PopSyndicate.com

a solid release and fans of hip-hop will do well to pick it up

When I heard “Lip Gloss” last year, as much as I wanted to hate it, I couldn’t help but be attracted to it’s silly pop rap beats.  Then her first CD crosses my desk last month, I was surprised since I figured it was released around the time that “Lip Gloss” hit the airwaves.  I was prepared for the early Brittney Spears of rap to flood my ears with snappy songs about boys, makeup and pre-conceptions about sex.  For the most part, I pretty much got that only it’s done with more style and substance that I expected.  Sounding like a younger verison of Lil’ Kim and Missy Elliot, Lil Mama’s Voice of the Young People sets her up to score big and be a major player on the pop-rap scene.

Once you get past the opening track “Lip Gloss” with such memorable lines as “my lip gloss is poppin’, my lip gloss is cool, all the boys keep jockin’, they chase me after school”, you’ll find a well produced number of tracks that will burning up the dance floors all summer along.  T-Pain adds his talents to “Shawty Get Loose” and “What It Is (Strike a Pose).  “G-Slide” plays with a childhood favorite and weaves into what will be either a fan favorite or a huge annoyance.  Like Jay-Z use of “Hard Knock Life”, Lil Mama incorporates “Wheels on the Bus” into a new dance craze. It’s strangely juxtaposed with the somber “Stand Up”, a semi-autobiographical song.  “Stand Up” is a turning point on the CD.  Lil Mama takes a serious turn with that song, “L.I.F.E.”, “College” and “Swim”. She turns things around again with the closing tracks and brings the album back up to party music level.

While emotionally shallow, Lil Mama does a terrific job selling the music.  Her voice is solid and she handles the trite with the emotionally deep.  Song’s like “Broken Pieces”, a TLC-esque number, show that she can bring the warmth and emotion when needed.  It’s easy to write Lil Mama off as another flash in the pan act ala Soulja Boy or Lady Sovereign.  Her debut album is miles ahead of either of them and the first young act to show any real promise of lasting past their initial release in a long time.  Even better, she’s been able to sell herself without resorting to profanity or being overtly sexy.  She’s not whoring herself out to sell records like so many young stars (cough…Miley Cyrus…cough).  Instead, Lil Mama is selling herself on raw talent and ability to tear up the mic. 

Who knows if Lil’ Mama will catch on she’ll have lasting career or be yet another flash in the pan act.  Voice of the Young People is an impressive debut effort and will be heard on radios all year long.  The album goes a few songs too long and the skit numbers could have been cut.  Nineteen tracks hurts the overall product instead of strengths but Voice of the Young People is a solid release and fans of hip-hop will do well to pick it up.

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