Album Review: Rahsaan Patterson-Bleuphoria
Mid-level urban contemporary loverman Rahsaan Patterson juxtaposes disparate parts on his summer sleeper, Bleuphoria. From robo-grooved psychedelic soul to quiet storm classicism, Bleuphoria becomes a...
View ArticleAlbum Review: Joe—The Good, The Bad, The Sexy
It has been close to two years since R&B veteran Joe last released a new album. Nowadays with the constant releases of projects, we know this has become a very uncommon practice in mainstream...
View ArticleTHE REVIEW: Amy Winehouse’s ‘Lioness: Hidden Treasures’
Amy Winehouse passed away five months ago and her posthumous album, ‘Lioness: Hidden Treasures’ will be released December 6, 2011. The album includes twelve tracks recorded throughout her career. Her...
View ArticleAlbum Review: Anthony Hamilton’s Back to Love
R&B crooner Anthony Hamilton ‘takes things to the next level’ with a team of new collaborators on his new album, Back to Love. With a malleable voice and considerable range, Anthony Hamilton’s...
View ArticleAlbum Review: Carl Thomas’s Conquer
After a four-year absence, Carl Thomas makes a comeback attempt with Conquer, an album that finds the 39 year-old crooner trying his hand at up-tempo R&B. Thomas has suffered a great deal in his...
View ArticleAlbum Review: Hamilton Park Self-Titled EP
Urban Music Icon André Harrell has brought us legends like the late Heavy D, Mary J. Blige, Diddy, Robin Thicke, and R&B groups Guy & Jodeci. His newest musical venture Harrell Records, in...
View ArticleTHE REVIEW: Estelle’s ‘All of Me’
Grammy Award-winning singer, Estelle, ventures into a new feel-good soul, pop and melodic album untitled “All of Me.” The new project presents the West London girl four years after her breakthrough...
View ArticleAlbum Review: Alabama Shakes Boys & Girls
In a popular music landscape proliferated all too often by indistinguishable mechanical-sounding production and paper-thin lyrical content, it can be difficult to find new fare that truly stands out...
View ArticleAlbum Review: Heritage Blues Orchestra ‘And Still I Rise’
To label the recent trend of musicians putting a modern or contemporary spin on songs and sounds from generations past a sudden resurgence would be a grave misnomer; the music has never left–nor has it...
View ArticleAlbum Review: Vintage Trouble’s The Bomb Shelter Sessions
The first Monday of April 2012, I was winding down my whirlwind birthday celebration week in NYC, which kicked off with a mind-blowing performance by Joan Osborne at City Winery, followed by a matinee...
View ArticleAlbum Review: Joan Osborne ‘Bring It On Home’
The phrase “grown folks’ music” is bandied around rather carelessly these days, typically used to indicate material that is perhaps more sexual in nature or, in some cases, simply that which is created...
View ArticleAlbum Review: Jail House Bound: John Lomax’s First Southern Recordings, 1933
Soul music’s spirited history comes alive with latest John Lomax release. Perhaps most important to the blues pantheon was famed ethnomusicologist John Lomax’s insistence on targeting isolated African...
View ArticleAlbum Review: Naomi Shelton and the Gospel Queens’ What Have You Done, My...
What Have You Done, My Brother?, the recent release from Naomi Shelton and the Gospel Queens, sheds light on the raw, high-spirited gospel making rounds at next month’s Wild Goose Festival in Shakori...
View ArticleAlbum Review: Gary Clark Jr.’s Blak and Blu
Austin, TX native Gary Clark Jr. is, by all accounts, the face, spirit, and voice of modern blues. Since emerging onto Austin’s world-famous local music scene as a teen in the late 90s, Clark’s...
View ArticleAlbum Review: Brandy’s Two Eleven
Like a phoenix rising from the ashes, Brandy is forging a comeback to the musical arena with her newest album, Two Eleven. From the first bassline of the CD’s opener “Wildest Dreams”, the audience is...
View ArticleAlbum Review: Anthony David’s Love Out Loud
Carrying the tradition of neo-soul singers, Georgia native Anthony David has returned with his fifth studio album, Love Out Loud. Having the distinction of being one of First Lady Michelle Obama’s...
View ArticleAlbum Review: The Foreign Exchange ‘+FE Music: The Reworks’
Expect the unexpected. Take all pre-conceived notions, throw them right out the window, and dive head-first into a world of sound containing no genre, definition, or boundary. This is what fans of...
