by John Bush
Chastened by his court battle over a sample from pop crooner Gilbert O'Sullivan, Biz Markie returned with All Samples Cleared!, a safe record, both legally and artistically. Sampling conservatively, Markie nevertheless opened with a forceful statement of purpose (&I'm the Biz Markie&), but elsewhere hoped for another hit with the same blend of great storytelling and artless balladeering that had made &Just a Friend& his only Top Ten hit. &Young Girl Bluez,& one of the few outside productions, was a solid return to form, but his reinvention as a disco diva for &Let Me Turn You On& was a step too far. All Samples Cleared! had a few amusing songs, including &I'm a Ugly Nigga (So What)& and &The Gator (Dance),& as well as an interesting blend of humor with social topic (&Hooker Got a Boyfriend&), but for the most part Biz Markie was keeping his head down, and it showed.