Just Like You

On Just Like You, her sophomore disc, Keyshia Cole proves for a second time--for sure and way beyond the shadow of a doubt--that she's headed for Mary J. Blige-style hugeness. If 2005's The Way It Is won fans for its bottomless vocal appeal and mild grit, Just Like You scores with a more potent and refined dose of the same. Right out of the gate these tracks grab hold: "Let It Go" latches onto a groove and rides it hard, and not just because Lil' Kim and Missy Elliott are gripping, too. It's a Keyshia-derived attitude, an even-keeled brand of cool, that seeps into all 14 songs and gives them heft and substance. Hear it on "Got to Get My Heart Back" and "Give Me More," two of the best and most honest-sounding tracks on a disc that got a lot of help--Diddy guests, and so do T.I., Too $hort, and Young Dro--but clearly didn't need it. Count on Just Like You landing on a lot of R&B top 10 lists for 2007. --Tammy La Gorce

Atists: Keyshia Cole
Audio CD:
Company: Geffen Records (2007-09-25)

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<<Just Like You>>

Carnival II: Memoirs of an Immigrant

Haitian born, Wyclef Jean, is a world renowned artist, songwriter, producer, Good Will Ambassador and activist through his Yelé Haiti foundation. He began his career as a member of the The Fugees. Their classic release, The Score, sold over 18 million copies worldwide and certified the trio as international superstars. Jean then began his solo career with 1997's platinum plus album The Carnival Featuring the Refugee All-Stars. Wyclef went on to work with diverse artists including Santana, Destiny's Child, and Mick Jagger. Recently, he produced "Hips Don't Lie", a Grammy®-nominated duet with Shakira. The track broke the record for the most amount of airplay in the history of Billboard magazine's airplay tracking. The Grammy® Award winner returns to Columbia Records to celebrate the ten-year anniversary of his first solo album with The Carnival II: Memoirs of an Immigrant, which is slated for release on December 4, 2007.

More from Wyclef Jean and Friends

Presents the Carnival Featuring the Refugee Allstars	The Ecleftic: 2 Sides II a Book	The Preacher's Son
Greatest Hits	The Score	Blunted on Reality

Atists: Wyclef Jean
Audio CD: Company: Sony (2007-12-04)

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<<Carnival II: Memoirs of an Immigrant>>

Timbaland Presents Shock Value

When the most exciting producer in pop music himself puts out a CD, the thrill is in the discovery: The world may have already suspected that Justin Timberlake, Nelly Furtado, and a small army of other singers owed 75% of their fame to the stockpile of skittering beats Timbaland built and then graciously set them upon, but here's a chance to prove it. Or it might have been in less welcoming hands. Shock Value is a far-reaching and ambitious disc; a masterpiece, even, in its own way. But it's not at all self-centered. If there's a point being put across here, it's that Timbaland came by your vote as behind-the-scenes musical man of the hour honestly: pair him with Fall Out Boy or the Strokes, and he will not only provide tracks that surprise you by maintaining their rock 'n' roll integrity, he will also convince you that shimmer's role in rock music has, to now, been tragically misguided and miniscule. Re-team him with Timberlake and Furtado (for the near-flawless track "Give It to Me") and he will again trade vocal bites, but they will still be nibbly, not voracious. In a CD full of experiments and puzzles (why is Elton John just piano-playing, not singing? And how did the L.A. band One Republic end up on this disc?) a single truth emerges: Timbaland's taste is impeccable, but his judgment is even better. Shock Value, by virtue of its swirly beats and mesmerizing rhythms, will bring him a smidge closer to the spotlight. But because it's a disc of collaborations, he'll retain the shadowy-genius reputation that precedes him, and that he so richly deserves. --Tammy La Gorce

Atists: Timbaland
Audio CD: Explicit Lyrics
Company: Interscope Records (2007-04-03)

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<<Timbaland Presents Shock Value>>

