for D.C. hiphoppers, respect is hard to earn.

Cover Story

Real rappers don’t smile, man. How are lyrical foes supposed to know that you mean business if you’re chewing them up and spitting them out—or out-spitting them, as it were—with a big, shit-eating grin on your face?

Still, Christopher Lieb, better known as Beltsville, Md.’s, lyricist Whyte Out, just can’t seem to keep his lips pulled over his teeth.

Whyte Out, 21, has the sly smirk of someone who thinks he knows something the rest of us don’t. In this case, the secret knowledge is his belief that he is D.C. hiphop’s great white hope—soon to become the first rapper from the metropolitan area to really blow big. His giddiness is understandable, but as he poses for promotional pictures at a January photo shoot, his manager, Gary Steele, a CEO and chair of Guerrilla Muzik, fears that Whyte Out’s goofy grin is getting in the way of his success.

“You’re a rapper—don’t be smiling too much,” Steele instructs his charge, who is trying his damnedest to mug for the camera as Erykah Badu plays in the background.

Whyte Out was snapped up by the team at Guerrilla after appearing on “Freestyle Friday,” a weekly battle-rap session that is a regular segment on BET’s 106 & Park music-video show. He triumphed for seven straight weeks before being retired as a champion, at which point Steele & Co. decided that they might be able to capitalize on his hot streak. The photo shoot—Whyte Out’s third—is the group’s latest attempt to make its artist stand out to record execs weary of rifling through stacks of press kits from wannabe lyricists.... Continued

Issue of Jan. 23 - 29, 2004

News and Features

Rhyme and Punishment
Fickle fans, poor promotion, lack of label interest—for D.C. hiphoppers, respect is hard to earn.
Cover Story By Sarah Godfrey
Welcome to mDeath
I wanted a phone I could use in Fairfax. I ended up in limbo.
Feature By Jandos Rothstein
Shifting Gear
Want to improve your ’hood? Get a T-shirt.
The City By Annys Shin
Milking an Issue
Despite taboos and aging kids, breast-feeding activist keeps going.
The City By Chris Shott
Pop-O-Meter
The City By Tom Scocca
All Along the Watchtower
Nimby Tribunal By Josh Levin
Head Games
The Mail By Peter Brady
Evangelical Fervor
The Mail By Kay Parker
Hey! Look, Everybody! It’s Abe Vigoda!
The Mail By Ryan Cofrancesco
Party Pooping
The Mail By Jim Harvey
Last Train Home
The Mail By Bob Winans
Correction
Correction

Columns

Bet! Buh-Buh-Buh-Bet! Bet!
Cheap Seats By Dave McKenna
Hat Squad
City Desk By Annys Shin
Station Stop
City Desk By Mike DeBonis
Total Recall
Loose Lips By Elissa Silverman

Eats

Power to the Peephole
Young & Hungry By Todd Kliman

Movies

Bad Combination
Film Review By Josh Levin
Coming Down the Mountain
Film Review By Mark Jenkins
The Butterfly Effect
Film Review By Tricia Olszewski
Taking Sides
Film Review By Mark Jenkins
Win a Date With Tad Hamilton!
Film Review By Tricia Olszewski

Music

Great Briton
Music Review By Joe Warminsky

Theater

The Ends of Innocents
Theater Review By Bob Mondello

Arts and Events

Error in the System
Art Review By Glenn Dixon
Lost (Dogs) In Space
Show & Tell By Robert Lalasz
Highway 61 Revisited
Books By Glenn Dixon
Production Values
After more than 20 years of putting the studio sheen on other people’s punk-rock records, Don Zientara finally makes a solo album—and a pretty good case for lo-fi.
Arts By Brent Burton
Prize Performance
Artifacts By Mike DeBonis
Rambling Man
Artifacts By John Metcalfe