the chal banz blog

Fat Joe and Remy Ma released their joint album, "Plata O Plomo"(Money or Bullets) on February 17. The album contains the hit single, "All The Way Up", "Cookin'" and "Money Showers". The album features a star studded list of guests including Sevyn Streeter and The-Dream(song: "Heartbreak"). The opening track, "Warning" is pure New York Hip Hop and features a tour de force verse from Remy Ma who takes shots at some unnamed adversaries(Foxy Brown). Remy really earns her stripes on this album as she out raps Fat Joe in my opinion. She is really spittin' on this album as if her life depended on it. "Spaghetti" is a standout with vocals from Kent Jones(song: "I Don't Mind"), who guests vocals on a few songs. The legendary Stephanie Mill guests on "Dreamin'". "How Can I Forget" is another standout. The whole album in my opinion is good for anyone who is a fan of female rap and...

Rihanna quietly released her oft-delayed album, "Anti" this past January. The album was quickly certified Platinum thanks in part to the million of streams it received on TIDAL, where it was released first. Billboard however didn't recognize the sales and at presstime, "Anti" has sold close to 280,000 copies. "Anti" is Rihanna's second #1 album and it features the #1 single, "Work". Now as far as the album is concerned, I feel "Anti" is Rihanna's most enjoyable album since "Good Girl Gone Bad". The album opens with "Consideration" featuring SZA followed by the breezy but brief, "James Joint". "Kiss It Better" is an instant favorite to me and deserves the single treatment, while "Needed Me" might be the proper follow up since its already charting on the charts. "Desperado" finds Rihanna playing the bad ass that she is known to be singing in a monotone voice. ...

Earlier this year Future surprised us with his third straight #1 album, "EVOL". After being such a big fan of Future's last album, "DS2" I just knew I would like this album. After first listen, the album was sort of blah to me. Maybe I didn't give it a fair chance so I went back just recently and started listening to this album when I worked out. I realize that "EVOL" is actually a proper follow up to "DS2", though I feel Future shouldn't rush release albums. Okay so on to the review, "Aint No Time" opens the album which is a listenable track, not my favorite. Much better is "In Her Mouth", where Future says "I'm trying to fuck the DA lady in her mouth though". This is one of my favorite songs on the album. "Maybach" follows which isn't bad. Next is "Xanny Family" which is also very enjoyable and features quite a few laughable lines from Future who is a very witty lyricist. ...

Release Date: January 13, 2015 Produers: Unknown Guests: Meek Mill Label: RCA Jazmine Sullivan surprised the hell out of me with her third album Reality Show. I wasn't really checking for Jazmine or this album per say but I am pleasantly surprised at how good. I have found my first favorite album of the new year and its actually refreshing to find one so early in the new year and not so late in the year as it usually tends to be for me. Jazmine spoke about the album's title which refers to the famed reality shows that we all love to watch and some of Jazmine's own personal demons as well. If you recall Jazmine took a few years off after her second album but you can't tell listening to this album. Whatever transpired in the last three years with Jazmine makes for some very good material, great storytelling, and even better singing. Jazmine's voice remains a treat to listen to as she growls, swoons, dips, and dives through a variety of emotions most namel...

Label: Prolific/BMG Producers/Writers: Mike City(Sunshine Anderson), Brian Alexander Morgan(SWV), Chucky Thompson(Mary J. Blige), Ben Briggs III, KeKe Wyatt, Andrea Latrelle Simmons(worked with The Neptunes), etc. Guest Appearances: B Slade, Karen Clark, Problem, Missy Elliott, Sharaya J, KeKe Wyatt, etc. Release Date: November 24, 2014 Album Highlights: Forever, Paradise, Really Wanna Do, Ride The Beat, Take Your Time, Make Love , etc.   Incomparable is Faith Evans' sixth album and her eighth overall and I would say its her best album since 2005's The First Lady . Faith gushed about this album prior to its release noting the guest appearances and how good the album would be. Well it turns out that she was right. Just when I was starting to turn my back on Faith Evans musically, she delivers Incomparable. I am pleasantly surprised with the album and its what I'm currently listening to right now. The album starts off with a Prelude that goes into Thank You ...

