Emily: Zack listened to this album a few days before I did, and he absolutely hated it (as you'll see before). Not wanting his opinions to unduly influence my interpretation of the album - I was the one who selected that we listen to it now, after all - I have not yet read his review, and will not until mine is complete. With that in mind, I didn't hate this album. It wasn't my favorite, but it was okay. Nenah Cherry isn't exactly the strongest of lyricists - she tends to rely on cliches and plays on words, strategies that work when used sparingly but become grating when they're the focus of your entire album. A few of the songs jumped around a lot between different beats and vocal styles, from R&B singing to rapping to spoken word. Sometimes it worked, oftentimes it was just distracting. I did enjoy the late-80's hip-hop beats behind the vocals, since I'm almost always a fan of music I can dance to (or just bob my head back and forth as I listen to it in my room). Now, without further adieu, I will end here with my favorite tracks so together we can find out why Zack holds so much animosity towards this album - though I do recommend listening to come to your own opinion first.
Favorite Tracks: Buffalo Stance; Inna City Mama; Kisses on the Wind
Zack: I know I complain a lot about the excluded
hip-hop albums. I really would like to avoid that here, but why the fuck am I
listening to this? Not only is this album not particularly influential, but it
also is just terrible. I mean, there is almost no redeeming quality to this
album. Part of that is because it is horrendously dated. I’m pretty sure that
if they had even tried to release this album one year later, they would have
been apprehended by the proper authorities for failing to recognize the change in
decade. Yes, it is that 80’s, but I don’t love it. The other problem is that
the lyrical content is so mind-numbingly focused on male-female relations that
it moves past the brain and becomes physically painful. It quickly escalates
from “girl power” to “personal account of relationship history” to “evidence
that penis envy is actually a thing.” I don’t like to throw such a blanket and
seemingly sexist accusation out there, but she flips between accusing men of
being dogs and screaming at women for trying to take her man with such violence
that it’s disorienting. Wait; is your man a piece of shit not worthy of your
trust or a golden God that you need to prevent any prowling shrews from
tempting? The answer sometimes seems to vary minute to minute. Even in The Next
Generation, a song about how important children are, she can’t resist saying
men need to learn to keep their dicks in their pants, then saying that they
should take them out and use them better than ever. At least that is my
interpretation, based off the exact literal words she says. What the fuck? I
don’t even know. In Outre Risque Locomotive, the second-to-last song, she even
admits that she’s obsessed with men, but I couldn’t make out if it was an
apology. If not, then I demand one because I’m really upset that this even
exists.
Favorite (?) Track: Love Ghetto; So Here I Come; Inna City
Mama
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