Music Monday: Chrisette and Cam'Ron

I have been a fan of Chrisette Michele since I heard her sing the hook to Jay-Z's "Lost One" off of his 2006 album Kingdom Come and then the following year she released her single "If I Had My Way." *loved that* Now Chrisette is back with "Epiphany" and this album could NOT have been titled any better. The theme of this album? End of a relationship and moving on. From the album's first single "Epiphany" *whose video featured Drake, though I may critique his rap skills he's a looker* to "Blame it On Me" and "Another One," you're listening to a journey as a woman goes through all the emotions of ending a relationship. On this album Chrisette only co-wrote three of the tracks but that doesn't make it any less personal. Some of the contributions came from Ne-Yo *who is credited to six tracks* and Rodney "Darkchild" Jerkins. Some smaller credits, come from Michigan *of course had to throw that in there* with contributions from Bei Maejor and Tim Bosky.

If you're in a happy and blessed relationship (like some of you are) you may not want to listen to this album unless you're pissed at your significant other. You still can't deny her talents, for that I give her:
♬♬♬♬ out of 5.
-------------------------------------------------------
Killa Cam is back...lmao I can't even say that with a straight face. Ever since that Pink Mink/Range/Cell/Everything fiasco I have had the hardest time taking Cam'Ron seriously. If you say you still took him seriously you're either :



A) a liar
B) one of his family members
C) Cam'ron himself O_o


But the pink one is back with his first album in 3 years, "Crime Pays." Skitzo produced almost the entire album with a few from ARAAB Muzik. No matter how much of a wanna-thug he is, I can stomach this album. The album's accidental single "My Job," is a hood struggle anthem while joints like "Cookies-N-Apple Juice" give a new nickname to some classic parts, if you catch my drift.
My problem with Cam is that he continues to talk about being a thug/gangster/whatever and he came out with "Oh Boy" and rocked that Baby Pink Baby Phat Nextel ( I don't forget.) Apparently Cam'Ron didn't either because he addressed it in one of his skits, "F--k Cam'Ron..#3."
Though it's an album intended for mainstream sale, Cam'ron takes a mixtape approach to it which is why I think it works. Tracks like "Whoo Hoo" remind me of way back when Dipset were one of the best rap cliques around. With Byrd Lady on a couple of tracks and Skitzo producing most of it, I can't help but wonder what Cam has up his sleeve.
I give Crime Pays: ♬♬♬ out of 5
There is no set coherent pattern to the track order which breaks up the rhyme flow and causes problems. But he gets points for trying.