The Beautiful Struggle
CRITIC'S CHOICE
If skills sold, truth be told/I'd probably be lyrically Talib Kweli." So rhymed Jay-Z on "Moment of Clarity," a track off last year's The Black Album. Given the boastful nature of the game, that Jay-Z, one of the best rappers of his generation, should give such props to another emcee says a lot about Kweli's talent. On Kweli's second solo CD (he also released two discs as part of the duos Black Star and Reflection Eternal), the son of Brooklyn demonstrates why he has earned bragging rights as one of hip-hop's premier lyricists. Indeed, Struggle is—no contest—the rap album of the year. Kweli, whose name means "student of truth" in Arabic, spits rhymes that are unusually heady and refreshingly honest. The killer single "I Try," featuring Mary J. Blige wailing the chorus over a Latin-tinged groove courtesy of producer Kanye West, sets the lyrical tone: "Life is a beautiful struggle/People search through the rubble for a suitable hustle." Decidedly anti-gangsta and anti-bling, Kweli poignantly addresses the struggles of everyone from AIDS orphans in Sierra Leone to the everyday people living "Around My Way" (a pop-flavored cut that deftly samples the Police's "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic"). Going against rap's misogynistic tendencies, he shows love for sisters on the heart-felt "Black Girl Pain" ("This is for Aisha/This is for Kashera/This is for Khadijah/Scared to look up in the mirror") and, on the sweetly soulful "We Know," tells his lady that "I write my lyrics to you, you're the perfect instrumental." • DOWNLOAD THIS: "Black Girl Pain" DOWNLOAD THIS: "Black Girl Pain"
PUNK-POP
PUNK-POP
Chuck
Not many rock bands would name their album after a United Nations representative. But that's exactly what Sum 41 did after fighting erupted while the group was filming a documentary on the civil war in the Democratic Republic of Congo last May and they were evacuated to safety by the U.N.'s Chuck Pelletier. Unfortunately the Canadian quartet's third disc is not as compelling as the story behind its title. Their thrashing punk-pop and metallic riffs don't add up to anything new. Songs like the politically tinged single "We're All to Blame" and the racing rocker "No Reason" are testosterone-fueled tracks for angry teenage boys to work out their aggression. Lead singer Deryck Whibley (Avril Lavigne's beau) brings the appropriate snarl to his vocals, which go from a boyish whine to a primal scream. He and the band show a surprisingly affecting soft side on the TRL-ready breakup ballad "Pieces," on which Whibley confesses, "I tried to be perfect/It just wasn't worth it." —C.A.
• DOWNLOAD THIS: "Pieces" DOWNLOAD THIS: "Pieces"
POP
POP
Nancy Sinatra
Nancy Sinatra, 64, probably has boots older than some of her collaborators on this disc. U2's Bono and the Edge, Morrissey, Pete Yorn, Pulp's Jarvis Cocker and Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore all contributed songs. But instead of attempting to make Sinatra over into an alt-rock queen, they help to coolly preserve the image and groovy sound of the miniskirted '60s sex symbol. Songs like "Burnin' Down the Spark," a spaghetti-western-style number, and "Let Me Kiss You," a vintage Morrissey tune that first appeared on his recent You Are the Quarry, have plenty of get-up-and-go-go. And Sinatra nails the torch song "Two Shots of Happy, One Shot of Sad," originally written for her father, Frank, by Bono and the Edge —C.A. • DOWNLOAD THIS: "Let Me Kiss You"DOWNLOAD THIS: "Let Me Kiss You"
ALT-POP
ALT-POP
The Clarence Greenwood Recordings
With the seamless way he mixes folk, blues, soul, pop-rock, hip-hop and reggae, it's no wonder that Citizen Cope used to be a deejay (for the group Basehead). On his second solo CD, the singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist born Clarence Greenwood splices bits of Bob Dylan, Steely Dan, Bob Marley and Beck, among others, to create a fresh, genre-defying sound that shows he must have a really good record collection. Check out the way the loping, reggae-tinged "Pablo Picasso," about a man obsessed with a woman painted on a wall mural, effortlessly segues into the chilled-out jazz-pop of "My Way Home." The Memphis-born, Washington, D.C.-raised Cope gets help from Carlos Santana, whose electric guitar charges the uplifting "Son's Gonna Rise," and Me'Shell Ndegéocello, who plays bass on the achingly bluesy ballad "Sideways." Lyrically, Cope has the heart of a storyteller, poet and social critic. "Well, I'm waiting on a time/When the people walk free to see/From the penitentiary in our mind," he sings in his laid-back style on "Penitentiary." Clearly, though, there are no musical chains on Cope. —C.A.
• DOWNLOAD THIS: "Sideways" DOWNLOAD THIS: "Sideways"
COUNTRY
COUNTRY
Katrina Elam
Newcomer Katrina Elam, 20, doesn't confuse attitude with style. And luckily for this energetic Oklahoman, she has been taken under the wing of Reba McEntire's longtime producer Tony Brown, who steers Elam into a stance that is clearly modern as well as traditional, backing her with countrified fiddles and guitars instead of the ersatz rock arrangements that bog down Shania Twain. For her part, Elam displays vocal versatility. On "Normal," about a teen wanting to fit in, she sounds appropriately girlish, while on "Strong Anything" she is convincing as a woman who prefers strength in everything from coffee to men.
• DOWNLOAD THIS: "I Want a Cowboy"DOWNLOAD THIS: "I Want a Cowboy"
Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder, Brand New Strings
This superlative collection of down-home music reeks of authenticity-the unfettered sound of bluegrass. Skaggs is his usual dazzling self, picking and singing with zestful precision.
Raphael Saadiq,Raphael Saadiq as Ray Ray
The 70s blaxploitation-flick era inspires this super-fly disc, on which neo-soul man Saadiq conjures up vintage Prince, Stevie Wonder and Curtis Mayfield.
Joss Stone, Mind, Body & Soul
With a gritty, blues-hued voice that belies her Britneyesque looks, this 17-year-old British belter shines on the retro-R&B cuts featured on her first album of original material.
Green Day, American Idiot
Pop-punk's patriarchs roar back onto the scene with this, their most bitingly political work, providing a raucous chorus for attacking the establishment.
Regis Philbin What do Regis Philbin, Queen Latifah and Rod Stewart have in common? They all have new CDs of standards. We caught up with Philbin, 73, about When You're Smiling, his first disc since 1968.
ON WHY HE DECIDED TO RECORD AGAIN I did an album 36 years ago, and nobody called after that. Then all of a sudden here [Hollywood Records] was, so I said, "Sure, why not?"
ON HIS FAVORITE ARTIST TODAY I like Usher a lot. He's been doing Live since he was 17, and I've watched him grow up and become a major star.
ON WHAT'S ON HIS iPOD Every song Dean Martin ever recorded. He's my all-time favorite. He had a lot of style and class. He had a great way with a song.
ON WHAT KELLY RIPA THINKS OF HIS NEW CD She likes the cover. She says I look like a young buck, like somebody who frolicked with her on the beach in New Jersey years ago.
ON IF HE'LL EVER DO A DUET WITH KELLY I've asked her many times to sing, but she shies away from it. I do have a duet on the CD with my wife, Joy, "They Can't Take That Away from Me." But Kelly? Not yet.
- Contributors:
- Chuck Arnold,
- Ralph Novak,
- Fannie Weinstein.
Saved by the Bell Reunion
The hookups, the meltdowns, the memoires
The case reveals what was really going on what they think of each other now!