View ArticleAlbum Review: Las Supper ‘Back to the Future’
From its onset, Back to the Future, the debut album from Big Daddy Kane’s (yes, that Big Daddy Kane, the B-i-g-D-a-Double d-y-K-a-n-e) new group Las Supper, is a breath of fresh air. The music is...
View ArticleAlbum Review: Brian McKnight ‘More Than Words’
Brian McKnight has been the center of controversy over the last few years, from his jaw- dropping single “If Ur Ready 2 Learn” to his less than flattering appearances on both the internet blogs and the...
View ArticleAlbum Review: Fantasia’s ‘Side Effects of You’
Fantasia Refreshes R&B with a New Sound These days Fantasia is stronger than ever! She wants her fans to know that she’s back and here to stay, with a new sound, a well-divined spirit, and inner...
View ArticleAlbum Review: The-Dream’s ‘IV Play’
“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” This must be a mantra The-Dream lives by. In theory, it makes complete sense. He’s written countless hits for Rihanna, Beyoncé, Usher, Mariah and even the Beibs. And...
View ArticleAlbum Review: Talib Kweli’s ‘Prisoner of Conscious’
The worst feeling in life for an artist is to feel contained–trapped, restrained, with little or no room to operate. Sometimes it is a result of our own doing, or sometimes it is unwittingly bestowed...
View ArticleAlbum Review: Chrisette Michele’s ‘Better’
Chrisette Michele is without a doubt one of the most slept on singers of her generation. Vocally she never disappoints, and already has three albums under her belt that modern R&B lovers keep on...
View ArticleAlbum Review: J. Cole- Born Sinner
“It’s way darker this time.” As the minor strings rise and a slick placing of vocals from The Notorious B.I.G’s “Juicy” rings out, J. Cole murmurs those initial words. This sets up an explosive opening...
View ArticleAlbum Review: India.Arie’s ‘SongVersation’
India.Arie hasn’t released an album in four years, which is an eternity in music industry terms. Instead, the singer-songwriter retreated to an island to find mental clarity. The byproduct of that...
View ArticleAlbum Review: Adam Matta’s ‘Gyroscope’
Beatboxer Adam Matta’s songs have always worked better as a form of intelligentsia pop art. His sessions with the Carolina Chocolate Drops made for sturdy stuff, but Matta operates best in his own head...
View ArticleAlbum Review: Michael Franti + Spearhead’s ‘All People’
When Spearhead’s debut album Home (Capitol Records) dropped in 1994, listeners were introduced to front man Michael Franti’s distinctive baritone on tracks such as “People in the Middle,” “Hole in the...
View ArticleAlbum Review: Robin Thicke’s ‘Blurred Lines’
Until now, Robin Thicke’s career has been filled with occasional hits. With the exception of his debut album, A Beautiful World, each of his previous albums had at least 2 to 3 stand out tracks–enough...
View ArticleAlbum Review: K.Michelle’s ‘Rebellious Soul’
K.Michelle has managed to completely turn around her career by becoming one of the breakout stars of VH1 reality show, Love & Hip-Hop Atlanta. The confrontational singer has not only scored another...
View ArticleAlbum Review: No Malice’s ‘Hear Ye Him’
Malice burst onto the hip-hop scene back in 1992 as part of hip-hop duo The Clipse, alongside his brother Pusha T. At the time, the pair’s tales were of life in the harsh streets of Virginia and doing...
View ArticleAlbum Review: Goodie Mob ‘Age Against the Machine’
Goodie Mob’s history has them painted as underground kings. While never garnering the kind of group acclaim as their brothers, OutKast, they’ve still been credited as innovators and extremely creative...
View ArticleAlbum Review: Janelle Monae’s ‘The Electric Lady’
Janelle Monae has been on fire in 2013. Her sophomore album The Electric Lady is undoubtedly one of the most anticipated releases of the year. Miss Monae is a formidable force and her global reach...
View ArticleAlbum Review: Terrace Martin ‘3ChordFold’
Since the early days of hip-hop, one of the genre’s biggest criticisms is its musical validity. Is sampling just lazy copying? Does Fruityloops usage make one any less of a musician? Or should...