The Dutchess

If you thought Black Eyed Pea-sized bites of Fergie might be all you could handle--that a full plate of Fergie is possibly too much for any discerning musical palate--The Dutchess might change your mind. For here the lumpen lady throws caution to the wind and threads her pop needle with an ambitious ribbon of yet-to-be-conquered genres: reggae and ska on "Mary Jane Shoes," with Rita Marley; vintage soul on "Here I Come"; '80s hip-hop on "Fergalicious"; and sophisticated R&B on the John Legend-assisted "Finally." It's a tremendous and unpredictable expenditure of effort that mostly pays off--echoes of more talented vocalists like Pink, Beyoncé, and Christina Aguilera poke through in places. But while unbridled messing about can pay handsome artistic dividends (here, the guitar-propelled rock-like track "Big Girls Don't Cry" coughs them up), ultimately it's when Fergie's at her Peas-iest that she's most lovable; cases in point are the raunchily irresistible "London Bridge," which earned every week of its chart-topping success, and the will.i.am-assisted "Clumsy," a girl-group-styled bump-a-thon that showcases Fergie's coolest and most distinctive asset--her personality--to winning effect. --Tammy La Gorce

Atists: Fergie
Audio CD: Explicit Lyrics
Company: Interscope Records (2006-09-19)

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<<The Dutchess>>

Minutes to Midnight

Minutes to Midnight stands to defend Linkin Park's status as the hardest-rockin' softies in mainstream music. Like its predecessors Hybrid Theory (2000) and Meteroa (2003), Minutes to Midnight flexes plenty of decibel-heavy muscle ("Given Up," "Bleed It Out," "No More Sorrow") and made-to-order, melodic radio fare ("Leave Out All the Rest," "Shadow of the Day," "In Pieces"). But for all its volume, Linkin Park likes to paint its heart openly on its sleeve with suspicious sonic drama, as in the palpably saccharine "Valentine's Day." Fortunately, co-producer Rick Rubin brings all these elements to pinnacle effect with the surprise "Hands Held High." On past efforts, the combination of breezy keyboard, arpeggiated guitar, choral vocals, and a military snare-beat would yield another slab of smarm, here MC Mike Shinoda drops the two best verses of his career, blending vocal styles with singer Chester Bennington for a moving piece that's as welcome a repertorial addition as Linkin Park is ever likely to muster. --Jason Kirk

Atists: Linkin Park
Audio CD: Explicit Lyrics
Company: Warner Bros / Wea (2007-05-15)

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<<Minutes to Midnight>>

American Gangster

An unofficial musical companion to the film of the same name (dir. Ridley Scott), American Gangster traces the rise and fall of a self-made American man. Sound tired? Perhaps, but a dozen albums into his career, Jay-Z can be forgiven his occasional dabbling in shopworn archetypes. A panoramic, cinematic work in four acts, American Gangster bulges with instrumental melodrama. Take "American Dreamin'": despite the Diddy-produced track's sultry, shifty beat, a pile of whining strings and tinkling piano flourishes all but completely suppresses the rhythmic interplay between the vocals and drums. Again and again, Jay-Z's otherwise compelling raps fall prey to a similarly overwrought studio aesthetic. (In this, the album resembles many a Ridley Scott film.) There are exceptions: Bigg D's "Hello Brooklyn 2.0" and the Neptunes' "I Know" and lead single "Blue Magic" are unqualified bangers, and Jermaine Dupri's "Success" (featuring Nas) flaunts a relentless organ lick with 'round-the-way mojo to spare, but the album's overriding sonic melodrama is all Diddy. Still, no one steals Jay-Z's thunder easily. Having long since joined the top ranks of the hip-hop elite, Jay-Z can (and does) ultimately weather the best efforts of another major-league ego and still come out on top. --Jason Kirk

Atists: Jay-Z
Audio CD: Explicit Lyrics
Company: Roc-A-Fella (2007-11-06)

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<<American Gangster >>