Music reviews. CD reviews. Critically hip!

Mr. Capone-E has been releasing all sorts of projects on his Hi Power/PMC imprint, and most of it --- especially his own --- is actually pretty good. Just about everyone on the label, it seems, shows up on Forbidden Love, Miss Lady Pink’s debut project. In fact, only a third of the tracks on Forbidden Love have a featured rapper. The result is that MLP kind of gets lost on her own project. It happens. All of the time. And it’s kind of a shame, because MLP can carry it on her own.

It’s not that Forbidden Love by Miss Lady Pinks is a bad CD. It isn’t really. There are actually some high points here…what? No, I don’t mean those. I’ll talk about those in a minute. I mean the tracks. There are actually a bunch of good tracks on Forbidden Love. And two of them, Bitch Please and Gangster Freak, besides earning Forbidden Love that all important parental advisory sticker, are actually kind of catchy. MLP does alright. If you thought that Milkshake by Kelis had broken a barrier or two, Gangster Freak (not to mention Sleeping With The Enemy featuring Bozo) demolishes the whole security system. By the way, this CD is “enhanced” with a G-rated video of Gangster Freak, and let me tell you, oh my brothers, that the CD isn’t the only thing connected with this project that is enhanced, if you know what I mean. Anyway, that’s not what we’re here for. The CD. The tracks. It’s A Beautiful Day is about a barbeque, and is really boring. Just A Question, however, featuring label mate Grumpy, more than makes up for it. This is a great hip hop track, really more Grumpy’s track than not. This could be a terrestrial radio hit; why isn’t it? Actually, you could say the same about Sexy Chica, which features Jon Izzie, and almost sounds like Earth, Wind, & Fire (almost). There are a bunch of great beats on here, and while the arrangements aren’t complicated, they don’t get in the way, either. There’s plenty of bottom in the mix as well, which I got to test out this afternoon in the drive-thru line at my local Sonic when the woman ahead of The Kid in line started making her order (Sonic Burger, Tots, and a regular Strawberry Banana smoothie) a bit too complicated and needed some aural prompting to move it along.

Miss Lady Pinks kind of comes off like a Bratz doll brought to life --- yeah, I know, they did a movie like that, but this would be the real thing --- so let me assure you that you don’t want your teenage daughter listening to this thing. Or your wife, either, for that matter. It’s not that MLP doesn’t have some good ideas; it’s just that fidelity, if the topics of the tracks on Forbidden Love are any indication, doesn’t seem to be on the list. Not a bad disc, however, not bad at all, as long as you don’t take it too seriously.