Hi, I'm CookieCrumbs and i lurve eating cookies and posting interesting opinions here at Ciao. I try...
Hi, I'm CookieCrumbs and i lurve eating cookies and posting interesting opinions here at Ciao. I try to make my opinions as useful and fact-packed as possible, and i welcome anyone to send me constructive criticism/compliments about my reviews!
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June 30th 2003 – Ashanti’s follow up to her successful debut album is released. Summer is the key issue here – summery sounds, summery packaging. CD cover consists of Ashanti stood on a beach in front of the ocean set against a blue sky. The jewel case insert folds out into a poster on one side, lyrics, credits and thankyous on the other. So is it any good??
Intro If you owned Ashanti’s debut album, ‘Ashanti’, you will familiar with the format of this intro. It is a medley of sound clips from Ashanti’s recent popular songs, that is from her previous album and recent collaborations such as ‘Down 4 U’ and ‘Mesmerise’ with Ja Rule, as well as ‘Baby’ and ‘Happy’.
02 – Shany’s World
Ok, this was not a good start to the album form me. As this track is not labelled as a ‘skit’ or yet another intro, I was expecting this to be a ‘proper’ song. However, it is just Ashanti making crooning noises in the background whilst Chick Santana is talking (he is the co-founder of Murder Inc Records along with Irv Gotti.) But Wait! Keep listening, the album now picks up…
03 – Rock Wit You (Aww Baby)
You are likely to have heard this track on the radio, or seen the vid on MTV, as it is the first single to be released from the album. If not, the title is pretty self-explanatory, it is a chilled out song, without being too laid back, which mainly consists of Ashanti singing Aww Baby in the background with some more singing on the top. This is a really nice summer
track, its not too demanding on the ears, its sung sweetly, and great for in the background whilst sunbathing. The only down side is, once you’ve just got into the track, it ends and we are into yet another Skit…..
04 What are they gonna say now (Skit)
Why do they call these Skits? Why not just call them ‘Skip’ trust me, that’s what you want to do. This one is about 30 seconds of a man and woman talking about this new album – how ‘she’s done it again’ and ‘what they gonna say now’. Hmm…
05 – Break Up to Make Up This track follows the style of Rock Wit You, in that it is a good summer song. Again, its chilled out but has a little more substance to it than track 03. Personally I cant see this being released as a single…But who am I to say? I enjoy listening to this song, most other people probably will too.
06 – I Found Lovin’ Argghh this isn’t just an eighties style song, it’s a tacky one at that. However, its tacky in a fun way. When I first heard this track I was thinking 'What’s a song like this doing on Ashanti’s album?’, but then it started to grow on me enough for me not to want to skip this track. I’ll admit, I don’t know whether this is a cover of, or uses samples from, somebody else’s song, I'm not quite old enough to know, but I’m guessing the beats been nicked from somewhere.
07 – Rain on Me In this song Ashanti is a wee bit upset with the sate of her relationship and pleas for it to ‘Rain on me.’ It is a slow song, but gets going at the hook and chorus. This track has quite a classy, sophisticated sound to it, aided by the fact it uses a sample from ‘The Look of Love’ written by Bacharach
08 – And then your gone Ashanti puts a sultry voice on for most of this track, but it sounds quite fresh. Again, there is some rapping by Chink Santana and a modern ‘twangy’ guitar sound in the background, which gives a slightly oriental sound to parts of the track. (This song uses an interpolation of ‘Aint I been good to you’ by the Isley brothers.)
09 – Living my Life Slow song, but quite sassy. Not really a stand alone track, it just blends in to the rest of the album. Although this track isn’t one you’d deliberately skip, it’s the sort that you’d have on in the background whilst your busy with something else. However, I do like the clipped piano sounds in this song, it goes well with the beat.
10 – Black Child (Skit) Hmm personally I think this is a bit strange – a track of Ashanti’s album has been donated to a new rapper at Murder Inc Records – Black Child. This skit consists of 1:28 of Black Child showcasing his rapping skills. I’m not really in to this. however if Black Child does well, maybe this track will become a collectors item?!
11 – Feels so Good.
This track has a Mary J Bilge feel to it, sweet vocals with a bit of trumpet/trombone thrown in. Flowing the overall theme of the album – it has a great summery laid back beat, but this track makes you want to move, if only slightly. Great for a summers evening, dancing with your partner. this is well on its way to becoming my favourite track.
12 – Carry On in contrast with the other tracks, this has more beat and speed, although it does have quite a sinister sound to it. The lyrics involve Ashanti being unhappy with her relationship, like ‘Rain on Me’, and that she wants it to change. An ok track, it grew on me after a few plays, but its not my favourite.
13 – The Sugar Shack (Skit) By this stage you are likely to be sick of Skits. This one consists of some piano being played in a Blues-Style with a male voice in the background which is nearly inaudible.
14 – The Story of 2 This track has a 60’s Soul feel to it. I don’t know why this song isn’t called ‘Dream Maker’ as that is what Ashanti is singing about (an interpolation of a song by that name is used) Nice, but a bit too old fashioned for me.
15 –OHH AHHH as the title suggests this track involves crooning of ohh ahh. It is a good song, but in terms of a description, most of the comments from the other tracks apply – laid back with a fresh sound. However, what makes this song slightly different is that there is a ‘Tubular Bells’ style sound in the background. 16 – Shany Shia (SKIT) Ashanti practising singing with her sister.
17 – Sweet Baby a slow love song
18 – U Say , I Say an upbeat track, which could become a single. More energy than most of the other tracks. The ‘U Say, I Say…’ hook is catching, you’ll probably find yourself singing it for a while after listening to the track.
19 – I Don’t Mind If you own Ashanti’s first album, do you remember the echoing mans voice on ‘Scared’ and ‘Rescue Me’ ? well, that’s how this track starts. It then progresses into a very slow, breathy track. Quite a stylish way for the album to end.
20 – OUTRO exactly the same as track 2 – Shanys world, apart from this time Chink Santana is saying bye…..
As mentioned earlier, the album has a very relaxed feel to it, we aren’t talking about party or clubbing tracks here – but if the sun ever comes out this is a great album for spending time relaxing outside. (If you are into something a bit more funky and upbeat this summer I suggest you try Beyonce’s ‘Dangerously In Love’ Album)
Ashanti may receive criticism for the amount of samples that have been used for ‘Chapter II’ and some may say that means she isn’t very good at writing songs. However the samples have been used very subtlety, so she’s still made the songs her own. In some extra defence, Ashanti has written for artists such as Jennifer Lopez as well as herself.
What did annoy me about the album is the amount of Skits involved. Yes – the album may have 20 tracks but only 13 are real songs ….
If you are into R&B styles, this could well become part of your soundtrack for the summer – which is likely to have been the aim of the album.
***OVERALL 7.5/10*****
Thank You for Reading xx (apoligies for being in the wrong section, ill move it when there is one)
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Just wanted to correct something in your review: the song "Rain on me" embodies a sample of the Isaac Hayes recording of "the look of love". I think it's a pretty famous recording enough to ommit. Of course the original was written by Bacharach but not the sample used here.
Lizard_Lover 02.07.2003 14:55
I'm in the process of downloading this as we speak :O) I know what you mean about the skits, but so many albums seems to have them now.
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