Eve Returns With First Album In 11 Years

Rapper Eve hasn't released a new album since 2002's Eve-Olution. After being pushed back several times Lip Lock has finally surfaced. The album blows both male and female rappers out of the water. Eve has brought in the big guns in terms of collaborators on this album. Gabe Saporta of Cobra Starship, Missy Elliott, Dawn Richard of Danity Kane fame, Snoop Dogg, Chrisette Michele and Pusha T all feature on the album as well as new or unknown artists such as Propain, Nacho, Miss Kitty and Juicy J get their moment to shine.
There are no bad songs from the uplifting first single "Make it Out this Town" which features Gabe Saporta to the future club anthem "All Night" which features Claude Kelly and Propain. Eve also shines on her solo songs where she can really brag. Promotional single "She Bad Bad," "Grind or Die" and "Forgive Me" are straight up bragging tracks. Eve gets clever with her raps. "My buzz stay strong/ Your buzz never started/ My albums are the shit/ Your career never farted," Eve raps on "Grind or Die." On the Missy Elliott and Nacho assisted track "Wanna Be" the three show haters who's boss. It's good to hear Elliott back on tracks, hopefully this means her album is going to be released soon. Newcomer Nacho holds her own next to two of raps best females.
The album's best two songs are the second single "Eve" which features Miss Kitty. The song is a dubstep-filled hip hop reggae song with just hints of Middle Eastern influences. The song is a reminder of the greatness that Eve is. The other highlight is "Keep Me From You" which features Dawn Richard. The hip-house track is a love song that could easily be on pop radio.
While the album closes with "Never Gone" which despite a great appearance from Chrisette Michele, seems out of place on the album. And the remix of "She Bad Bad" which features Pusha T and Juicy J just seems redundant and could have been another new song.
Despite these few flaws, Lip Lock is a great album and was definitely worth the 11 year wait. After hearing this album people will be saying "Nicki Minaj who?"

Fantasia Redeems Herslf On Fourth Album

Season 3 winner of American Idol, Fantasia released her fourth album Side Effects of You last week and it's great return to form after her third album Back to Me was very lackluster. After her first two albums Free Yourself and Fantasia were both great albums.
Fantasia released the single "Lose to Win" in January. The single was a decent song but it didn't look good. Then in April, a week before the release of the album Fantasia released the second single and best song on the album. "Without Me" which features Kelly Rowland and Missy Elliott. The song features the three women going ham on lovers who have done them wrong. "What would you be without me," Fantasia sings during the chorus. The song is a mid-tempo R&B/hip hop and it's good to hear Elliott back in the booth.
The album has so many great songs. The title track which was written by Emeli Sandé is a great song about the codependency in a bad relationship. "Ain't All Bad" is a reggae inspired song about moving on from a breakup and on the rock and funk inspired "Get it Right" Fantasia seems to have discovered profanity for the first time. "Give the motherfucking drummer some," she screams during the breakdown. "So Much to Prove" continues the rock-laced sound of "Get it Right." Fantasia described the sound of the album as "rock-soul and that is what keeps going on the next song "Change Your Mind." The soulful track is laced with rock guitars and features a sassed up and sexy Fantasia. The next song, the VV Brown written "Lighthouse" is about shining bright and being yourself. The song has a rock sound as well and sounds like an outtake from Brown's catalog.
The album closes with some songs that sound like they could be off of early Fantasia albums. The sound on the closing three songs is soulful and emotional. The songs here shake off the rock swag of the middle of the album and get down the classic Fantasia.
Also this record is the first where Fantasia writes most of the lyrics. On her last record she wrote a few songs but on her first two she didn't write anything. "Ain't All Bad," If I Was a Bird," Without Me," "Get it Right," "So Much to Prove," "Change Your Mind," End of Me" and the bonus tracks "Haunted" and "To The Heavens" all give Fantasia a writing credit. This makes the album more personal.
Fantasia is back to her old form on this album and hopefully she can keep going and make more amazing albums just like this one.

