Jone
Emmbbry (and the Jonettes): Monkey Butt
By Stan Wankey
What’s most striking about Jone Emmbbry’s debut album,
Monkey Butt, is its lack of resemblance to anything she ever
did on The Tonight Show.
Sure, there are animal sounds, but that’s just to underline the
theme in such hard-driving ghetto joints as “I want to F**k You
Like I F***ed the Producer of My Special on The Discovery Channel.”
It’s a new side of Jone (real name Joan Embry) that positively
gyrates as it throws nets around the escaping tigers, that feeds the
chimps with a hip-hop beat. The less hardcore cut “Jungle Jone”
is a fresh trunk blast into the otherwise stagnant pachyderm wading
pool that is present-day pop music.
Not only does Jone get down and dirty, her gritty solo vocal work on
the soul-inspired “Monkey Mama” gives the listener flashbacks
of Janis Joplin’s long lost (but recently rediscovered) album
Me Jane.
Add to the mix some serious turntable magic from DJ Marlyn Perquinz
and you’ve got an album energized like no rap record since, like,
1991 or something.
Joan, or Jone rather, we didn’t know you had it in you. But we’re
sure glad you decided to let it out of its cage.