Azealia Banks surprised released her long awaited debut album Broke With Expensive Taste on November 7. Prior to the album's release Azealia blacked out her social media sites teasing fans and leaving many to wonder what she had up her sleeve. A few months ago Azealia asked her followers on Twitter when she should release her album and I guess she listened to her fans. Originally Azealia was planning to finally drop her debut at the top of the year. Boy I'm glad she didn't wait! Broke With Expensive Taste opens with the playful track Idle Delilah . The song is very 90s with the instrumentation and various change in genres. Gimme A Chance is very New York with its sample use and Azealia's flow. Desperado is perhaps one of my favorite songs. Azealia describes the song as a song for the "sophisticated caffeine drinkers" who "commute". The song is very fast in pace and the tempo changes throughout. JFK a duet is aimed at a pop star(Lady Gaga) who...

Since its release I haven't been able to stop playing the Warner Bros./OVO Records debut from PARTYNEXTDOOR. His new album TWO was released on July 29. The album features the singles Her Way and Recognize featuring Drake. For those unfamiliar with PARTYNEXTDOOR his music is in the vein of The Weeknd. One of the songs that sticks out the most to me and is possibly my favorite thus far is Thirsty. The title repeats throughout the track and PARTYNEXTDOOR serves lines like "Tell them hating ass niggas to shut the fuck up" before telling his girl that he wants to "hit it more than once a day". Other songs to check out for are FWU(Fuck With U), Options, Muse, Bout It, Grown Woman , and much more. PARTYNEXTDOOR had a huge online following his first release an EP which contained the song Wuz Good/Curious which a lot of people liked. If you liked his first EP or you like artists like Frank Ocean, and The Weeknd,  you'll love PARTYNEXTDOOR. I think another reaso...

G I R L is the debut album from Pharrell on the Columbia Records label. G I R L features the #1 Pop hit Happy also from the Despicable Me 2 soundtrack. Pharrell was riding high with multiple hit songs when this album was released, Blurred Lines and Get Lucky featuring Daft Punk were just some of them. He also landed production credits on high profile albums from Beyoncé & Jay Z among others. It had been a few years since Pharrell had released a proper studio album and now we have G I R L. I admit to be a big Pharrell fan but for some reason I wasn't excited about this album. Maybe it was because Happy was a little underwhelming to me and I got tired of it very quickly. Well skip a few months from the album's initial release and here we have an album review from yours truly. I found myself in desperate need of new music and I decided to give Pharrell's album a listen. I was pleasantly surprised by how upbeat and sexy the album was which works in Pharrell's favor...

So! Just so you all know this is a pretty lengthy review so I'm just warning you ahead of time. It's been awhile since I reviewed an album. I typically only review albums I have an genuine interest in, one being Ashanti's long delayed album BraveHeart . The album starts with the Intro and the title track all rolled into one track. The Intro begins with Ashanti speaking about the last few years of her life and how its been an uphill battle. BraveHeart , the title track produced by LT Hutton features a repetitve hook that is very catchy indeed and will stay in your head. To be honest I'm not a fan of Ashanti's vocals on the album's first four songs. Though I do like Count (track #4) produced by Detail(producer: Drunk In Love ), it is one of the more radio friendly songs on the album but I'm not particurly fond of Ashanti's vocal performance of the song. The song instantly reminds you of a song that could be easily performed by Rihanna or even Beyonce. T...

