Alicia Keys "As I Am" (Thank God You Aren't "As You Were")

I gotta say I’m a purist when it comes to soul and R&B, and being I grew up just down the road from Atlanta, Georgia I gots da street creds to be makin a step-up like dat. This brings me to the album I’m reviewing by Miss. Alicia Keys called “As I am”, and yes I do know I’m a year behind on talking about this album but hey I speak about them once I’ve given them a listen, so deal wit it ya heard.
Now being that I don’t really get much into the newer R&B and soul and feel most who dabble in it now have little of no idea of what they are doing. I will also say that I listen to more rock than any other genre, and so for me to notice “As I am” from Alicia Keys was big to say the least. The album as a whole is a really good listen. I would even buy this album in stores and will in the future. Her debut album “Music in A Minor” was a critical success along with a fan success as well. The single “Fallin” from her first album was a good change of pace from what was out there these days but as all popular songs sometimes it got played to death on the radio. So, in my case at least I hated to hear it come on the radio after a time. “A Woman’s Worth” was the typical empowering of the female cause or situation song you get on female singer albums at times and so I sorta overlooked it as a typical formula used on song making for an album. Alicia Keys second album was huge as well and sold more copies in the first week than most female artist will ever sell of an album titled “The Diary of Alicia Keys”, and even though it was hailed by critics and sold so many units I really didn’t give it a listen and found myself not really caring. “You Don’t Know My Name” and “If I Ain’t Got You”, were big hits from this album but I didn’t care to know her name and she didn’t have me. I just felt like she was something being churned out of some hit making formula scheme like Britney Spears. Alicia Keys' mother was a small no name actress and even Alicia got little bit parts like being part of Rudy’s sleep over guest in an episode of “The Cosby Show”.
Then I heard “As I am” and from that album I heard the song “No One”. I was hooked in by this song and it’s lyrics that were not bubble gum fluff but a story being told in song. So, I found the album and started giving it a preview. I was blown away by “Like You’ll Never See Me Again” and I’m not some 12 to 15 year old girl with some boy drama. It really spoke to me and even as it bordered on cliché it really was something that tugged on the emotions one feels when we’ve lost someone or someone has left. The next song that was just a damn good single was “Lesson Learned” featuring John Mayer(who I hate because he’s a prick in person), and I have to say it was a good teaming and I did like the lyrical arrangement as if a man was talking to his woman. The lyrics at the beginning of “Lesson Learned” talking about broken hearts and how “it’s raining just to rub it in” your face that you’re heart broke and suffering inside from a love just lost can speak to anyone who love and lost and the pain at the loss caused until it all made sense. “Teenage Love Affair”, spoke to her fans that were in the midst of one, and those who could remember when they were teenaged and in a love affair that seemed to mean any and everything to them. These songs strength were enough to make me stand up and take notice of Alicia Keys and not as a one hit wonder or someone churned out by the music business as a money making hit maker, but rather an artist with something to say.
Sure, while making this review I did think about Alicia Keys weird statements about how the government made Gangsta Rap to drag down the African American population. Hell I can believe the government made crack more than I could Gangsta Rap. I know this is just the words of someone who thinks the race she is identifying with while it’s cool isn’t responsible for any acts of stupidity or hurt upon themselves… which is total bullshit. See,her saying this makes me wonder does she know anything about her Irish background which are people still held under the boot of English rule even now. Anyway, you can overlook that with this music, and you can overlook her ample ass monster she stuffs in her painted on pants. Yes, is the answer because the music is just that good. So, if you are looking for some good neo-soul mixed with R&B that flirts with rock and hip hop, then go out and buy Miss. Alicia Keys new album “As I am” and see if you don’t kiss that special someone a little harder and with more passion “like this is the last time.”

Preview her work at the sites below.
Alicia Keys' spot on Myspace
This is her official website.