New Music Friday: R. Kelly, August Alsina, And Cam
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Well the weather outside is…quite nice actually.
Still it's December, or "cuffing season" if you will – perfect time to roll out some R&B, or some fresh country music depending on your tastes on a New Music Friday.
August Alsina – This Thing Called Life
This Thing Called Life is the follow-up to New Orleans R&B singer August Alsina's 2014 debut Testimony. Alsina fills Life with underdog songs all about the come up, and it's at its best when it's borrowing. Whether it be Alsina channeling emotion musically on "Song Cry" – a practice popularized by Jay Z on The Blueprint, or bumming a hook off of Puff and Bad Boy with "Been Around The World", Life is most alive with a foot in the past. See also "Hip Hop" which name-checks the B.I.G. Coogi sweater and stops just short of going full Hip Hop Hooray over a breezy beat. Alsina, who has become a guest-spot favorite, gets help this time around from Chris Brown, Jadakiss, Lil Wayne and the husky velvet of Anthony Hamilton.
R. Kelly – The Buffett
Even if you can put aside the icky history of R. Kelly, his thirteenth studio effort The Buffett still starts in a skeevy way. The singer reads a graphic food-infused poem filled with jellies and juices. By the time you get to his slurping sound effect you're liable to pinch a nerve from prolonged cringing. If the toughest sell for R. Kelly is his past of sexual misconduct allegations, maybe don't kick things off with predator poetry that sounds like the Big Bad Wolf's submission to Penthouse Forum. Kelly continues to lean into that conversation with a dose of humor, but when he sings about putting "your body on a dinner plate" it's hard to divorce his legend from the lyrics. All that being said, when Kelly sidelines the sexual camp, there are some bright spots. On the slow jam "Get Out Of Here With Me" he croons smooth and effectively. "Wanna Be There" finds him imparting advice and apologies to his daughter Ariiraye – who sings herself on the track with voyeuristic results. Even "Switch Up" is raunchy but more subtle, and it's a jam. The Buffett is a lot like Kelly himself – tough to take as a whole but certainly filled with some moments worth listening to.
Cam – Untamed
Also out today is the debut from Cam called Untamed. This is California country. Cam, short for Camaron Ochs, specializes in twang dressed-up with a little pop gloss. Untamed shows off Cam as a fun firecracker, featuring the bouncy wisdom of "Half Broke Heart" and the barroom lovesick tale "Hungover On Heartache".
