REVIEW: JERMAINE DUPRI - MAGIC CITY

3.5/5

The Magic Hour

Y'all know what it is. Super producer and hip-hop mogul Jermaine Dupri may have given us the 'Young, Fly & Flashy Vol. 1' (still waiting on that next one), So So Def label compilation, back in 2005, featuring his hit single 'Gotta Getcha' and the mega 'I Think They Like Me' remix. But it's actually been a Kobe (24 years) since he released an actual album, with the incredible 'Instructions' to his game. A stone-cold, 'Welcome To Atlanta' classic for the south, featuring the likes of Ludacris, Usher, Jagged Edge and them, of course. Even his "little homie" Bow Wow, as the man who discovered more music in the ATL than Club 112 showed you how to rock with him. It's not like he's been lazy since then. 'The Emancipation Of Mimi' and Mariah, still on fire, will tell you. Letting the studio 'Burn' like the 'Confessions' of Usher that did a million and change in its first week of release. A producer's paradise.

Now, Jermaine gives us the 'Magic City' soundtrack, dedicated to the strip clubs in the A, dropping more than ones. And the Dame Dash of the South offers up so many leading men and women on the all-star studded affair of a showcase. Harking back to his definitive debut 'Life In 1472' that felt like a movie all in itself, as he and Jay-Z told us 'Money Ain't A Thang', racing horses and horsepower. This city is so magic, scored by the skyline in the background of some alluring artwork on the pole, that it even looks like those new CD jewel cases that came in during the new millennium before Spotify and streaming abruptly took adolescents away from the stores. Still towering for the record, Dupri brings them out, like T.I. That King of the South is here too (with Akeem Ali and Young Dro on 'P###y Got Me' and Dro and 2 Chainz on 'Turn Around'). From the 'Tryna Beat The Thrill' opening act (with Skooly), to the 'We Da S###' outro with Pastor Troy, Princess and the "YEAAAHS" of Lil Jon, these are the ad-lib tricks of JD's trade.

'Atlanaa' is the new anthem for the city, starring the great CeeLo Green and those vivid vocals  ("There isn't anywhere else that makes me feel the way you do/I promise I'll always be true/It's not a secret we're in love/That goes for every one of us/I will love you for life"). Whereas 'Magic City Money' (featuring Bankroll Ni, BunnaB, J-Money and Sean Paul (of YoungBloodZ, not 'Gimmie The Light') banks on another single for your Billboards from Atlanta to New York and Hollywood, like a coast-to-coast remix. 'Rich Homie Quan' lights up 'This Or That', Travis Porter and a full-grown Bow Wow tells us 'She's A Freak'. Yet, it's the 'A## Shake' of Quavo and Ludacris (not actually them...that would be weird) that will truly get you on the dance floor. The clubs and bottles that are all on Jermaine Dupri, who not only owns the city, but now the rap game as others previously in position have fallen from grace. DJ X-Rated and Rocko 'Get It' over a beat that Timbaland would be proud of. All before K CAMP and YFN Lucci tell us 'I Wanna' on a track that's as glitzy as Gucci decked out on the street.

Conversations with Big Meech (the real Big Meech). Belly Gang Kushington and SWAVAY showing 'More Than Me'. The whole album feels like real rap, thrown on the floor and working the pole. Yet, just like when CeeLo gets his Gnarles Barkley on, the Dungeons of the South have something to say when they sing. That's when the legendary gutter R&B kings Jagged Edge and the great Killer Mike run the jewels on 'Married To The Game' ("Now the first time I see her I fell in love/She was bad as f###, ambitious and coming up/She was married to the game, and I was too/I just knew, she was perfect for me."). Let's get married again like a ReMarqable remix. So meet me in the altar in your white dress. Peachy, like the city of Trae Young, the Atlanta Hawks and Dream, and the one of MLK. It's enough to show 'The Kids From The Neighborhood' like a posse track, cut by a sweet sample and the likes of Hollywood YC, Lil Scrappy and Skooly. Just how many rap stars for the city can Jermaine Dupri pull out of the hat, at it like rabbits in the club? True magic, like Earvin Johnson. These Atlanta braves are knocking it out of the park and off the dance floor. Magic for the city. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Playlist Picks: 'Atlanaa (Feat. CeeLo Green)', 'A## Shake (Feat Quavo & Ludacris)', 'Married To The Game (Feat. Killer Mike & Jagged Edge)'.

Spin This: Jermaine Dupri - 'Life In 1472'

REVIEW: KING PRINCESS - GIRL VIOLENCE

4/5

Ultraviolence

Love lies bleeding, this New Music Friday, as the striking single 'RIP KP' spearheads the 'Girl Violence' of the third album from Mikaela Mullaney Straus, AKA, King Princess, one of the best pop stars and artists in the game right now. Recent controversial comments aside and an album title that couldn't have come at a worse time this week, we should all still hail the King and the Princess. Besides, 'Girl Violence', like it's outstanding, opening title-track, is no play on words. "I'm tired of crying and tired of trying/Why does nobody mention that girls can be violent?" It's a problem we should all pay attention too. Straus follows her expensive, dominant debut ('Cheap Queen') and sensational sophomore set ('Hold On Baby') that came out three years ago (WHAT?!), with a more straight-forward and personal project that makes her Holy Trinity a big-three.

Acting in 'Nine Perfect Strangers'. Stirring up dating rumours with the forever young Christine Baranski, almost 50 years her senior (hey, nothing wrong with that, I would). King Princess is ready for her throne of stardom, even if the single plays up on those in cancel culture who want to say rest in peace to the career of KP. Nuts. Not when you have a lucky for us, thirteen new tracks. Ones that share title names with Cyndi Lauper ('Girls'), Johnny Cash ('Cry Cry Cry'), and even 'West Side Story' ('I Feel Pretty'), but are their own individual gems from the Brooklyn, New Yorker, who is still only 26 years old. Although that's the sweet spot, prime of one's young life. 'Say What You Will' about a great duet with Joe Talbot, this album is stacked with big names, even though it only has one more guest feature than a J.Cole LP. The great 'Thalia', the moment we made our bed and fell in love with this Princess, even has some competition in the standout 'Jaime' and the sweet serve of 'Serena' as this album meets its match point.

"It's really nice to meet you, it’s been a little rough for a minute/I've had to face fire, fight fear, and spend a lot of time in the mirror/And I'm cool, I'm weirder, yeah, I'm hot, I'm deeper/I'm starting to feel myself again/Now I'm a f###### sleeper", the King sings on her 'Origin' story. But it's 'Get Your Heart Broken' that will really take yours ("Oh, so baby let the shame rub off/Death by a thousand cuts, ah-ah/Scared that you're one of us/That would be the best of luck, ah-ah") in the blurred ruby red of the album artwork. Pulling back the 'Covers' on a brief, but beautiful track, the singer-songwriter with a career catalogue of inspired interludes sings "I suppose that I'm only a ghost/And you never want to see me in your room/I'll see you in your room/And at the most, you'll hear scratching at your post/And you'll wonder if it's me who's haunting you" before the dawn. Meanwhile, 'Slow Down and Shut Up' may be life advice I need to heed right now (it's saved on my Spotify, every time I see the app on my drop-down menu, but 'Alone Again' strikes the deepest chord. "Crying on the floor, begging through the door/Now I'm alone again/Screaming through the phone, I should have probably known/Now I'm alone again." But together in another crowning year of women in music (see, Haim), we know she won't quit. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Playlist Picks: 'Jaime', 'Get Your Heart Broke', 'RIP KP'.

Spin This: Haim - 'I Quit'