Former protege of Rick James, vanilla soul sister, the one and only Lady T. Whatever you call her, Teena Marie is back with her first album in four years, “Congo Square”. The first single, “Can’t Last a Day” has already made noise at urban radio, and with a guest lineup including MC Lyte, Howard Hewett and Faith Evans, it’s sure to spawn even more hits. The R&B scene has been extra-weak so far this year, so here’s hoping Teena’s new album is the kickoff for a good second half of the year on the soul music front.
Here’s what else comes out tomorrow:
Mos Def The Ecstatic– After wowing us ten years ago with “Black on Both Sides”, Mos confused us with the overreaching “The New Danger” and then completely threw us off with a deliberate throwaway album in “Tru3 Magic”, an album so lazily put together it didn’t even have a cover. Now off the Geffen label and on Downtown Records (home of Gnarls Barkley, among others), Mighty Mos is back with an album that will hopefully knock the bad taste of the last couple of records out of listener’s mouths. Early reviews are promising.
Black Eyed Peas The E.N.D.– On the other side of the hip-hop coin are the Black Eyed Peas. My distaste for them is legendary, but what I find more striking is the fact that their new song “Boom Boom Pow” has been the #1 song in the country for the past eight weeks and I have not heard the song ONCE. I’m sure the BEP will sell kajillions of records without my support anyway.
Sonic Youth The Eternal– After nearly two decades in the MCA/Geffen family, New York alternative legends Sonic Youth are back on an indie label for “The Eternal”. These guys (and girl) have a pretty strong cult following, and since they’re not gonna make a pop breakthrough anytime soon, I don’t think it matters *what* label they’re on. They’re gonna sell what they’re gonna sell anyway.
Pleasure P. The Introduction of Marcus Cooper– Pleasure P is the former lead voice of raunchy R&B outfit Pretty Ricky, and this is his solo debut. “Boyfriend #2” has already hit the Top 5 on the R&B charts, and the big production guns were definitely brought out for this release, including Cool & Dre, Ne-Yo and Keith Sweat. You’d think that a lot of these groups would stay together longer. It’s not like anyone’s leaving an R&B group these days to have an awesome solo career. Anyone seen Slim from 112 lately? How about Sisqo?
A full list of this week’s new releases can be found here.