View ArticleAlbum Review: Marques Houston’s ‘Famous’
Talent is the vehicle that makes your gift a reality, but the passion behind it is what separates musicianship from mediocre voices, and Marques Houston’s musicality is on full display with his newest...
View ArticleAlbum Review: The Foreign Exchange ‘Love In Flying Colors’
Maybe it was all a part of the grand scheme, or maybe as the album campaign slogan states, it was just Nicolay and Phonte saying in tune to their own lives and “keeping the beat.” The consistent theme...
View ArticleAlbum Review: The Internet’s ‘Feel Good’
It’s not very often that an album comes along that just simply feels good. No overly decorated tracks or ridiculously complicated lyrical conundrums and musical mazes to maneuver through, just a...
View ArticleAlbum Review: Lyfe Jennings’ ‘Lucid’
There has always been a realness about Lyfe Jennings’ music that has appealed to R&B fans. He isn’t super polished in the way that our male r&b singers usually come packaged. His tales aren’t...
View ArticleAlbum Review: The Robert Glasper Experiment ‘Black Radio 2’
For most non-traditional music connoisseurs, listening to the radio nowadays is like placing your ears on sound punishment. Gone is the vast array of gifted artists that represented the best the...
View ArticleAlbum Review: Snoop Dogg & Dam-Funk ‘7 Days Of Funk’
I always explain to people there is a method to The Doggfather’s madness. Over the course of his 20 plus year career, Snoop Dogg has accomplished what very few artists in any genre of music have done:...
View ArticleAlbum Review: Jennifer Holliday’s ‘The Song is You’
Original Dreamgirl and Grammy Award-winning recording artist Jennifer Holliday’s return in the industry is stronger than ever. Known for her 1982 smash hit, “And Am I Telling You,” Holliday released...
View ArticleAlbum Review: Kev Choice ‘Oakland Riviera’
Oakland, CA native Kev Choice is no stranger to the music scene. Having toured and recorded with some of the greatest hip-hop, soul, and R&B artists in modern recollection (Lauryn Hill, Amel...
View ArticleAlgebra Blessett: ‘Recovery’
The time between Algebra Blessett’s debut album Purpose and her new release Recovery has been filled with growth, changes, optimism and realizations. However, once the album’s first single “Nobody But...
View ArticleAlbum Review: Algebra Blessett’s ‘Recovery’
Algebra Blessett is an R&B stylist who knows how to keep the audience satisfied, whether it’s through a cinematic approach in full-throated adult urban contemporary vocals or a pop-oriented...
View ArticleAlbum Review: Kierra Sheard ‘Graceland’
Six songs into Graceland, Kierra Sheard’s fifth studio album, the multi-award-winning Detroit native opens up about her “Flaws,” an emotionally personal testimonial which sounds more like a pop record...
View ArticleAlbum Review: Lenny Kravitz ‘Strut’
2014 marks the 25th anniversary of the release of rock n soul god Lenny Kravitz’s debut album, Let Love Rule (Virgin). Buoyed by sounds evocative of The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, and the summer of love,...
View ArticleAlbum Review: Prince’s ‘Art Official Age’
For the past year or so, Prince and his all-woman collective, 3rdEyeGirl, have been teasing us mercilessly with one-off singles, live video clips, and promises of a new album “soon.” The quartet...
View ArticleAlbum Review: Prince & 3rdEyeGirl’s ‘PLECTRUMELECTRUM’
3rdEyeGirl, the rock-tastic trio featuring guitarist Donna Grantis, drummer Hannah Ford, and bassist Ida Nielsen that has been backing Prince for the past two years, released their debut album,...
View ArticleAlbum Review: Alexis Hightower’s Girl Next Door
One listen to Alexis Hightower’s debut EP, Girl Next Door proves that she is truly an artist who sings with extraordinary conviction and assurance. Her poise and attitude would remind you of Erykah...
View ArticleAlbum Review: Judith Hill’s ‘Back In Time’
The opening track is a gamble. The idea is to hook us listeners, engage us immediately in preparation for whatever songs follow. If we’re lucky they’ve stacked the deck with a winning hand. For the...
View ArticleAlbum Review: Nneka’s ‘My Fairy Tales’
Singer/songwriter Nneka has always used her diverse heritage to create a multi-layered canvas for fans. Having collaborated with industry heavyweights such as Ziggy and Damian Marley, Black Thought,...
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