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Perhaps not since Gloria Estevan and The Miami
Sound Machine has a group come out of Florida with so much promise, energy
and the ability to affect an audience as Orlando’s Group 1 Crew. When you
hear Manwell Reyes and Pablo Villatoro rapping the intro to “Love Is A
Beautiful Thing,” and then the absolutely gorgeous hip vocals of Blanca
Reyes (no relation to Manwell) break through with the lyric, ‘love is a
beautiful thing,’ you are not only going to fall in love with Group 1 Crew
but you will truly be wowed!
This spring Group 1 Crew, a hip, good-looking Hispanic trio who are making waves in both the public school system and Christian circles with a sound that is polished and well produced released their self-titled album.
While the dudes rap, often the R&B vocals of Blanca act as a counterpoint preventing the album from simply sliding into a series of tunes imbued with heavy beat. Track 12, “So High,” features the sweet ethereal vocals of Blanca in an R&B tune supported by a soft and quieter rap by Manwell.
Group 1 Crew been compared to Black-Eyed Peas, which they are not because Group 1 Crew’s sound is far superior, to Out of Eden and Mary, Mary whose music was good but not great. The later two girl groups lacked the showmanship possessed by Blanca, Manwell and Pablo. The only one that comes close is tobyMac and while tobyMac is one of my favorite artists, his sound is distinctly different from Group 1 Crew so they really cannot be compared. These cats have the unique ability to combine melody with beats. There are so many different layers and textures to the music of Group 1 Crew it is like being in your favorite chocolate store and wishing you could just start grabbing with both hands.
The trio works many choreographed dance moves into their stage performance something that has captured the imagination of the students they speak to and perform for in public middle schools and high schools across America.
“In the future we are going to add all out dancing to our sets, similar to Usher or Sean Mac. It doesn’t have to be cheesy; we can have an all out breakdown during a song or a set. We want to take two dancers with us and add it as a regular part of our show,” says Manwell.
Continuing with the theme of dance Manwell says, “The only Christian that I know of that includes movement is tobyMac and I think it is phenomenal. I am actually producing tracks for that (more dance moves) now.”
Group 1 Crew is on a mission to be the best they can possibly be not for ego satisfaction but because they want to attract young people to their music so they have a chance to share the message of Christ.
Manwell says, “I praise God for our look, style and the fact we can genuinely sing and rap. That is why Paul always stresses to do your craft with excellence, and to be ready to give an account for everything that you do know. God will give you the initial talent but he can’t make you a better rapper or a better dancer. You have to go practice and that practice will get you before the King or in this case will help you to be good enough so you can be in the schools. The power of God in you is going to keep these people interested and change their lives. The talent is just so they will stop, listen and give us a chance.”
“When we come in we have our message of, ‘I have a dream.’ Don’t let any of these silly little things stop you from achieving your dream. We may not be allowed to preach God (in the schools) but we can preach purpose and through purpose you can find God, you feel me,” says Manwell.
“Everybody’s gotta’ song to sing / Won’t you come now and sing with me / It doesn’t really matter where you’re from or what you’ve done,” sings Blanca and these three have stories to tell that add authenticity to their lyrics. Their personal testimonies will reach right into the heart of the most calloused person. These are the stories of one man (Pablo) who grew up as a pastor’s kid and rebelled, the story of another homey who once packed a gun (Manwell) and a third (Blanca) who suffered abuse from her stepfather.
‘Each of our ministries is unique because of our backgrounds,” says Pablo.
Blanca talks about her commitment to Christ, which eventually influenced her mother to take the same step, “Because of how God has been working in my life and in our ministry, I see a big change in my mother. It’s an area where God is still working, but it has definitely been improving. It's amazing to see God's hand working in your life and transforming the lives of those you love, even when you feel the chance of that ever happening is impossible. I think what has impacted my mom the most is not what I say to her, but the fruits of my labor. She sees the blessings of what I’ve been standing for this whole time,” says Blanca.
Some Christians allow themselves to be trapped by drawing more attention to their behavior before their lives were transformed, and the focus seems to be on their past instead of the present. In a sense, it almost becomes sensational. It would be very easy for Manwell to dwell on his former life of crime, and the fact he was thrown out of three schools, however he has taken care to steer away from that pitfall. “I try not to draw too much to my past. I never want to earn someone’s respect because of all the negative things that I did in the past. I would much rather earn their respect with being honest about who I am, and where I am now. I don’t want to (live by) some kind of stripe system and say, ‘Hey you should listen to me because I used to carry a gun, or I used to do this, and used to that.’ I can do that when people question me one if they followed along the same path as me. Real knows real, and real can recognize real. They will know exactly where I come from when we speak face to face. They will know that I am not faking a funk or whatever. I do feel it holds a lot of credibility, and I can speak confidently to that certain crowd, not being afraid to say what I feel. I don’t really lean on it, because I don’t want to be respected for all those things that I once did,” he says.
Urban music has often come under heavy criticism from those in the mainstream of society because it often focuses on negative and sometimes turbulent themes. I wondered about the impact of beats that combine a more positive approach to life. “I think it is really up to the listener. I think that our job is to make the quality of the music just as good as anything that they have heard, so that at least it has a fair shot. I do not think that it is so dependent on our content and music, as it is on where that person is in his or her own life. I know that when I listened to music (in the past) it would feed into my emotional state at the time. If I were angry then angry music would make me even angrier,” says Manwell.
He says, “I think it (Group 1 Crew’s music) does offer a great alternative to any person who digs this genre of music. The only thing that we can do is create an amazing presentation. A lot of the time people are disqualified for lack of production and creativity. We have a solid project and that cannot be denied. This is a great record. I think that it can definitely be used as an alternative if someone wants to go that route.”
March 2007
By Joe Montague
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