Have you ever listened to an album and thought to yourself that it’s destined to obtain massively huge world renowned success, just to later discover that the acclaim and the accolades you feel it deserves is unfortunate wishful thinking. What’s becomes apparent is that the end result is that the cd will be snubbed? There were a few artists in 2010 that I believe were deserving of owning that year. I narrowed it down to three for myself. Alicia Keys’ 2009 fourth quarter release titled “Elements of Freedom” did boast sales of over 1 million and managed to contain 2 songs on the disc that have entered in the top 2 spots on billboard’s R&B/Hip-hop songs chart. Though that is a great feat which has been accomplished, I think its potential is far greater than what has been reached (to no fault of her own). The collection of songs as a whole was a great array of mood music that quietly passed by those who've missed out.
What I think might be even a bigger travesty is the disappointing performance of Ciara’s Basic Instinct, which I thought was a solid well –packaged compilation of songs that represented a fresh and current sound that may not necessary be superior to Elements, but certainly was more infectious and even possessing more of a likeability factor. Those that discredit Ciara place blame on her for her lackadaisical approach in promoting Instinct. Perhaps, it is logical suppositions to draw a conclusion from in thinking that Ciara may have played a hand in seeing it get off to a bad start. All in all, I feel that the album is exactly where music is at in terms of the aggression, edge and swagger. It’s a cut above the rest.
Still my most treasured rough diamond is Chris Brown’s Graffiti album. Again another 2009 fall release that didn’t beat the odds in terms of matching success he is know for. I personally found this record to be quite innovative and ground breaking. There’s sometimes that record which is created and forgotten about that comes along before the birth of something that goes a step further. That would be the only description I can dubbed Brown’s latest effort. It explores so many different sounds from dance to reggae and the cohesiveness turned out to be a magnetic gumbo of didn’t music elements that spoke volumes of Brown’s musicality. His influences are present on this piece of work where it seems evident that he saturated the essence of genius musicians such as Michael Jackson, Lionel Richie and even Stevie Wonder (check out Fallin’ Down) and cleverly made it modern and honest in defining himself. What I can guarantee is that this same concept will be developed upon and it may not be obvious who will drive this thing home (then again maybe it is), but Graffiti is the blueprint now and the next deserving opportunist only has to cross the finish line with the same, but expanded substance found in it. Do you agree? What are your picks?
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