Music reviews
Canadian Press
Published: Sunday, February 12, 2006(AP) - As the lone female rapper in the Terror Squad, the Bronx collective of MCs led by Fat Joe, Remy Ma is no stranger to rhyming in a man's world. Her song-stealing verse on last summer's Lean Back proved that she can hang with the big boys. Now, on her solo debut, Remy expends much energy usurping hip-hop's gender hierarchy.
On I'm, she boasts: "The girl spits harder than most dudes/ And I give it you on Any Given Sunday like Soul Food." Combining with the reggaeton vet Ivy Queen on the Latin-flavoured Bilingual, she even has twisted visions of turning the tables on a male groupie, videotaping the sexcapade for fun.
In between, Remy revels in her cocksure gangsta girl persona. The better examples are the raucous Swizz Beatz-delivered Whateva and Conceited, a familiar sounding Scott Storch production that features hypnotic, slinky flutes and violin flourishes.
But her over-the-top power plays and a decidedly monochromatic flow keep Remy from being able to rightfully claim rap's female throne. Only when the bluster relents does the album avoid being weighed down by her bloated ego. On the cat-mouse love ditty, Feels So Good with R&B newcomer Ne-Yo, Remy wants "small talk and a night on the town" but not at the risk of being hurt.
Yet Remy is at her best when she reveals her vulnerable side. On What's Going On, she recalls grappling with the idea of aborting her first child. Keyshia Cole's warm vocals add to the song's reverent tone. And on Still, a syrupy, piano-driven track, Remy shares the dark side of rap stardom and having wack parents. She reassures: "I' trying to reach my goals and remain focused/ But ...I'm still the same." The autobiographical turns are proof that Remy's strengths lie in not only her rival-bruising honesty but in her heartfelt confessions as well.
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There's Something About Remy: Based on a True Story
Remy Ma (SRC/Universal)
(Reviewed by Brett Johnson, AP)
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Don't pigeonhole KT Tunstall as a throwaway female singer/songwriter.
This raspy-voiced, guitar-slinging Scottish import who fantastically overdubs her own vocals and percussive guitar playing during live shows, has created a firestorm in the United Kingdom. Her debut, Eye to the Telescope, a blending of folk-pop, blues, funk, rock and good ol' Americana, was nominated for the coveted Mercury Music Prize there.
Her U.S. debut is a collection of smart, quirky and punchy introspective songs. Tunstall draws gruff vocal comparisons to Joan Osborne and Melissa Etheridge while also nailing a high staccato reminiscent of Roy Orbison (not unlike fellow newcomer Brandi Carlile). On Under the Weather she's soft, feminine and entrancing, while on her breakout call-response single Black Horse and the Cherry Tree, she evokes a Southern juke joint getting live in the summer heat.
What ties the whole collection together is the final song, Through the Dark, a melancholy, Norah Jones-esque ballad that eerily foreshadows how Tunstall thought her life would forever be changed. "As I walk away/ I look over my shoulder/To see what I'm leaving behind./Pieces of puzzles/and wishes on eyelashes fainted./Well this is all new/And I'm feeling my way through the dark." As fate would have it, these days she seems to be walking toward the light.