In the early 90’s, Silk alongside other similar R&B acts such as Jodeci, Shai, and H-town dominated the R&B charts with songs such as ``Freak me" "Loose control” and “Girl U for me”. Our Atlanta Silky men now come to you with their album "Always and Forever." Digging into the R&B songs of the earlier time, Silk sing to their audiences cover versions of R&B soul songs over the last two decades. Silk opens this nostalgic album with Switch’s “There’ll Never Be”. From there, they continue on with tracks such as Al B Sure’s “Night and Day”, a flawless cover of Michael Jackson’s “Lady in my life” and an excellent cover of Quincy Jones “Secret Garden.” One thing that is immediately apparent with this album is how these men have matured and their choices of cover songs illustrates such matter. In 1992 Silk were alluring ladies with explicit lyrics such as “I wanna lick up and down `till you say stop” however now they sing warmer implicit lyrics such as, "You are the lady of my life. Think about you night and day” and “Always forever with you” which reminds listeners of what R&B and soul use to sound like. Their voices, sound and harmony are still as strong as they were back in the “Freak me” days. However, listeners will also notice how they have grown, which attain to the songs they choose to cover, especially in Quincy Jones’ “Secret Garden” and The System’s “Don’t disturb the groove.” Furthermore, each of their voices are distinct, clear and crisp despite the fact that a number of the tracks are lead vocal tracks. There are a couple of tracks on the CD where Silk tries to emulate the original song but doesn’t quite match it such as what is heard in Heatwave’s “Always and forever.” However the rest of the album compensates for this. Allegorically, this album does not only take us back to the days of smooth grooves of R&B and soul music but has also been described as “baby making music to the next level.” With this being a cover version album the success of this CD is questionable because of the current cookie cutting formula of what R&B and soul music is today. This is obviously not Silk’s fault, however this interestingly illustrates that Silk’s purpose for composing this album was not just to garnish sales but to remind listeners of what good R&B music used to be and what some of us were possibly conceived to.

Dwight Barrett [Just Soul]

With a name like Choklate, it instantly gets my attention and listening to the music, it is indeed a smooth, delicious album from Kajmere Sound Recordings. Born and raised in Seattle, San Diego, Choklate shows natural talent with this, her self-entitled, fourteen-track debut. The executive and creative director is Hip-Hop producer Vitamin D from Seattle (DJ Nu Mark, De La Soul, Blackalicious, Rah Digga) and producers on the album are Jake One (De La Soul, G-Unit, Lloyd Banks), BeanOne, Kuddie Mak, Jay Townsend and Amos Miller, who have managed to keep a very organic sound. The production of the album is good with horn sections and guitar solos. The first track, an intro called ‘Thank You’ shows the softer, more fluid side to Choklate’s voice - sultry and captivating. The first single from the album is ‘Waitin’, which has a guest MC appearance by Chali 2Na of Jurassic 5. The CD incorporates Soulful R&B, contemporary Jazz sounds with a Hip-Hop edge. Choklate’s Gospel upbringing is evident in her mature sound, style and lyrics, having good song writing skills. What is clear throughout the album is her love of quality sounding music and a passion within which is eager to break out. Listening to the album, many of her songs seem to be aimed at one particular person – they will know who they are! The track ‘Never Change’ being a heartfelt number about a close relationship - very honest & sincere with a funky beat, which makes you want to get up and dance. The album is well nurtured and refreshing. ‘What’s About To Go Down’ having an old school feel – most charming and lovely, her voice suiting the sound. ‘Gettin’ Is Good’ has a laid back feel, Choklate feeling at home on this song. It is a strong debut and has all the ingredients to impress. I think this young lady will become extremely busy, as she has a beautiful vocal range many people will be eager to hear again. Let’s hope her creativity will be allowed to keep flourishing. It is the birth of someone who has a talent with depth, richness and an ability to capture many different emotions. I am sure you will be hearing much more from this artist. Highly recommended.

Tracey Cope [Just Soul]

Musical artists experiment with a lot of things. They experiment with different sounds, vocal abilities, lyrics, and instruments. Sometimes these experiments turn out to be great and become a huge success while at other times they don’t turn out so well and need to be refurbish and done again. Louisville born Darnell Levine Anderson comes out this summer with his debut album ‘We Gon’ Use What We Got’ where he experiments with different sounds and voices blended in jazz/soul/blues to deliver his thoughts of every day life. Listeners are first exposed to Darnell Levine’s song ‘Use What We Got’, that no doubt, has a nice blues/jazz sound. However, his ‘unapologetic’ vocals might force some listeners to raise their eyebrows and skip this track. This tendency regrettably follows throughout most of the CD with tracks like ‘Kiss Yourself For Me’, ‘Try Him’, ‘Decided Not To’, and ‘Nothin’ Like Friends’ where his unconcealed vocals battle with the background music. Underneath this clashing and his green lyrics there is a definite theme/story line in Darnell’s CD: being human and the things that we enjoy, the challenges and the obstacles we go through (i.e., getting married, falling in love, etc, etc.) The simplistic lyrics at times do harmonize well - as what is heard in ‘Married now’. However in other songs like ‘Decided Not To’ where he sings, “been since 3 months since my last car oil change, think to myself it’s about time. I put it on my list of things to do, but I just decided not to..” it might make the listener question if he simply ran out of creative ideas. The beats and instruments used in this CD are what make this album bearable for listeners. Being from ‘the dirty South’, Darnell borrows a lot of his cultural music of jazz and blues to showcase his talent and even uses a nostalgic 70’s soul sound in some of the tracks such as in ‘Married Now’. This can provide a somewhat relaxing ambience to the listener - if they can ignore Darnell’s vocals. Darnell Levine’s CD is something that a listener needs to adapt to. This is simply because Darnell’s ‘unapologetic’ yet creative vocals, lyrics and style make it perfect for a live performance where singing off key and missing notes are somewhat tolerable - not in a studio production.

