Disorienting and sometimes brilliant. [Jan 2007, p.109]

Ali fuses formindable mic skills and unvarnished honesty as effectively as Eminem. [Apr 2007, p.130]

Maybe The Mix-Up woks simply because it does nothing terribily wrong.

A resurgent Prince unleashes his strangest yet most alluring rock project since 1988's astonishing "Lovesexy." [Sep 2007, p.137]

Forever captures Common maturing graefully into his--and hip hop's--middle age at a time when many peers are either talking retirement or being forced into it. [August 2007, p73]

Suddenly with these [guest MCs] additions, a sound that felt dusty and dilapidated is now exuberant. [Sep 2007, p.137]

His is an intrepid sound, taut and gorgeous. [Oct 2007, p.92]

Even while wearing her sexuality like an honor roll sticker, Ndegeocello is dazzlingly delicate. [Nov 2007, p.98]

The album is a celebration of LaVette's vocals--burnished, bruised but resoundingly unbeaten. [Nov 2007, p.96]

She sounds reawakened by the calm. [Mar 2008, p.98]

Rarely does rock music feel so simultaneously orchestrated and raw. [Mar 2008, p.98]

Vampire Weekend have suceeded in putting the hips back in hipster. [Mar 2008, p.98]

They grab hold of genres long stuck in straitjackets and, if only for a few minutes a pop, let them run amok. [Mar 2008, p.99]

Finally the loverman is back. [Mar 2008, p.100]

Of all the newish dance acts digging on vintage disco and chicago House, NYC-based Hercules & Love Affair boast the smartest cuts and most range. [June 2008, p.66]

The finished product has glorious results. [May 2008, p.69]

It's been a long wait, but like reborn armies in the night, Third has the blare of revolution. [June 2008, p.70]

Lidell reaches back further than he has before, appoximating Sam Cooke, Ben E. King, and even Jackie Wilson, elegantly nodding to his clarion-voiced heroes while never allowing the album to become mired in mere tribute. [May 2008, p.72]

Mobb Deep's Prodigy has embraced the chaos, pain and disarray that's cursed much of his life and used to power an angry, pained, and ironically vital album, H.N.I.C. Part 2. Prodigy's physical self may be incarcerated, but his music has never sounded freer. [Apr 2008]

II Trill draws its cohesion from its production, a stew of juicy grooves, synth patches, and gumbo-thick basslines. But what makes the album tick is an emotional complexity: Like an old sage, Bun B gracefully vacillates between raw fury and weathered wisdom.

Lay It Down is almost indistinguishable from green's past hits. Then again, maybe that was the point. [May 2008, p.74]

While MC Naledge and producer Double-O’s impressive follow-up effort The In Crowd continues in a similarly versatile vein, the vibe this time feels less like a greenhorn B-boy coming-out party than it does a self-assured statement of purpose.

Loverly proves once again that she needs no artifice to soar musically. [July 2008, p.60]

Impressive without being pretentious, Two Men possesses an urbane strut that’s perfect for jazzheads--and their country cousins.

­This endearing debut from Imani Coppola’s latest side project deftly explores the ferocious singer’s favorite themes--race, two-timers, herself--over programmer Adam Pallin’s sprightly soul interpolations.

The result is arguably his best work contextually since "Death Certificate" itself.

Ne-Yo is a stronger, more confident man than the one many remember licking his wounds on 'So Sick' from his debut album "In My Own Words" and 'Do You' from 2007’s "Because of You."

While the new direction is sturdy and refreshing, there is something comfortably familiar about it. The vintage shoes fit Saadiq, and he wears them well.