Tweet releases new EP

Tweet has been working on her third album, Simply Tweet, since her last album, the classic It's Me Again came out in 2005. The album took the simple soul of her debut Southern Hummingbird and grew it into a soulful sound full of emotion with a bit of hip hop swagger. A protégé of Missy Elliott, Tweet worked with her on her hit singles "Oops (Oh My)" and "Turn da Lights Off" as well as Elliott's classic albums Under Construction and The Cookbook.
Tweet finally announced a new EP called Simply Tweet: The EP. The EP is an intro followed by four songs off of her upcoming third album. The recordings were done live with her band and have a very soulful sound, like Tweet's older albums. While the songs are all good, they kind of blend together. The intro is kind of pointless and could have been cut. The album then goes to a cover of "Day Dreaming" by Aretha Franklin. Tweet's version is short and sweet and is almost as good as the original. The EP then goes on to "Way to Love," an upbeat, positive song about moving on from the past and going on the "way to love." This is a song for those who have had hard lives who are ready to move past that.
The next song "Sorry" is a song about moving on from a break up. The soulful song is all about strength. This song is very similar to the EP closer and first single "Enough." This is the best song on the EP and it recalls a song off of her debut. While the songs here are all good, they aren't great. There's no "Smoking Cigarettes," there's no "Steer," no song on the album that raises the bar. Tweet has always been original and full of soul and heart, yet this album is just staying in the box she made for herself on her last two albums. There is no change. The songs on this EP should not have taken eight years to write. Hopefully when the rest of Simply Tweet is released it's better than this.

Tweet announces new EP

R&B singer Tweet rose to fame as Missy Elliott's protégé in 2002 with her phenomenal debut album, Southern Hummingbird. She had a hit single "Oops (Oh My)" which featured Missy Elliott and became a Top 40 hit. This was to be the only time Tweet was to reach the mainstream.
Her amazing sophomore album It's Me Again, featured a more soulful sound and while the single "Turn da Lights Off" which also featured Elliott went nowhere. Tweet dropped off of the world's stage, her third record Simply Tweet was pushed back for over four years.
Finally, this year, Tweet began to release songs for free download on her Soundcloud profile. While some of the songs weren't very memorable, they were Tweet and that's what matters. Last week on her Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages that her Simply Tweet EP will be released on February 26. This will a live recording of some of the songs off of the album that Tweet that her and her band performed for this EP. The first single is rumored to be called "Enough." The full album is coming out sometime this year. Hopefully these songs will get Tweet back into the spotlight.

Tweet releases new songs, prepares third album

Soul singer and Missy Elliott protégé Tweet released her debut album Southern Hummingbird just ten years ago. The album featured the song "Oops (Oh My)," which featured Missy Elliott and was an ode to self love. Her second album It's Me Again three years later. Both albums featured Tweet's soulful singing and a slew of breakup jams. Tweet began to work on her third album Love, Tweet. This record never came to fruition and after many delays the album was renamed Simply Tweet. At the beginning of the month Tweet began to release new songs on her website iamsimplytweet.com. The first was a cover of "Day Dreaming" by Aretha Franklin, the second was called "Trouble" and now the third of her Tweet Tuesdays releases is "C4EVA." Each song is a soulful reminder of what Tweet did for the music world and a peek into the future of this talented woman. Tweet's album doesn't have a release date but Tweet and her label confirmed that it will be released this year. Below is a video of the song "Day Dreaming."

Stuff to be excited about, the April 2012 edition

This year there are many artists that have albums coming out that are sure to be mindblowing.

April 10

Halestorm-The Strange Case of...
The band release their second album. They released an EP with four songs off of this record back in January. It featured the albums first single, "Love Bites (So Do I)" and the song Glee made famous "Here's To Us." This album is probably going to sound a lot like their first album which isn't bad. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Monica-New Life
After being pushed back several times, the singer releases her seventh album. After two failed promo singles she finally has a hit with "It All Belongs To Me," a duet with Brandy. The two had huge success with their single "The Boy is Mine" back in 1998, 14 years ago. While the song is nothing compared to their past work together, it is still a great R&B song. The album will probably be boring and full of slow songs like most Monica albums of late but there are sure to be some great tracks with Missy Elliott producing a few songs. Monica's last album Still Standing wasn't that stellar but it was still good. Be wary with this album if you aren't a fan of slow soulful songs with lots of feeling.

April 17

Neon Trees-Picture Show
The band released their first single "Everybody Talks" back in January and finally their sophomore album is upon us. Their first album was decent. It had moments of glory like their hit single "Animal" and it gave fans hope for a good second record. Bands are known to fumble on the second record so hopefully this band can stay on top of things.

William Beckett-Walk That Talk
Former The Academy Is... frontman William Beckett will be releasing his first solo EP after their breakup last year. His first single "Compromise Me," is unlike anything that has been heard from him before. Whereas his band were all Emo kings, hopefully Beckett will keep his crown with this EP, the first of three he'll be releasing this year.