In the two years since his last CD, the booming, rough party music that Trick Daddy has made the sound of 21st century South Florida has gone mainstream. The Liberty City rapper is back to claim his title of king of these streets (not that any of his followers, from Pitbull to Rick Ross to Pretty Ricky, have tried to usurp his throne).
Trick is a veteran of now-hot Southern hip-hop in general, and he smartly enlists several young stars: Chamillionaire, Young Buck and Baby.
He also snags the Runners, the Orlando-based producers of Ross' smash "Hustlin'," for "Thug Demand's" most killer tracks. Every Trick album has at least one genius Trick-and-producer treat, and he and the Runners hit the bass ball out of the ballpark on "Bet That." ``I love aggressive music,'' Trick and friends rap over a rhythmic track that pops and rumbles, with operatic background voices for cinematic special effects where in '04, Jim Jonsin plugged in rock guitars.
Trick has taken Tupac's thug stance and run with it, using the word in six out of his seven album titles. However, he drops the revolutionary, social commentary that made Shakur a visionary in favor of the usual Miami tropes, which are getting rather tired: sex, drugs, clubs, guns and Chevies. Trick's a talented rapper who too easily drags his skills through the gutter.
Songs like "Booty Doo" and "So High" do not exactly advance the race, let alone the genre. "10-20-Life" and "Born a Thug" are slices of Miami life, ghetto-legend-style. There are no insights on the wave of violence that has claimed the lives of so many of the kids Trick loves; then again, anyone who has been listening to the man born Maurice Young these past nine years knows thug life has a high body count.
Pod Picks: "Bet That," "Tuck Ya Ice."
``Dreamgirls,'' the Broadway musical-turned-movie about a plus-sized powerhouse singer demoted to secondary status in favor of the group's more glamorous, less talented vocalist, is especially well cast. The soundtrack - opt for the two-CD ``Deluxe'' edition to get some dance mixes and more movie music - stars Beyonce Knowles, who has always been a just-passable talent who gets by on her looks.
Her performances here won't alter that view. Also disappointing is the increasingly charmless Jamie Foxx. The appeal he had in ``Ray'' is missing here, and his wan numbers won't merit precious real estate on many iPods.
But newcomer Jennifer Hudson is a dynamo on a star-making turn on the show's signature tune, ``And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going.'' It's debatable whether she rises to the level of the original Effie (Jennifer Holliday) but the richness of her vocals has us anxiously awaiting her own full album later this year.
Eddie Murphy is the other standout, proving he's a much better singer than you remember (``Party All the Time,'' anyone?
) His dynamic ``I Meant You No Harm/Jimmy's Rap'' is his ``And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going'' showcase moment, and with the recent passing of James Brown, this obvious homage is a just tribute.
Overall, ``Dreamgirls'' on CD proves a rousing good time. The old-fashioned Motown through disco-era R B music has ample energy and the Steely Dan-like precision of the backing musicians feels more of a godsend in a time when mechanized producers overshadow the stars.
Singer-songwriter Carly Simon has generally put her artistic needs ahead of commercial ones even when it means butting heads with her record label.
She agreed to last year's standards set ``Moonlight Serenade,'' a formulaic effort. It sold well, though, so Sony asked for another.
But this time Simon is flexing her creative muscles, and what began as a conceptual album of lullabies has evolved into something more ambitious that she calls ``lulling.''
All right, so Simon's not the best saleswoman. ``Lulling'' implies narcoleptic, but ``Into White,'' which takes its title from old boyfriend Cat Stevens' oldie, is much too striking to saddle with such a term.
Instead, ``Into White,'' a broad collection of folk and pop tunes, standards and two originals like the aptly-named ``Quiet Evening,'' is a close cousin to her 1971 LP ``Anticipation'' and is notable for its stripped to the essence thematic approach. The arrangements favor simple acoustic instrumentation and Simon's closely-miked, perfectly enunciated vocals. Rather than take the easy route with familiar songs such as ``Scarborough Fair'' or the ``Black Orpheus'' theme, ``Manha de Carnaval,'' Simon finds the truth within.
The organic effect is akin to casually strolling in a beautiful garden with a master storyteller as she warmly leans into your ear, telling comforting tales of long ago. Plus, Simon's sublime redo of ex-husband James Taylor's ``You Can Close Your Eyes,'' sung with their children Ben and Sally, may well break your heart.
Pod Picks: ``Quiet Evening,'' ``You Can Close Your Eyes,'' ``Scarborough Fair.
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2007, The Miami Herald.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
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