(Check out this review and many more over at Blocgritics.org)
Hot beats to get ya moving is what its about these days. The hip-hop landscape is changing…folks are tiring of gansta rap and are looking for players to get back to what it was about in the beginning…beats and spittin’ lyrics.
James Todd Smith (LL Cool J to y’all who don’t know) is doing his part to follow the new trend with his new release The DEFinition. From the outset the beats are what get you going. Head Sprung, Rub My Back…get ya movin’, head bobbin’, booty shakin’ (if my two-year-old daughter is any indication).
The style and beats have a familiar sound…LL teamed up with super producer Timbaland for nearly every track on the CD. It’s nice to hear that Timbo can still put out those hot beats and not have a CD of the same tired beat over and over.
But this is not the “hard as hell” LL that we know from the past. There is no Rock The Bells, there is no I’m Bad, there isn’t even a Round The Way Girl here but there are several “love raps” over nice beats.
LL still has the flow, still has the lyrics…and he more than likely coined the newest “bootylicious” with Apple Cobbler…but the Greatest Of All Time may be losing some of his shine and glimmer.
I would still give this CD 3.5 stars… it is LL Cool J and he is still holding down the game after all this time. And the beats did get me moving. I just wish there had been a little more “edge” , a little more “LL Cool J is hard as hell”.
It took a couple of listens before I could form an honest opinion of Houston’s debut release “It’s Already Written“.
If folks are expecting the entire CD to be like the hit single “I Like That” they will be very disappointed. “I Like That” was the first release for a reason…its is about the best track on the CD. With that said, the CD is pretty good.
Houston’s voice is different from anything out there on the R&B circuit right now. Not silky smooth like Usher, but a little deeper, a little more distinct.
The much touted remake of the 80s classic “Let Me Love You Down” by Ready For The World doesn’t come close to touching the original, but is a pretty good rendition. There are some songs that will never be outdone with a remake, this is one of those songs.
But somewhere about the third or fourth time through, I started to really like this CD…the expectations wore off and I could listen to it and hear it for what it is…a pretty good debut from a young artist.
Nineteen-year-old Katie Melua has a voice to be cherished…its too bad she was stifled with predictable lyrics in her debut release “Call Off The Search“.
Melua has been touted as the next Norah Jones, but she will have to grow a little more to take it to that level.
The hit single from the album, “Crawling Up A Hill” is upbeat and kind of funky, but I was not impressed with too many of the other tracks. Melua spends far too much time dragging out the words of every song…maybe in an effort to sound more sexy or more bluesy. Either way, she would be better served to use her beautiful voice without the gimmicks.
“My Aphrodisiac Is You” is a great love song…sang straight out with a strong voice. This is probably my favorite track on the CD.
I enjoyed all the music on the CD, the lyrics and vocals at times were a bit much to take though.