Sl?f Sailg (Tar Heel
3 Different Artists Find Common Ground With Mediocrity
Jaheim
Ghetto Love
■kirk 1/2
It’s time for the hip-hop stylings of
Jaheim on his debut album, Ghetto Love.
(That’s “Jaheim” spelled in silver,
emblazoned across a little emblem that
resembles an expensive hood orna
ment).
You may have heard the single
“Could It Be,” which is already getting
airtime on 102 Jamz.
For a 21-year-old first-timer, Jaheim
is not bad. Listening to his simple seduc
tion grooves, it’s hard not to bob your
head a little.
You start to identify with the brother
... like, yeah, girl, I hate it when I
wanna hit it in the worst way, but I
don’t know if you really feelin’ me or if
it’s just the ice you see, or my drop-top
Benz.
Jaheim’s music is of the cheerful,
harmlessly swaggering variety. He’s not
shy about his wealth or his sexual inten
tions, he’s just straightforward in his pre
sentation of a highly stylized version of
ghetto life.
But his lyrics are really secondary to
the smooth bassline and the vocals - he
knows the right ingredients for radio
friendly R&B.
And how can you not admire lyrics
like “I think you better let it go, heard
that you been creepin’ ’round my
baby’s back do’... I think you wanna
let it be, but if you want beef I got the
recipe”?
Lines like that, along with the fact
thatjaheim rhymes “illin’” with “Terry
McMillan” made me an instant fan -
of the first few songs at least.
Unfortunately forjaheim, the album
goes on a little too long. Perhaps in
honor of his 21*years, Jaheim created an
album with 21 songs. After awhile, he
wears out all the typical “ghetto love”
topics quit messin’ with my shortie, do
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you just love me or my money, your
kid’s not mine, lookin’ for love in the
wrong places and moves on to the
more grandiose, eternal-love type bal
lads.
Such topics are best left to the likes of
Whitney Houston and Celine Dion
because they take all the fun away from
artists like Jaheim. The song
“Remarkable” is a good example of this.
It “will surely be a wedding song for
many,” according to the promotional
material, but it is by far the worst on the
album.
If you’re going to work with cliches,
you should at least keep them light and
clever. This is especially true for
Jaheim -j- as much as I enjoyed the first
tracks, he is a completely unoriginal
artist and as such, his album soon start
ed to drag.
Jaheim successfully creates a per
sona for himself, but it’s the exact same
one that we’ve been getting on urban
radio stations for much of this past
decade.
So, while the first several minutes of
his album are vaguely enjoyable,Jaheim
has brought nothing new or dynamic to
the R&B table.
Joanna Pearson
Jessica Andrews
Who I Am
kk
One glance at the cover of Jessica
Andrews’ newest album and the word
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DIVERSIONS
“Britney” shamelessly pops into my
head. I husde for my CD player, mak
ing sure none of my suitemates are
around.
But hopes for an assembly-line pop
hit like “Oops ... I Did It Again” are
squelched by the twangin’ steel guitars
that fade in on the first track of Who I
Am.
Andrews is actually a 17-year-old
country singer. More accurately, a pop
country “crossover,” as entertainment
media have identified artists of this
genre.
The production and songs bring
comparisons to other crossover artists
like Shania Twain. But Andrews, still
young in comparison to the 36-year-old
Twain, lacks the swagger of her con
temporary.
Since the only thing Andrews actual
ly contributes to the disc is her voice and
a face (having absolutely no hand in the
songwriting), I’ll begin there.
Andrews’ voice is stronger than aver
age, and her range is exceptional. Her
Texas-sounding accent is minimal, but
present nonetheless. As far as originali
ty - well, she sounds about like her pop
country female counterparts.
The album definitely doesn’t have
explosive hits like Twain’s “Any Man of
Mine,” but the songs are good enough to
attract even more attention than
Andrews’ 1999 debut.
The first three songs are all especially
catchy, in a borderline annoying way.
Then things get funny.
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Track four, “Karma,” features
Andrews stuttering the word “Kkk-kkk
kkk-karma... What goes up goes down,
hits the ground.” (Enter a “Karma
Police” or “Karma Chameleon” joke
here, your choice).
The rest of “Who I Am” contains
both slower country ballads and upbeat
pop-sounding songs, all fully equipped
with steel guitars, multiple-backing
vocals and fiddle solos courtesy of her
small swarm of hired hands.
The bottom line is this: Andrews does
exactly what she is commissioned to do
- sing her heart out and provide a mar
ketable face.
The irony is in the CD’s tide, Who I
Am - perhaps more accurately Who They
TeU Me to Be.
Jason Arthurs
Chris Titchner
and Sunday Rain Dog
Some Things Never Change
k 1/2
I was lying in bed during my first lis
ten to Chris Titchner and Sunday Rain
Dog’s Some Things Never Change until
“My Town,” the album’s second song, in
which he complains about his neigh
bors’ loud reggae and rap.
“I don’t want to rain in on their
parade/But I don’t want to live my life
to their repetitive bass lines,” he
whines.
Hearing it forced me to get up and
pull out my guitar to see exacdy how
candy S' a j* }
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much more complex Titchner’s dime-a
dozen, church youth group, slide-the
capo-up-to-change-key three and four
chord folk progressions are than those
nefarious bass lines. The answer is: not
much.
“I don’t like to be unpredictable,”
Titchner admits during the album’s first
tune, “Breakdown,” and that pretty
much sums up this album. Singer-song
writer Titchner plays coffeehouse
acoustic guitar with Sunday Rain Dog,
a.k.a. cellist Ana Jesse, and offers few
surprises despite Jesse’s unique and
helpful presence.
While Jesse’s cello augments the
humdrum arrangements, it can’t really
save the mosdy pathetic lyrics.
Titchner’s honest lyrics could be com
pared to those of local fav Andy Kuncl,
except that they are often cliche-ridden
and awkward where Kuncl’s are humor
ous and refreshing.
Examples are abundant in “Bad
Dog,” the album’s first single, which is
written from the perspective of a dog
who “Get(s) hot under the collar when
they throw all those leftovers
away/When dogs are starving in
China.”
In “Enfield, N.H.” a tune about a
waning relationship, Titchner moves
from saying “I keep shooting airballs
and he’s still in the zone” to “I need to
reserve you but you’re out on loan,” one
of the worst metaphor shifts that I could
imagine.
When not flat, his words often
Thursday, April 5, 2001
become, dare I say, repetitive, as he
utters phrases like “I don’t wanna be the
one” more times then I’d like to count,
as well as rephrasing “Apathy is harder
to break out of than gravity” in a couple
of different songs. This stuff can be so
grating at times that you can almost
sympathize with the woman ending the
relationship he eulogizes in several of
the songs.
Of course, the album has its
moments, such as “Smile," a piece about
domestic violence highlighted by paral
lel tempo and thematic shifts. This tune
actually makes one want to hold back
tears rather than roll your eyes.
Titchner’s formula also works in
“What About You?” an upbeat tune
that comes as close as Titchner gets to
Kuncl’s energetic music, and his voice
sounds pretty good throughout Some
Things Never Change, especially in
“Suicide King.”
Unfortunately, too much else sounds
pretty much the same throughout. Even
its alternation of fast and slow songs is
another tired cliche that does little to
keep things interesting.
The album basically smacks of the
hackneyed coffeehouse fodder, written
and performed by countless musicians,
that innovative singer-songwriters like
Kuncl and Ani Difranco have managed
to avoid.
Unlike these artists, Chris Titchner
just puts me to sleep.
Warren Wilson
7