b. Shawn Ivy, c.1972, St. Louis, Missouri, USA. From the new school of rappers hailing from Long Beach, California, Domino typified the area's preoccupation with cool, languid, almost sexual delivery. His hybrid accent was accounted for by the fact that he spent his first seven years in St. Louis. He had begun singing professionally in nightclubs like Marla Gibbs' Crossroads and Sir Alex in Compton before he embarked on a rap style. Just as contemporaries like Snoop Doggy Dogg spiced their rhymes with outbursts of actual singing, Domino repeated the feat, with slightly less contentious lyrics, with an arguably greater degree of success. After a childhood spent listening to soul and funk standards from the Stylistics and Funkadelic, he caught the rap bug and began writing words for himself and Snoop. According to Domino, Snoop could not resist the temptation to "go gangsta" when it was offered to him on a plate by Dr. Dre, and the duo split. Domino's perseverence with a more cognitive style was eventually rewarded. After several years of trying to get the major labels to listen, he signed with the small independent Outburst. "Getto Jam" underlined his appeal: these were still tough-talking rap words, but sauntered through in an easy, inviting fashion. The buzz created by the track saw him and Outburst signed up for distribution by Def Jam. Samples from Kool And The Gang sat side by side with lines like: "Everybody loves them dead presidents" on his debut album. This was combined with a more realistic overview of Domino's place in the scheme of things, with rhymes discussing his desire for sexual gratification ("Ass For Days") contrasting with morally tinged attitudes to safe sex ("Raincoat"), from which he even launched a condom range of the same name. Similarly, rather than the glorification of the drive-by shooting so evident in the work of others, there is a matter-of-fact discourse instead on the hassles of getting paid ("Money Is Everything"). Such platitudes saw him discussed in one magazine as "a soft spoken businessman who will make an excellent bank manager when he gets sick of making records". His own view: "There's so much going on in the 'hood apart from guns and murder". However, he did face criticism on his first British outing when misguided punters paid £10 to hear him perform three songs at a PA, when they had expected a full gig. Not to be confused with the production specialist Domino of Del Tha Funkee Homosapien's Hieroglyphics crew fame, he has failed to live up to his reputation on subsequent outings Physical Funk and Dominology.
DISCOGRAPHY: Domino (Outburst 1994)****, Physical Funk (Outburst 1996)**, Dominology (Thug 1997)**.

Encyclopedia of Popular Music
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