Higher Learning by Original Soundtrack

Liz Phair's "Don't Have Time" was nominated for a 1996 Grammy Award for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance. Following the lead of fellow film auteur Quentin Tarantino, writer/director John Singleton has discarded the standard soundtrack formula in exchange for something that encompasses his film's narrative and point of view. HIGHER LEARNING the movie examines the philosophical differences between races, sexes and class factions on America's college campuses. HIGHER LEARNING the soundtrack reflects not only the diverse musical tastes of these groups, but their various politics as well. The agendas and representations are on nearly every track. Ice Cube opens with a simmering shuffle that sets the narrative scene and fumes about race relations ("Higher"). Rage Against The Machine exhibit a thrashing agit-rap that serves their leftist views ("Year Of The Boomerang"). Liz Phair feeds the war of the sexes by deconstructing some old boyfriend's psyche ("Don't Have Time"). Tori Amos' radical reinterpretation o...