Faith Evans will release her album "The King & I" on May 19th. It's a tribute to her former hubby, the late Notorious B.I.G., who got shot exactly 20 years ago this year.
The album has been as much talked about as it is anticipated. Faith decided to use old recordings of B.I.G.'s vocals in her new material and she's planning a tour with Biggie's hologram joining her on-stage. This has caused mixed reactions, as you would expect. Some people are eager to see it and think it's a good idea and others simply just don't agree.
For about a month now, Faith has been following up her vlogs, in which she talks about album tracks, with the music itself. She has dropped bits and pieces of various tracks and videos. You can already find "NYC" (featuring Jadakiss), "The Ten Wife Commandments", "When We Party" and "Legacy".
"When We Party" is funky and meets up to the idea of a West Coast party, where relaxing and chilling out are key factors. It's an up-tempo party track featuring vocals from Notorious B.I.G. and also featuring Snoop Doggy Dogg. Even though it sounds a lot like the hip hop meets r&B trend from the 90s it is not a mismatch with today's hip hop and r&b. It blends in smoothly with the rest.
She's also released "Legacy" a slow, personal track, which is a full blown declaration of love. The video features Biggie talking about her in an interview and with his vocals on the track, it sounds like a true duet. Fans of Biggie take care of his verses in the video, which makes the video in itself a really sweet tribute to his memory.
As much as I like the idea behind "Legacy", I consider it to be a personal track and therefore it doesn't appeal to me the way that "When We Party" does, a more commercial and universal track. However, then there's "The Ten Wife Commandments". It combines hip hop with some jazzy influences and, even though this one is personal too, it has to be one of the tracks that really stands out to me due to the mix of sounds.
Altogether, I like what I hear and think she's done a real good job of staying in the sound of what Notorious B.I.G. was doing musically when he died. I'd definitely have their joint album in my streaming playlist once it's released.