Guests: Wiz Khalifa, The-Dream, Pharrell Williams, Pusha T, Kevin Cossum, Beyonce, Michelle Williams Production/Writers: Harmony Samuels(worked with Fantasia), Danja, Mike Will Made It, Pharrell Williams, The Runners Release Date : June 18, 2013 Overview/Review : Talk A Good Game is the newest album from Kelly Rowland. It features the hit singles Kisses Down Low and Dirty Laundry . Ice featuring Lil' Wayne is suspiciously absent from the album despite being a minor hit when it was released nearly a year ago. Maybe that's why it wasn't included on the album being that it was released so long ago. Then again who really knows why the song was left off. I don't recall Kelly being asked about it...yet. Kelly has been making the rounds on TV in the last few weeks most notably on Good Morning America , Watch What Happens Live , and appearance on Wendy next week. As of now Talk A Good Game is estimated to sell 65K copies in its first week of release. If that is so it...

Woman To Woman finds Keyshia Cole tapping into her beginnings as a pained songstress; though the singer is not exactly in a pained place as of now. She is happily married but realizing that some of her fans are still stuck; she is happy to go back and experience some of the uglier parts of her past. Woman To Woman opens up with the monster hit that is Enough Of No Love featuring Lil' Wayne. The album's third single Zero features Meek Mill who has a brief verse which we could of done without. Not discrediting Meek Mill but his verse just seemed out of place and Keyshia seemed like she was perfectly capable of carrying this song all by her lonesome. Again I think Meek Mill was just added on because of his name and he is popular right now. I'm just saying. Missing Me is pretty forgettable. Trust & Believe ; the album's second single is a winner and the video is probably one of thee best videos released this year. It's one of those videos where the video act...

Kaleidoscope Dream is the second album from L.A. based singer Miguel. It is the follow up to his 2010 debut album All I Want Is You .  Kaleidoscope Dream features the #1 R&B hit Adorn . The song was first released as a throwaway track eventually becoming a fan favorite. The positive response to Adorn lead to it becoming the album's first single.The length of the song was also extended since many felt the song was much too short in length.  Much of Kaleidoscope Dream is formatted like Miguel's debut album. You can't help but notice the heavy Prince influence sonically, lyrically and vocally.  The album highlights include: Adorn Don't Hold Back  Use Me The Thrill Kaleidoscope Dream Do You... How Many Drinks? Arch & Point  Kaleidoscope Dream is in stores and online now!    

Frank Ocean released his Island Def Jam album channel Orange last week; first exclusively to retailer iTunes. It was a move that upset other retailers Target and forced them not to sell the CD. Boy are they regretting that decision now given the first week numbers(estimated at 130,000 copies).  Starting things off is the mindless intro Start followed by the album's first single Thinkin About You . Originally Thinkin About You was written for a female artist but that didn't stop Frank from putting his own spin of it.  We go into another mindless interlude and I say that because I don't quite understand some of the interludes just yet. I'm sure with repeated listens I will grasp the true meaning.  Sierra Leone comes and goes and sets the stage for a number or songs that don't overstay their welcome. Some I wish did especially given the epic 9 minutes and :52 second single Pyramids which is rather unique.  Some of my favorite songs on the albu...

Today Monica releases her seventh studio album; "New Life". The album has been in the works for awhile and suffered a few pushbacks but that's typical among R&B releases. Like many of us I was privy to hear Monica's new album a few days before its physical release. To be honest I wasn't anticipating the album all that much particularly after its long delay and its newest single; the dreadful Brandy duet; "It All Belongs To Me". No matter how much I hear the song; it has yet to grow on me and I don't see it happening. As you would expect I generally skip "It All Belongs To Me" as well as the brainless "New Life(Intro)" featuring Mary J. Blige. Skip to track #3; "Daddy's Good Girl" is when things start to sound more interesting and listenable. I admit when I first saw the song title; I scratched my head at what the song could possibly be about. I will say its one of the many highlights of the album and a possible c...

I don't usually post up album reviews of albums unless I like an album. I can't say I was at all hyped by Drake's new album; "Take Care". Everyone on twitter was raving about it once it leaked out; I finally bought into the hype and I'm glad I did. What do I like about Drake's new album? The selection of songs. I don't feel the need to skip many tracks. Of course I have my favorites as does everyone else. Its certain tracks that I prefer to hear more than others obviously because their not as forgettable as some of the opening tracks. Most of the tracks I like fall in the middle of the album starting with "Crew Love" which features The Weekend. The track was trending on twitter. The title track features former lover; Rihanna and is a favorite of mine. Skip "Marvin's Room" and we got "Underground Kings" which is a groover. "We'll Be Fine", "Make Me Proud" featuring Nicki Minaj, "Lord Knows...

