CD reviews

Kazzer

Go for Broke

Reviewed By Chris Blake

If I was still a 15-year-old kid, Kazzer would be my new favourite artist. Sure he's just another of the thousands of nu-metal rap bands around today, but Kazzer just seems so much more naturally cool than the rest.

If I heard this album today, I'd go out tomorrow and tell all of my friends about this great band I've been listening to for years and tell them to buy it. It's that cool.

While most nu-metal bands seem to be heavy on the metal and laughably weak on the lyrics, Kazzer's rhymes are as tight and natural sounding as an inner city freestyle contest.

And Kazzer's voice puts the likes of Fred Durst to shame. Not only can he rap, but he can also go for the 50 Cent style harmonising that is so important these days.

Songs like "Pedal to the Metal" will have you thrashing around like a race car driver, while "Locked Tight" will ease you down with some smooth soul-filled rhymes.

From Track 1 to 13 this album is the most solid debut release I've heard in a while.

Go out and buy this album before your friends do. That way you can be the cool guy who knew about Kazzer before everyone else.

Not bad at all for a white kid from Ontario, Canada.

Sugar Ray

In the Pursuit of Leisure

Believe it or not, Sugar Ray got its start as a rock band. But it was the band's light-hearted reggae pop mix that made it a radio favourite.

Now the sound is some sort of mix between pop, rock, hip hop, reggae and even a bit of country. When you're working in so many different styles, some are bound to work and some are bound to flop.

One of the flops is the dance/disco/rap/rock of their single "Mr. Bartender." It has way too many different sounds and lacks any of the smooth sugary sounds that make a good Sugar Ray song.

The remake of the 1980s Joe Jackson classic "Is She Really Going Out With Him?" is right up the guys' alley. Songs like "She's Different" and "Chasin' You Around," which make you feel like you are dancing at a late-night beach party, are Sugar Rays bread and butter.

This is not the band's strongest album, but there are still few tracks to like.

Beyonce

Dangerously in Love

It seems like all you have to do these days is take a sexy female singer and team her with a crazy male rapper and you've got yourself a top ten hit.

This time around it's Destiny's Child's Beyonce Knowles playing the role of sexy singer, and Jay-Z taking the part of crazy rapper. And the song of the moment is the radio hit "Crazy In Love."

Beyonce has the perfect voice and style for these disco-style hip hop dance club hits. She plays the role of the sexy voice to the hard rap beats quite well on tracks like "Baby Boy," "That's How You Like It" and "Crazy In Love."

But to be honest, this album is weak. It has a few good songs, but most of it makes me want to pull my hair out. This is because Beyonce is trying to turn herself into the next diva like Whitney Houston. Well she ain't no Whitney Houston.

Beyonce has a great voice when she is doing her disco hits, but once she tries to slow it down and turn up the volume she really shows her weak side.

Heck, I don't even like Whitney and she does it better. Hey Beyonce, stick to the hip hop hits. It's what you do best.

I'd skip this album and buy a couple of singles instead.

Vocabulary

inner city (n): the part near the centre of a large city, which often has social problems
freestyle (n): when a rapper creates brand new lyrics right from the top of his head without notes or help
harmonising (v): to play or sing music that combines with the main tune to make a pleasing sound
bound (v): certain or likely to happen, or to do or be something
flop (v): to be a complete failure
bread and butter (n): a person or company�s main source of income, or best quality
diva (n): a famous woman singer
to put to shame (idiom): to be much better than somebody/something