On the movie’s theme song, “Shining Through,” Fredro Starr and Jill Scott sample the 1986 Cyndi Lauper hit “True Colors,” adding lyrics about feeding the homeless, helping troubled kids and rising above poverty. “All or Nothing” (by Athena Cage) encourages listeners to seize the day, work hard and cling to dreams. “Murder She Wrote,” by Chaka Demus & Pliers, condemns vanity and exposes a girl whose “pretty face” deceptively masks her “bad character” (which includes annual trips to an abortion clinic).
Selectively censored profanities on Ice Cube’s “You Can Do It” include the f-word, vulgar anatomical references and most racial slang. Yet that cut still features two s-words and a plug for marijuana use. Drugs are also glamorized on Donell Jones’ “U Know What’s Up” and a track uniting 112 with the late Notorious B.I.G. (“Only You”). Profanity and several lines espousing the thug lifestyle mar Lucy Pearl’s “You” (with guest rapper Snoop Dogg). Odes to sexual intercourse range from Montell Jordan’s lewd proposition (“Get It On Tonight”) to descriptive romps on “You Can Do It,” “U Know What’s Up,” X-2-C’s “Bonafide,” Pink’s “You Make Me Sick” and Devon Edmonds’ “Move It Slow.”
Save the Last Dance is a movie about teens who fall in love while finding release and personal expression in hip-hop music. However, if fans take cues from much of this Disney-produced soundtrack, that love, release . . . and personal expression will be characterized by casual sex and drug use. Some great tunes, but too many missteps.
