While R&B and hip hop albums are notoriously hit and miss in the quality stakes, for the last six years at least, there has been one constant. Make a list of either genre’s latter-day essentials - albums which will be as indispensable ten years hence as they were on the day of their much hyped release, and, more often than not, John Legend’s name is somewhere in the credits.
Pianist of choice for rap’s great and good, he’s lent his keyboard skills to Jay-Z’s “The Black Album” and Kanye West’s “The College Dropout” to name but two. Meanwhile, his co-writing credits include Alicia Keys’ single “You Don’t Know My Name” and Lauryn Hill’s “Everything Is Everything”. At just 23, he’s got a staggering CV, and in the process of amassing it, he’s clearly learnt a thing or two. While most spend their debut finding their feet, Legend’s arrives a fully formed masterpiece.
Though co-produced with long-standing cohort West, of all his former mentors, it’s Lauryn Hill who Legend has most in common with. Like Hill, his brilliance lies in his ability to join the dots between hip hop and soul. The clattering break beat of “Used To Love U” is made the pulse of vintage heartache as soon as the piano and the pleading vocal kick in, and “Alright” and “I Can Change”’s pneumatic loops rollout warm, musty and uncharacteristically spiritual as the gospel choir surge along side.
And it’s a deal that works both ways. Given a crisp click track, the ‘60s sunshine of “Number One” and “Refuge” radiate fresh hope and promise. Timeless is an over used plaudit, but for once it’s the only one that fits.
It helps that he’s got a voice which caresses with wisdom and world-weariness beyond his years. And, thick with atmosphere and vintage melodies as “Get Lifted”’s piano struts are, it’s the voice that sells them. Wrestling with the whys and wherefores of songs’ faltering relationships, he sounds every inch a man who’s battered and bruised, but still strong, passionate and willing to fight with all his worth.
The list of essential hip hop and R&B albums may be short, but with “Get Lifted” it just got one longer.
by Dan Gennoe