Music Addikts

The Crossrhodes recently released a compilation album of some of their old hits and unreleased joints. If you’re in need of a Wes Felton & Raheem Devaughn fix this is the album for you. Check it out and grab your copy at the Crossrhodes bandcamp site today.

I was so excited to get the advance on this album in preparation for a listening party.  The 8-song advance was a heck ofa teaser and left many unanswered questions like, “Who is going to collab on the project?”  “What is going to be the story within?” and “What is Dwele going to hit us with now?”  Dwele is a great storyteller through his albums. It seems the general consensus about the preceding album Sketches Of A Man was a bit of a disappointment across the board.  Sorry Dwele, your fans have strong opinions.  HOWEVER, W.ant, W.orld, W.omen sets Dwele ablaze from the first track!  Needless to say I was UBERGEEKED to get this gift in my inbox!!

So how about I launch into my experience…

I first checked out the tracklist and was immediately surprised to see cameos by DJ Quik, David Banner, Monica Blaire and Lloyd Dwayne.  I admit I am a bit of a snob, so I was asking myself, “Self, David Banner? Is Dwele going mainstream?”  I listened to this track first, messing up the whole order of the private presentation.  Understand that this song, “Dodgin’ Your Phone” featuring David Banner is humorous, super sexy and very relatable.  I was immediately teleported back to a Picasso-esque montage of nights where I am dialing a shorty on the way home from a gig or hanging at the club with one thought… “Oooh, girl why you ain’t answering your phone? I got a serious love angst for you!”

The signature trumpet licks are peppering a handful of songs in a manner reminiscent of Dwelogy.  Dwele shows off with a slick little interlude where he raps, but the vocal layering was bahnoodles and segued into “Dim the Lights,” an image-filled collab with Raheem DeVaughn.  The collab with Monica Blaire and Lloyd Dwayne on “Detroit Sunrise” is an ode to ‘Motor City.’ As the only female voice on the project, Monica lends a great contrast to Dwele’s airy voice.

Dwele is a master of imagery in his music and the vivid manner in which he pans and fades in and out of scenes, is a sensory journey; case and point, “Hangover.”  Ladies you can expect a serious conversation or three with “Dwe” and might find yourself answering and identifying throughout the “W.omen” segment of the album. Fellas, listen to this segment and take notes, it may save you from losing your “Subject” or your “A.N.G.E.L.”

The “W.orld” segment, in my opinion, showed a side of Dwele rarely heard.  The content is quite political in theme and consciousness.  Such a GENIUS inclusion, and the balance of content deserves mad kudos.

In closing, I have to give a couple more picks from this masterful 17-track album.  “Grown,” “Give Me A Chance” and “I Wanna” are great two-step, pull a shorty on the dance floor for a medium tempo, non-verbal convo type of vibe.  W.ant, W.orld W.omen is a feng shui of musicology, vibes, imagery and content.  Expect to be playing this album over and over again. Each time will take you higher as you learn the lyrics and hear the phenomenon that is Dwele.

***This is the first of a monthly installment from DJ Phaze.  He will give us a monthly review of his ‘Album Pick of the Month’

“The Love & War MasterPeace” begins with Raheem being deemed the greatest soul singer of his generation by Dr. Cornel West. Citing the absence of a message of political awareness in today’s music and praising Raheem for filling a void that artists like Donny Hathaway, Marvin Gaye and Nina Simone once occupied. The CD flows right into Raheem’s first single “Bulletproof” featuring Ludacris where the self proclaimed R&B Hippie Neo-Soul Rockstar confronts the issues of injustice on many minds, such as war and racial profiling. Boldly stating “The politicians can’t help you they just puppets and slaves trying to get paid…”

Like the 2008 hit “Woman”, “The Greatness” is another anthem to what seems to be one of Raheem Devaughn’s favorite subjects, women. Even with the Wale feature this track doesn’t speak to me quite like “Woman” from the “Love Behind the Melody” album. The subject matter of subsequent tracks, fall in line with that of the average R&B crooner. “I Don’t Care” is a catchy, your friends can hate if they want but they don’t know what we have, track while in “Black and Blue” he sings the ‘I can love you better’ tune to a woman who’s fallen victim to domestic violence.

“Fragile” has a Floetry type of vibe with Raheem singing about giving some T.L.C. to a delicate heart and Malik Yusef using his crafty spoken word skills to bring the point home. I think one of my favorite tracks on this album is B.O.B, in which Radio Raheem reminds women that there are certain things your “Battery Operated Boyfriend” just can’t do. No comment. My absolute favorite track hands down is “Nobody Wins A War”. The featuring list on this one is ridiculous, Jill Scott, Bilal, Algebra, Chrisette Michele, Anthony Hamilton, Ledisi, Dwele…and the list goes on. This track is reminiscent of “We Are The World” but with a less radio friendly message. Jill Scott all but rips the government a new one with her monologue protesting war, because after all, no one ever wins a war.

Although I don’t dislike this album, at this point I don’t love it either. It falls a little short in relation to his earlier work. “Love Behind The Melody” was a great album but still neither his sophomore or junior albums hold a candle to “The Love Experience”. I will always support Raheem especially in his live shows because I think he’s a great performer and artist. I just hope his best work is yet to come. If you don’t already have a copy, check out the album sampler and tell us what you think. You can grab a copy of “The Love & War MasterPeace” at your local retailer or online at Amazon or iTunes. Remember to support your local record stores, or as we like to call them treatment centers.

“The Love & War MasterPeace” Album Sampler

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Track Listing
1. Dr. Cornell West Intro
2. Bulletproof Featuring Ludacris
3. The Greatness featuring Wale
4. I Don’t Care
5. Black & Blue
6. Mr. Right
7. Dr. Cornell West Interlude
8. Fragile featuring Malik Yusef
9. My Wife
10. B.O.B.
11. Bedroom
12. Microphone
13. Garden Of Love
14. Dr. Cornell West P.S.A.
15. Nobody Wins A War featuring Jill Scott, Bilal, Anthony Hamilton, Algebra, Chrisette Michele, Shelby Johnson, Ledisi, Citizen Cope, Dwele, Chico DeBarge and Rudy Currence
16. Revelations 2010 featuring Damian Marley

Mr. Devaughn has introduced his new mixtape! I can say that I enjoy Raheem Devaughn’s mixtapes as much as his albums.  I think I have all of them! Be sure to download his latest Mr. February AKA March Madness NOW!

keep your soulHIGH!