2010年 05月 12日 水曜日 09:34

http://c2.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/131/l_1932fa17a29f4f2cb91c2f2cdf6ab7a9.jpg

(Top)
Trina
Toni Braxton

(Middle)
B.o.B
U-N-I
Kidz In The Hall

(Bottom)
E-40

Toni Braxton's long-awaited new album, Pulse, has finally been released earlier this month. This CD starts with the powerful, dynamic ballad single "Yesterday" (the version without Trey Songz) and it's definitely the best moment of the whole album, but meanwhile, the rest of the album is also decent at least and some of the songs, including "Make My Heart" and "Wardrobe," are as great.

One of the few prominent female MCs on the mainstream Hip-Hop scene, Trina "The Original Baddest B***h" has returned with her latest offering, Amazin', which was released a week ago. Just like most of her previous works, this album is well-balanced between her aggressive, sharp flow and R&B-styled fine productions and also features a bunch of great guest performers including Lyfe Jennings, Keri Hilson, Shonie, Lil Wayne, Flo Rida and most notably Monica on two tracks. Especially, "Always" with Monica is irresistible.

Even though it's only one year and a half since his critically-acclaimed previous album The Ball Street Journal got released, Bay rap/Hyphy legend E-40 has already been back with the new Revenue Retrievin' series, separetely-released double album that features 19 tracks on each disc. You know the saying "quality matters more than quantity," but in this case, E-40 is obviously in top gear and successfully made this double-disc set very funky, edgy and entertaining. Also, two of the most talented and innovative producers of the Hyphy scene, Rick Rock and Droop-E (E-40's son), provided the majority of the beats on this set and they are of great help in making him sound still relevant.