Get Familiar: Bilal's "First Born Second"

Music lovers everywhere are always looking for that album that is the perfect masterpiece, one that plays from start to finish without touching your player. Bilal's First Born Second is one such album that speaks to every possible emotion that one might have, not only in relationships but in life in general. Bilal puts the extra effort in to make life songs instead of just love songs, with enough soul, jazz, and rock infused to please the most eccentric of musical tastes.

"For You," "Fast Lane" and "All That I Am" are those songs you put on in the morning to get you through the first part of your day. "Reminisce" and "Sometimes" make you wanna spark a li'l somethin', burn some incense and have a glass of wine and reflect. "You Are", "Love Poems", "Love It", and "Soul Sista" are equally satisfying, but standard love songs that are unconventional in their written approach.

The ballad "Queen of Sanity" deserves its own paragraph, so here goes. This song is easily the best song on the album, starting out at almost a whisper and building into a controlled roar. Bilal has a Prince-like mastery of his vocals and goes from very high to very deep at a moment's notice, giving his music considerable texture. His musical backing is always on point as well.

I saw Bilal at the 9:30 club in DC, which also makes me somewhat biased in this review, because he was excellent in his live show, just as he was on the album. He was an hour late, but nobody cared because Bilal and his band came out hard and didn't stop killing it until the set was over. Great vocals, great band, great show, great album. And for the underground 'heads, Bilal's "Love for Sale" is hard to find but worth the effort, with tracks like "Get Out Of My Hair" and "White Turns to Gray" making it another perfect album. Buy the albums, buy the tickets, and support real music by supporting this artist!

Kanye Needs A Hug

808's & Heartbreak is a heartbreak in itself.

I wanted to like it. I wanted to love it. I wanted to feel the same way about 808's & Heartbreak as I did about College Dropout, Late Registration, and the Graduation, but Mr. West did not deliver. Understandably, Kanye's going through some things recently, but he may have needed some personal time before getting in the studio for his next project.
Musically, the project is more than sound. Kanye's work is sonically seamless throughout, but it's the lack of variety that makes the listener feel somewhat robbed. It was one thing when you first heard 'Ye use the auto-tune technology that T-Pain became famous for. But to make an entire album using it and singing as opposed to rapping when you are so evidently not a singer? Questionable.

The standouts on this album seem to be where Kanye invited a guest along for the ride. In "See You In My Nightmares", Li'l Wayne rides shotgun, croaking out a synthesized verse alongside Kanye's crooning. Young Jeezy makes a surprising appearance on "Amazing", which is also a bright spot. "Heartless" bounces along as one of the more upbeat songs on the track, despite the subject matter. Halfway through, one realizes that the common thread of the album is self-pity, an emotion that doesn't really make for feel-good music or even get-you-through-the-day music. "Robocop", "Street Lights" and "Bad News" just blend together into a cluster-fuck of incredible musical arrangements mixed with sub-par vocals and pretentious themes.

As a hip-hop fan who also has an affinity for Radiohead, Paul Oakenfold, and Thievery Corporation, I can appreciate the unique musical direction, but what I don't like is that I expect hip-hop to stay true to hip-hop to some degree. If Kanye had infused about four or five solid hip-hop tracks like "Get 'Em High" or , he could have showed his hardcore fans that he still values their following. It's never healthy to limit an artist to a categorized box, but you can't just go to Mars and expect people to go with you without having a few questions for you.

The artwork above is available at www.whoartnow.co.uk/images/ajh-cnv-227l.jpg