One of the many obscure rappers who recorded for Ichiban's Wrap label in the early 1990s,
Candy Fresh showed some potential on the little known
Just the Way I Like It. The female MC favors a playful style of rapping and has a slightly nasal delivery --
Candy isn't in a class with
Queen Latifah,
MC Lyte or
Roxanne Shante, but she has her moments and she's likable most of the time. The Atlanta artist doesn't bring a heavy socio-political agenda to the table, and this CD is more fun than anything. However,
Candy comes across as streetwise and fairly substantial. "Real Golddigger" describes a woman who uses men for their money, while cuts like "You Got to Be Real," "Tricky Brothers," and "Homie, You Ain't Got an Ounce of Mac in You" find
Candy attacking guys she considers losers. The rapper herself produced the album with Wink-D, and their sample-heavy production is exactly the type of thing one would have expected from a Cold Chillin' release in the late 1980s or early 1990s; lovers of 1970s soul and funk will recognize such often-sampled classics as
Funkadelic's "Not Just Knee Deep," Foxy's "Get Off," and
the Staple Singers' "Let's Do It Again." Decent, if unremarkable,
Just the Way I Like It wasn't a big seller, but it's worth picking up if you happen to come across a copy. ~ Alex Henderson