Reviews: India Arie - Testimony Vol.: Life and Relationships, Akon - Konvicted Gnarls Barkley - St. Elsewhere, We're About the Business - Chuck Brown, Beyonce - B'Day, Fantasia - Fantasia, Goapele - Change It All

India Arie - Testimony Vol. 1: Life and Relationships

Vocals: B Content: A Production: C

Originality: B- Quality %: C+ Bonus: N/A

Release Date: June 27th, 2006

If nothing more India Arie is the queen of positivity on record in the R&B Soul world. This external optimism has never been more clear than on her third solo album Testimony Vol. 1: Life and Relationships. While most singers deal with heartbreak, whether real or just performed, with songs lamenting loss, and still reflecting hurt and sometimes anger, Arie at least on record is seemingly incapable of staying mad at anyone or any situation. This may be her greatest gift, but it also may be a curse at times. There are times to be more than a little upset, if not outright angry, even musically and sometimes Arie's syrupy wholesomeness can come off as just a little too sweet. It's apparent in the songs for this album, both in there substance and titles, for instance "Forgiveness", "Wings of Forgiveness", "Good Mourning", and "Heart of the Matter", that Arie has recently had to deal with the heartbreak of a failed relationship. It may be a "breakup album", but by no means is it a bitter one. "The Heart of the Matter," a cover of the Don Henley song finds Arie demanding respect from her partner even though it has an almost easy-listening feel. "Good Mourning", a title that is also a play on words finds Arie saying "Good Morning" to the harsh realities of life, and events and emotions we all dread. "Better People" is also a cut dealing with reconciliation and forgiveness though it's aim is more general. "Testimony" also finds Arie re-visiting familiar themes in her music, such as dealing with self-image and self-acceptance. "Private Party" deals with the importance of being able to look at yourself in a mirror (all of yourself) and being able to be happy with what you see. "I Am Not My Hair", the lead single and one of the strongest tunes on the album, invites singer Akon to help Arie celebrate "the soul that lives within" over the physical aspects of a person. Musically, "Testimony" finds it's musical influences branching out with a distinct flavor of country and pop this time around, in addition to gospel. Overall "Testimony" is a solid LP and addition to Arie's library though I didn't like it as much as her debut or sophomore releases. For anyone new to Arie's music what shines on this LP are the same things that shine on most of her work; that she is one of the best singer-songwriters in the business and her music has the uncanny ability to make the listener feel good, not matter how heavy the subject matter. "

Imagine Maya Angelou’s greeting cards of grace and wisdom taking flight out of a relationship coming to its crashing end… that constitutes the core of Testimony: Vol. 1, Life & Relationship. Arie has earned the distinction of making one of the most elegant, mature soundtracks ever to surviving the breakup of the kind if relationship that has you imagining what your kids together would have looked like ("These Eyes"). Unlike the vase-throwing, car door keying, financial tally sheet spouting frenzies common with most R&B female artists venturing in breakup territory, Arie’s lyrics flow like epiphanies from a woman who knows the victim/victimizer route isn’t enough. Instead, Arie achieves a hard fought enlightenment with songs like "Good Mourning" and “Private Party”. In doing so, Arie maintains the type of beauty and self-respect that haunts those who look back over their shoulders, expecting to find their ex in shambles by their leaving.

Arie branches out stylistically beyond the neo-soul boundaries of her first two albums. The range is provided by a diverse group of musicians including blues standout Keb' Mo', the jazzy Rachelle Ferrell and bass virtuoso Victor Wooten. In some instances, she even flirts with a country music’s homespun flavor. This may alienate her some of her audience, but if listeners approached the album with the idea of Arie healing the howling hurt in all of us, as opposed to rehashes of her debut Acoustic Soul for some twenty-to-forty female demographic looking for something to go with their lattes, every move she makes will make sense.