End Of Time Love On Top I Care I Miss You Party Countdown Rather Die Young Mind you, I only do album reviews on albums that I really like and Beyonce's "4" caught me by surprise. I wasn't expecting to like this album let alone listen to it. When I heard the leaked song; "End Of Time"(which is one of my favorites); I fell for the song. Naturally my curiosity for the rest of the album ensued. Beyonce managed to record an album that triumphs "Dangerously In Love". To me that album was her best and the one I wanted her other albums to be modeled after. Well I finally got my wish with "4" which is similar in nature to it. There is a heavy number of ballads but they work rather convincingly. The uptempos are just as good if not better.

It's been awhile since I've done any type of album review but usually I base my album reviews on albums that I like. So that means if you ever see any type of album review; its an album that I like and I just take a few paragraphs or two to gush about it. I will say that this is the first Musiq album that I really embraced, and I'm happy with the results. I owe that to the album's first single; "Anything" featuring Swizz Beats. It is an excellent first single in my opinion. It's upbeat and features a great sample used to fine effect. While I'm not sure of the exact sample, I do know it from LL Cool J's "Jinglin' Baby". The album's second single; "Yes" is nice and laid back like much of the bulk of the album. Its an album that I can actually listen to from start to finish. While the album is in stores today; I had an advanced copy of the album for about a week so I've been enjoying it for enough time to make a final j...

I did a mini review on my tumblr account for Marsha Ambrosius' first solo album, "Late Nights & Early Mornings" but I'm doing another just for the blog. The title track which is one of my favorite songs was produced by Rich Harrison; which was a pleasant surprise in itself. The song recalls vintage Prince. When you hear it; you will know exactly what I mean. There is a lot of star power here on the album but the real star here is Marsha herself. She reigns supreme on the Alicia Keys co-written song; "With You". One of my favorite songs though is "Your Hands" which is one of the more sensual songs on the album. "Sour Times" is a remake and another song worth checking out as is "Chasing Clouds" which has been stuck in my head. Back to the star power I was speaking of earlier; the Lauryn Hill penned; "Lose Myself" is remade. I'm getting a brain freeze here because there are a lot of other big names attached to thi...

| Kandi opens up her second solo album up with an intro dedicated to displaying her beautiful harmonies if I must say so myself. I will say I was pleasantly surprised with this album overall. Upon first listen, I wasn't very impressed but I took a second listen and here we have the review for the latest album from "The Real Housewives Of Atlanta" star Kandi . Second track, "I Want You" starts things off properly and puts the album in a good direction. The songs is instantly catchy and you will find yourself bobbing your head to it sorta like I do now when I listen to it. "The More I Try" is one of the album's many ballads and one of the better ballads of the album. "I Just Know" was first heard on "Housewives" and immediately stood out to me and shows the growth in Kandi's vocals. Second single; "Me & U" features Ne-Yo on backing vocals and is easily one of the album's highlights. As of this week the son...

| Jazmine Sullivan is back on the music scene with her latest album, "Love Me Back". The album features the hit single, "Holding You Down(Going In Circles)" produced by Missy Elliott. The album goes into the second single, "10 Seconds" which is reminiscent to "Bust Your Windows" and its probably my least favorite song on the album. More noteworthy are the songs that follow including "Good Enough" and "Don't Make Me Wait" which feature a Prince vibe to them. "Don't Make Me Wait" which is one of my favorite songs on the album samples Aretha Franklin's #1 R&B hit, "Jump To It". "Redemption" is another standout song which finds Jazmine rapping. I will say that the second half of the album is not as strong as the first half which is typical with most albums. The songs are still good though and Jazmine has easily released one of the better R&B albums of 2010. ---------------- Now pl...