Keyshia Cole - The Way It Is
 (A&M/Universal Records)

- reviewed by Marsha Castello

Keyshia Cole's debut album The Way It Is  has only just hit the stores and already she has been dubbed the next Mary J. Blige. That is a tall order for any 21-year-old to deliver on and it seems that in an already male dominated industry, our female artists not only have to compete for recognition, but also for the right to be accepted on their own terms. This leads many down the path of image over substance, because come on, let's face it, sex sells. Why else would Beyonce be condemning "nasty girls" in one video for example, and then grinding and writhing in later music videos shaking what her Mamma gave her and talking about her "Jelly."

A scantily clad Keyshia Cole does enough bouncing of her own in her music videos for "I Just Want It To Be Over" and the Kanye West produced "I Changed My Mind". A flurry of cascading flame red curls add an exclamation mark to a svelte physique and take-no-prisoners attitude, you know how we do! So she's definitely got the R&B diva image down, so what about the substance?

There's no doubting that Keyshia Cole has led a life that many can relate to. Growing up in Oakland, California, life was not all roses for Keyshia Cole, the trials and tribulations came thick and fast and threatened to dampen her spirit and quash her goal of becoming a songstress. more..

- reviewed by Marsha Castello

Keyshia Cole's debut album The Way It Is  has only just hit the stores and already she has been dubbed the next Mary J. Blige. That is a tall order for any 21-year-old to deliver on and it seems that in an already male dominated industry, our female artists not only have to compete for recognition, but also for the right to be accepted on their own terms. This leads many down the path of image over substance, because come on, let's face it, sex sells. Why else would Beyonce be condemning "nasty girls" in one video for example, and then grinding and writhing in later music videos shaking what her Mamma gave her and talking about her "Jelly."

A scantily clad Keyshia Cole does enough bouncing of her own in her music videos for "I Just Want It To Be Over" and the Kanye West produced "I Changed My Mind". A flurry of cascading flame red curls add an exclamation mark to a svelte physique and take-no-prisoners attitude, you know how we do! So she's definitely got the R&B diva image down, so what about the substance?

There's no doubting that Keyshia Cole has led a life that many can relate to. Growing up in Oakland, California, life was not all roses for Keyshia Cole, the trials and tribulations came thick and fast and threatened to dampen her spirit and quash her goal of becoming a songstress. In interviews, Keyshia recollects that it was so easy not to stay focused, and not to aspire to anything, that chasing her dreams was already that much harder. But undeterred, a young Keyshia Cole hounded the then huge, local Bay Area artist MC Hammer, until he permitted her to record on some of his tracks before the tender age of 12. But it was not until she was in her late teens that her dream really started to gain momentum when she lent her vocals to the hugely successful remix of Messy Marv's "Nubian Queen" in 2001, and later in the same year to the hugely popular "Me & Mrs Jones" soundtrack created by Dwayne Wiggins of Tony Toni Tone' fame.

Growing up around drugs, crime and violence made Keyshia hold on tight to the one thing she was sure of: love. So when she caught her cheating boyfriend in the act, she left her hometown within minutes, and drove in the dead of night to Los Angeles, in search of her dream, and never looked back. After months of networking, Keyshia landed herself a meeting with Ron Fair, president of A&M records and cut the debut, The Way It Is.

As a connoisseur of R&B I long for the days of Jodeci, H-Town, Gerald LeVert, Silk and the other big hitters of that time, when R&B was unashamedly R&B and had that New Jack swing. The emotion behind the lyrics would drip from the singer's pores; get under your skin and course right through your veins. R&B and pop had distinct differences then, yet ever since the marriage of the two in the late nineties there has been a distinct void. R&B has become a watered down almost unrecognisable version of itself, where image is the all-important selling point. So I was sceptical when I loaded this CD, ready for yet another radio friendly artist in need of a personality implant.