Overall: N/A :Review by William Ashanti Hobbs - Guest Reviewer

Akon - Konvicted

Vocals: B- Content: D- Production: C-

Originality: D Quality %: F Bonus: N/A

Release Date: November 21st, 2006

The people responsible Akon's image, including Akon himself, have made no secret of their desire to market the Senegalese-born singer as an "R&B thug", assuming such a designation even makes sense. From his debut "Locked Up" to its follow-up "Konvicted", I can't figure out nor appreciate Akon's infatuation with prison and prison themes. Perhaps it's some suppressed desire to be "gangster" rapper harbored by Akon. Indeed 3 of the albums first 4 songs feature rappers, all from the more risqué spectrum of content as far as rappers go. Perhaps Akon believes that's what sells in today's music climate or perhaps that's his way of sticking to what got him to his current position. Akon’s young career has been built around collaborations with rap artist. I like to call him the east cost version of Nate Dogg, except where Nate Dogg seems to only do hooks, Akon has already managed to put out one shaky album with “Konvicted” being his second release. Unfortunately “Konvicted” is a little more than shaky, it’s an outright building collapse of an album, any number of ways you look at it. I’ve managed to overlook Akon’s limited, yet unique vocals, but I just can’t get over the juvenile song crafting and base content of this album. “Konvicted” earns every bit of its parental advisory sticker. I’ve never really found it enjoyable to listen to rappers with crass song titles like “Smack That” (as in Ass) or “I Wanna Fu@k You”, (which features Snoop and is on Akon’s as well as Snoop’s latest LPs) but to hear it from an singer just takes low brow tactics to new depths. No surprise, the “I Wanna Fu@k You” cut is released as a single and getting significant airplay though on the radio it’s been changed to “I Wanna Love You” which really makes for a better song in the first place. “The Rain” is probably the best song on the album and one of the few I actually enjoyed. The others mostly generated feelings of dislike, i.e. the hypocritical tune “Gangsta Bop” or “Tired of Runnin’” (by now everyone should be tired of hearing about Negroe rappers running on records), or they generated little reaction at all, such as the very mediocre “Mama Africa”. It’s refreshing to see a singer with clearly African roots making his way in the mainstream of the American music industry, but it’s almost sad that in doing so Akon has exemplified so much of the worst the American music mainstream has to offer.

Gnarls Barkley - St. Elsewhere

Vocals: B Content: B- Production: B-

Originality: A+ Quality %: B- Bonus: N/A

Release Date: May 9th, 2006

If you've followed C-Lo Green's career as a member of the Atlanta-based rap group, Goodie MOB or through his two solo albums you already know he refuses to be contained within the boundaries of what most would consider "Hip-hop". He's eccentric, creative, has a soulful singing voice, and is unafraid to take chances musically. Meanwhile U.K. product Danger Mouse is one of the most underrated artist/producers in music today though his "Demon Days" sold over 5 million worldwide and Dangerdoom's "The Mouse And The Mask" sold over 100,000 units with not much promotion. Together these two very distinct personalities have combined to form one Gnarls Barkley and create the LP St. Elsewhere. It's a very imaginative and creative genre-bending project that is part rock, part Hip-hop, part pop, and mostly psychedelic. The most predictable thing about it is that St. Elsewhere often brings out the best attributes of both artist in the form of the entity Gnarls Barkley. Danger Mouse's uncanny knack for creating frenzied and tightly wound beats with strange and sometimes eerie sound landscapes is all over the LP and shows on tracks like "The Boogie Monster" and "Necromancing". Danger Mouse is also no stranger to a sick (in a good way) baseline as evidenced by "Just a Thought", C-Lo's musings on depression suicide, and "Storm Coming" which starts with such a well constructed drum line that I only wish it would have kept up with it for the rest of the track. There are a couple of tracks that miss the mark, like "Transformer" and "Gone Daddy Gone" but that is sometimes what happens when you take chances. In the same breadth other chances pay off such as the irresistible and extremely surprising hit lead single "Crazy", which as hard as it is to believe, has been receiving airplay on the homogenized mainstream radio airwaves. As C-Lo remarks on the cut "Who Cares", "Everybody is somebody, but nobody wants to be themselves," it's a good thing that he and Danger Mouse, or better yet, Gnarls Barkley has no problem being who they or he is.

Beyonce - B'Day

Vocals: N/A Content: N/A Production: N/A

Originality: N/A Quality %: N/A Bonus: N/A

Release Date: September 5th, 2006

It takes some ingenuity for an artist as ubiquitous as Beyoncé Giselle Knowles to avoid being looked at as the cute, talented little cousin at the family reunion who continues to tap you on the shoulder with “and look what I can do” while you’re trying to eat and converse with everyone else. Since the debut of her group Destiny’s Child in 1990, it seems like the Houston native has kept you from getting a forkful of macaroni in edgewise. Consider putting that cold plate of food in the microwave. B’Day’s array of producers came with a reliable collection of R&B, hip hop-tinged tracks to rival her 2003 solo debut (“Dangerously in Love”), but is not what will intrigue.

What sets “B’Day” apart is a bubbling, overflowing rage in Beyoncé’s voice that’ll have you repeating burners like the recently released single “Ring the Alarm” and “Resentment.” You will wonder if she’s shooting flare signals out boyfriend rapper Jay Z. The first release “Déjà vu” has done what it was supposed to on the charts and when the perfumed swagger in the ballad “Irreplaceable” hits the streets full force, wounded women who never paid attention to your little cousin will be pushing you out of the way and waving opened cell phones in appreciation. An album centered around female anthems that rings genuine; Good luck with getting back to the rest of your life… the movie remake of play Dreamgirls, featuring you-know-who, comes out in December.

