Hip-hop artists with commercial aspirations need never appear pandering to their audience, since a tough, defiant stance -- aka keeping it real -- is exactly what will draw in most crossover listeners anyway. Nevertheless, the Black Eyed Peas quickly embraced the pop world after the surprising success of third album Elephunk, and only continued ...
Remember when Kanye West threatened to make an album where he would bear his heartbroken soul, align with T-Pain, sing on every song with the then inescapable Auto-Tune effect and, less problematically, lean on the common element -- the Roland TR-808 drum machine -- of classics like "Make It Last Forever," "Posse on Broadway," "808," and "Bossy"? ...
Space Jam is a captivating, engaging, and expressive work inspired from the making of the motion picture of the same name, featuring basketball icon Michael Jordan and a cast of charming Looney Tunes personalities. It is a collection of enthusiasm and charm, bold in expression and passionate in both it's lyrical quality and amazing variety of ...
By the time of Country Grammar's release in summer 2000, the album's title track had become a major hit single for the previously unknown St. Louis rapper Nelly, who was making his national debut. In particular, the song's tongue-twisting chorus is downright infectious: "I'm goin down down baby, yo' street in a Range Rover/Street sweeper, baby, ...
Nominally a rap group, in truth Black Eyed Peas call on so many forms of songwriting and production that slotting them into hip-hop is like slotting Prince into R&B -- technically true, but very limiting. Elephunk, the group's third straight winning LP, doesn't have top-notch rapping, but as driven by frontman Will.I.Am, it does possess some of ...
And then, in a flash, Kanye was everywhere, transformed from respected producer to big-name producer/MC, throwing a fit at the American Music Awards, performing "Jesus Walks" at the Grammys, wearing his diamond-studded Jesus piece, appearing on the cover of Time, running his mouth 24/7. One thing that remains unchanged is Kanye's hunger, even ...
Radio Disney: Move It collects 15 ebullient teen pop/hip-hop/classic rock/soul explosions from its popular airwaves, including James Brown's "I Got You (I Feel Good)," Carl Douglas' "Kung Fu Fighting," and "We Will Rock You" by Queen. Also included is a bonus CD-ROM track. ~ James Christopher Monger, All Music Guide
At the time of The Dynasty Roc la Familia's release, Jay-Z had already established himself as a towering figure in the rap world. His previous two albums -- Vol. 2: Hard Knock Life and Vol. 3: Life and Times of S. Carter -- spawned numerous gigantic hits and were filled the brim with the biggest hitmakers in rap: producers like Timbaland and Swizz ...
At the beginning of the '90s, R. Kelly was seen as a lewd, lascivious soulman. By the end of the decade, he had stripped those adjectives away and was seen as a contemporary equivalent of Marvin Gaye, thanks to the enormous success of "I Believe I Can Fly." Appropriately, R., the double-disc album that followed "I Believe I Can Fly"'s parent album ...
Through all the twists and turns taken by Stacy "Fergie" Ferguson during her 20-year career as an entertainer -- including a stint on Kids Incorporated, background vocals for Martika, two albums with adult contemporary/dance-pop group Wild Orchid, and superstardom with Black Eyed Peas -- she has always sounded as if she is trying really, really ...
Creatively, R. Kelly came a long way since 1992. The Chicago singer started out his career with catchy, if conventional, new jack swing, but as the '90s progressed, he evolved into one of more interesting, risk-taking male singers in urban contemporary and neo-soul. It would be a stretch to say that Kelly is in a class with Al Green, Donny ...
Before releasing his first solo album, Puff Daddy (aka Sean "Puffy" Combs) was famous as the producer of the Notorious B.I.G., Junior Mafia, Craig Mack, Lil' Kim, and many other rappers. As he was making his solo debut, the Notorious B.I.G. was murdered, and that loss weighs heavily on Puff's mind throughout No Way Out. Even though the album has ...
Discovering new limits to the nu metal scene by approaching mainstream measures and using avowed pop rhythms, Alien Ant Farm go beyond the widespread rampaging guitar strain. The band's kinship with Papa Roach proved to be crucial, for it was through Roach's logo New Noize that the LA quartet managed to deliver their disc on the Dreamworks label. ...
"2 Man Show," the epilogue of Timbaland Presents Shock Value, involves 24 men and women. The title refers to Timbaland and Elton John. John, despite being Elton John, doesn't sing on the song, but he does play some loose piano. Most of the vocals are left to Timbaland, who improvises with a nonstop series of directions, comments, and grunts. He ...
For his second album, Jay-Z protégé Memphis Bleek makes small strides forward from his debut album, Coming of Age. Yet like Coming of Age, the tracks on The Understanding may be a level above those of most rap but still aren't in the same category as those of Jay-Z or the other superstars from New York's hardcore school of rap: Nas, Ja Rule, Mobb ...
Sing the phrase "I'm just a Bill, yes I'm only a Bill" to any American between the ages of 25 and 40 and they'll answer "and I'm sittin' here on Capitol Hill" without thinking twice. "I'm Just a Bill" was only one of dozens of School House Rock! animated videos that ran on ABC Saturday morning TV throughout the '70s. Following the lead of Sesame ...
Ludacris' second album for Def Jam, Word of Mouf, is a superstar affair that aims for mass appeal with a broad array of different styles. Nearly every track features some sort of collaborator, either hitmaking producers like Timbaland and Organized Noize, big-name rappers like Mystikal and Twista, hook-singing crooners like Nate Dogg and Jagged ...
Long before he released his first solo album, Jermaine Dupri established himself as a hip-hop hitmaker to be reckoned with. He sent Kris Kross, Da Brat, and Xscape to the top of the charts, provided hit remixes for the likes of Dru Hill, and ran the So So Def label -- all before he decided to launch a solo career with Jermaine Dupri Presents: Life ...
Now That's What I Call Music, Vol. 12, as the series is wont, takes 20 of the bigger songs from late 2002/early 2003 and puts them on one album. Because the editions in the Now series come out so quickly (one approximately every four months), a lot of the songs that people may associate with that time period ("Where Is the Love," "In da Club," ...
Released to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the Notorious B.I.G.'s death, Greatest Hits places the two "collaborate with a dead legend" albums -- 1999's Born Again and 2005's Duets: The Final Chapter -- on equal ground with Ready to Die and Life After Death, the two landmark albums Biggie released while he was on the planet. Anthologizing one ...
"Y'all n*ggas got me really confused out there. I make 'Big Pimpin' or 'Give It to Me,' one of those -- that had me as the greatest writer of the 21st century. I make some thought-provoking sh*t -- y'all question whether he fallin' off." When you've built up a back catalog of eight studio albums and walk the earth as one of the biggest, most high ...
Jermaine Dupri's version of a remix album, Definition of a Remix, opens with a proper coast-to-coast redo of the So So Def anthem "Welcome to Atlanta" that moves from New York (P. Diddy) to St. Louis (Murphy Lee) to Los Angeles (Snoop Dogg). Of the seven tracks, three are of the R&B quartet Jagged Edge, including a remix of "Let's Get Married" ...
The idea of an all-Pharrell album is natural and unnatural in roughly equal measure. Half of the extremely successful Neptunes production team, as well as a collaborator who has been deployed for countless guest verses and vocal hooks, Pharrell has been a regular presence on radio stations and video programs for several years. As of late 2005, ...
It may have taken the Notorious B.I.G. a few years to follow up his milestone debut, Ready to Die (1994), with another album, but when he did return with Life After Death in 1997, he did so in a huge way. The ambitious album, intended as somewhat of a sequel to Ready to Die, picking up where its predecessor left off, sprawled across the span of ...
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