The first thing I was hit by was the bubbling baseline prevalent throughout the album; you know what I'm talking about. The type of smooth, hypnotising all resounding bass and percussion that us ladies love to make love to. Needless to say, the album got a few replays. You really need a system with a good bass to appreciate this album. The production flows like silk, the rifts and musical score are like Baileys over crushed ice, smooth and edgy all at the same time. The music is largely original with just the right sprinkling of samples from Luther Vandross, Bobby Glen; and Johnson, Eskidge and Murphy of "Love Jones" fame. The end result delivers the type of tunes you would crank up in your ride with the top down.

There are themes that every person, caught up in what they once thought was love, can relate to. You get the distinct impression that Keyshia is talking from her own personal experience, and judging by her story, that is not hard to believe. Keyshia Cole is definitely a believable artist and you get the impression that she is not reading from some scripted recipe, but just telling it the way it is. My only disappointment was the lack of variety and depth in the themes, 6-7 of the 12 tracks on the album are devoted to being wronged by love, okay already, give him a taste of your wrath and move on. And Keyshia definitely has wrath, in one track she croons; " I gave it all to you and you could n't handle it, and I don't care if you come back to me on your knees, I just don't love you no more, I changed my mind."

Although the emotion evident on the album add power to the otherwise, very simple lyrics, her style is almost laid back and you get the impression that Keyshia is not on full power. Her voice is young and syrupy sweet, reminiscent of Monica, rather than Mary, with an ever so slight throatiness. With maturity this voice has potential to develop into a great voice, (evident on tracks 4, 10 and 11) but it's not quite there yet. I wanted more of an edge, more of that street quality we have been told so much about, more depth and vocal range. I get the impression that this is just a taster of what Keyshia has to offer, and for a debut album, it is a pretty solid effort.

Keyshia really lays it down on tracks, "I Changed My Mind," "I Thought You Had My Back," "I Should Have Cheated," "You've Changed," "Down and Dirty" and "Superstar." Chink Santana and METRO city compliment Keyshia's vocals, add an edge and heighten the smooth sexiness, which laces this album. Although the track listing reads like a spurned woman's diary, there is something every one can relate to on this album. A prime example is the track "I Should Have Cheated," which pinpoints the situation where you have done every thing to please your lover, but their own insecurities arouse unfounded suspicions of you, to the point that their allegations choke the relationship and you realise you would have been having more fun if only you were getting up to all the things they were wrongly accusing you of. A track all insecure lovers should learn a lesson or two from.

Despite the hard hitters of the albums there are also less successful attempts, which die a sorry death such as Keyshia's collaboration with Jadakiss on "Guess What" where the two go toe to toe on an ultimatum. This track, along with the track, "Love", gets lost in that bland poppy feel, and Jadakiss' cocksure aggression only serves to murder syrupy sweet Keyshia on her own track. Leaving Keyshia sounding more like a backing singer then the main artist. Fortunately there are not too many tracks like this on the album.

In a world full of Beyonce's and Ashanti's, Keyshia Cole really does not have much to worry about, she is a strong contender to the throne. Her delivery is believable, and defiant, but it is the music, which really carries the album. The flow is smooth, club-friendly, and up-tempo. The musical score and arrangement on this album is complete with flutes, strings, horns, harmonicas, Viola, the Cello and other soul awakening instruments, and production is so tight, you won't be able to resist hitting that replay button.

back to the ratings..

Track By Track

-- Degrees --	10	20	30	40	50	60	70	80	90	100
1.  I Just Want It..
2.  I Changed My Mind
3.  I Thought You Had..
4.  Should Have Cheated
5.  Guess What?
6.  Love
7.  You've Changed
8.  We Could Be
9.  Situations
10. Down and Dirty
11. Superstar
12. Never

0; $i--) {array_push($rev, $lines[$i]);} // Reverse order and display earliest entry first $lines=$rev; // Display 5 comments while ($i < 6){ list($key)= each ($lines); // split the data lines into a user array - user[0] is the name, user[1] is the date, [2] is the message, [3] is album rating [4 and up] are the individual track ratings $user = explode("#",$lines[$key]); // Check for latest entries and pop off the last item.. corrects bug in diplay programming $lastentry = explode("%",$content); $lastentry = array_pop($lastentry); // get it on the screen already.. :) echo ""; // increment loop variable $i++; } ?>

.