Let’s hand it to rap, two terrific albums to start the new year. Joey Bada$$ , Bed Stuyvesant liviest one co-founder of the rap collective Pro Era, and who would be big time indeed if he widened his interests on debut album B4.DA.$$ . Or narrowed them as Lupe Fiasco did on his superb Tetsuo And Beyond.
Belly Of The Beast – Joey Bada$$ and Chronixx – Talk about strange bedfellows, Chronixx is old school Rastafarian and Bada$$ is a 20 year old new rap wunderkind, this track meets in the New York meets Kingstown world of extreme poverty and is a brilliant one of the best songs of the year deals – A
Lord I Hope This Day Is Good – Lee Ann Womack – A showstopper at Carnegie Hall on Monday, this is off her 2000 country hit album I Hope You dance and in under three minutes it yearns with faith and hope – A
With less expectations hanging over them, these wordy clever, powerful songs sound much better than if it had followed We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed. They fell to earth but they are quite comfortable there – ALBUM OF THE WEEK – A-