Dwight Barrett [Just Soul]

This 16 track CD from Shanice is a joint venture with her own label Imajah Records and Play Tyme Entertainment, with input from Jamey Jaz, Rahsaan Patterson and Sheila E, all contributing to the final sound - a good collection of work after several years away. Shanice (a.k.a. Shanice Wilson), is one of the executive producers, co-producing and co-writing the album. The CD includes Shanice’s version of the most beautifully written Minnie Ripperton song ‘Lovin’ You’ a favourite of mine, which I listened to with a huge amount of judgement, to see how the song was approached. Shanice lovingly makes it her own with beautifully hit notes from her 5-octave range voice, tackling it from the undergrowth and reaching the stars to perfection. Stunning to listen to. This is a CD of different halves - the first being R&B sounding, the second being a more mature, Old School vibe - a contrast, which in this case, works well, as this is an artist who does justice to both. The lyrics really stand out and make you sit back and take note. There is an ethnic feel to her music at times, which blends well with her strong, mature sounding voice making a unique soulful sound. Shanice refers to her actor husband Flex Alexander in her lyrics, who she affectionately calls ‘Sexy Flexy’ and her two children, a family, whom I am sure, will have helped in giving this album the fresh, confident, warm, ‘I feel good with life’ essence it emits. ‘Chocolate’ is a sexy song which many people, (particularly women) will warm to. A seductive, smooth, dreamy feed to the ear, the Grammy nominated violinist Regina Carter enticing you to sit back & soak in the lyrics this song pours. ‘Forever Like A Rose’ is a beautiful, heartfelt song, which speaks of the relationship she had with her father whom she was separated from for a time as a child, poignant and touching. The penultimate track being ‘Joy’, which really sums up the album and tells you the place where Shanice is right now in her life. The final track ‘Outro’ making use of her love of spoken word/poetry/lyrics saying ‘I am a Woman - beautiful, grown, woman’, ‘I am not too tall, too wide’, outlining her intentions as a person, as an artist, not letting anyone or anything get in the way of how she will live her life - empowering lyrics; saying ‘This CD is built to last’, exuding confidence. In the thank you section of her CD she says “for all those I have not mentioned, charge it to my head, not my heart”. Overall this album is refreshing to listen to. A mature sound, which will fit into the collection of many people’s tastes - well recommended.

Tracey Cope [Just Soul]

Born in NYC and moving to Philly, Tara Betterbid aka Taragirl has been blessing her local Philly fans for the last three years with her vocals and empathizing lyrics. She comes this summer with the release of her debut album 26th Power. Describing her sound as mixture of R&B and soul with a little bit of “girl funk,” Taragirl pours her heart on this album on her love, relationships and other thoughts that penetrate her mind. The 26th power starts off with “1st Things 1st” containing various voice messages that are left on Taragirl’s voicemail as she adlibs to a funky beat. “Love-change-everything” tells a typical story of the frustrations of a relationship as Taragirl cries “I love you so much.” “High life” “Why can’t cha” “Stop holdin on” (whose intro sounds very much like a slow down version of Musiq Soulchild’s “Love) and “Saturday morning love” provide a nice chilled out feel as Taragirl’s smooth voice rides along with a nice heading swinging beat, especially on “Saturday morning love.” Taragirl leaves a question for her listeners on her last track “What’s soul music?” where she advocates to her listeners on soul music and how it can influence you. About a minute later of silence she emerges into a soulful acappella that is later backed by a guitar. The 26th power is an allegorical album; it discusses about the love and relationships yet interesting it also illustrate how soulful music can move and influence you; one positive aspect about this debut album. Taragirl’s soulful voice might convince listeners that perhaps her voice would sound better with live instruments instead of computer programming beats as heard in “What’s soul music?” and “Stop holdin’ on” however, songs like “Saturday morning love” and “I love you so much” might prove listeners otherwise. Taragirl does follow a little bit of the current typical R&B recipe singing about “make up and break up” situations however she does not make it her entire them; another strong aspect on this album. The only weak part of this album . . . . .it’s short however considering this is Taragirl’s first album, this is probably a smart move on her part. The last thing you want to do is pour all your heart and soul in your first album to only leave your subsequent albums with the same cookie cutting formula making your album dry, repetitive and boring which has been seen countless times in a number of artists. The 26th power no doubt is a preliminary alert that this talented songtress has a lot going for her and her next album will take you onto a higher power.

Dwight Barrett [Just Soul]