Overall: N/A :Review by William Ashanti Hobbs - Guest Reviewer

Chuck Brown - We're About the Business

Vocals: N/A Content: N/A Production: N/A

Originality: N/A Quality %: N/A Bonus: N/A

Release Date: April 24th, 2007

Chuck Brown is "The Godfather of Go-Go music". It is a shame that with all of the playahatas affiliated with the Maryland, Metro area that GO- GO has so little representation on playahata.com. People from D.C. sometimes treat there own sound as a stepchild, myself included. I say we might as well put the review in the rap section. Go-go is a sub-genre of funk music developed in and around Washington, D.C. in the mid- and late 1970s. While its musical classification, influences, and origins are debated, Brown is regarded as the fundamental force behind the creation of go-go music.

On "We’re About The Business" his first newly recorded studio project since 1983 the man picks right back up where he left off. The man is funny, witty, and even more wicked live and in person. He can get a barbecue going, a club pumping, or a lounge rocking even while he sings with a growl. His live shows are legendary, and so is this album. He comes full circle with We re About the Business to the business of making your body move with new songs crafted with catchy hooks and infectious beats. If you still don’t know what I am talking about check his myspace page to hear a sample. Yes many of the tracks in "Go-Go" are borrowed or samples of hits but in "Go-Go" it still comes off original.

Fantasia - Fantasia

Vocals: B- Content: C- Production: C-

Originality: C- Quality %: C Bonus: N/A

Release Date: December 12th, 2006

So here I am with a special delivery from ol' Chuck, sometimes I swear I wish these things would self-destruct, Mission Impossible style. What's inside? The sophomore effort from young miss Fantasia Barrino. Now, I like Fantasia. I like her voice and all, but when I heard that leadoff track, "Hood Boy", I wanted to leap out the window. How many times are we going to have to be subjected to such drivel masquerading as music and/or lyrical content? And why the hell is a girl who had a "hood boy" who impregnated her and then left her to fend for herself and their baby, singing about wanting another one? This marrying ourselves to despicable circumstances through our music and celebrating and embracing said circumstances HAS to stop. Public service announcement over, let's get back into this review. 

For my money, Fantasia excels when she's performing mid-tempo and ballad material. When she gets up into faster tempo tunes, the material seems mediocre, derivative and kind of empty, although I do admit to liking the fourth track, titled "Baby Makin' Hips", but that could just be the title working some sort of mojo on me (cause lord knows a green elastic brotha love some hips). That feeling however, is quickly overwhelmed by the derivative (yes I know I used it last sentence, but trust me, it fits) "Not The Way That I Do", which sounds like it escaped from one of Beyoncé's recording sessions for her last CD. Not to mention the re-appearance of the dreaded rap cadence on said track. When Fantasia goes to the club on a track it just doesn't seem to fit, almost like she's trying to fit inside a box that isn't made for her talent. Like I stated earlier, she just seems more suited, at least at this point in her career, to ballads and middle tempo material. A perfect example would be the eighth track; "I'm Not That Type", with a nice track that could play in a club or party setting. The best song on the disc is easily "Two Weeks Notice", a smooth break-up ballad laced with regret. Tracks that got my attention are "Baby Makin' Hips", "Two Weeks Notice", "Bore Me (Yawn)" and "Sunshine". Mostly though, Fantasia is an uneven effort that tries to round more bases than it needs to in order to get to home. I am GumbyDammitt, and I approve this message.

Overall: C- :Review by Gumby Dammitt

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Goapele - Change It All

Vocals: B Content: A Production: B-

Originality: B- Quality %: C+ Bonus: N/A

Release Date: December 27th, 2005

Bay Area (California) singer Goapele's 2002 debut Even Closer, made an underground splash even if the commercial seas were unmoved. A short 3 plus years later she's back with her sophomore release, Change It All, which is a plea as much as it is an album title. Making music that is soulful and socially relevant, even if understated, is proving to be her pedigree. "Find A Way" is introduced by a brief interview with the internationally renowned activist, accused cop killer, and death row inmate Mumia Abu Jamal, where Jamal urges the American citizenry to be more rebellious and less fearful, because that is where people "find the best part of themselves." The title track "Change It All" expresses some open but subdued frustration with the current political and social situation from tax cuts for the wealthy and war, to cuts in social services. "4AM" and "First Love" showcase Goapele's sensual side and "Different" has a irresistible new-age grove that I love despite the tune being a bit of a Hip-Hop and R&B hybrid. "Fly Away" is a decent exploration with a rock music influence, and "Crushed Out" and "If We Knew" are solid cuts. Unfortunately everything (except the bonus track which is a remix of her debut LP's lead single, "Closer") after the track "If We Knew" is fairly under-whelming which makes the LP end with a whimper instead of the "bang" it needs, but overall Change It All is a respectable follow up and proof that Goapele has successfully avoided the sophomore jinx.

Overall: B- :Review by Eyecalone

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