This album dates back to 2007 and with it finally being released in 2013, it makes it Eve's first album in eleven years! In that time there have been singles like 'Tambourine' and even a track list that has since been completely changed. Since her last album Eve has partnered up with a billionaire, so she probably doesn't need to work anymore at all. Looking at the features and producers on that old track list suggests that it would have been more of a straight hip hop album than this album has turned out to be:
1 – Ain’t No Stoppin’ Me (Dre. Dre)
2 – All Night Long (Neptunes)
3 – Cash Flow feat. T.I. (Swizz Beatz)
4 – Fantasy feat. Robin Thicke (Neptunes)
5 – Get That Money (Dr. Dre)
6 – Guess Who’s Single (Neptunes)
7 – Here I Am feat. Mary J Blige (Swizz Beatz)
8 – Give It To You feat. Sean Paul (Swizz Beatz)
9 – Step Back (feat. Timbaland) (Timbaland)
10 – Tambourine feat. Swizz Beatz (Swizz Beatz)
11 – Turn Me On feat. Sizzla (Just Blaze)
12 – We Belong Together feat. Timbaland (Timbaland)
13 Hey Girl feat. Eminem (Neptunes)[/spoiler])
The opener is a dope hardcore hip hop track and I really wish there were a few more of them. The almost eerie "Eve" chants sound great. The following dub-step influenced 'She Bad Bad' goes okay, but it's a couple of notches worse than the previous song. There are times I enjoy this song a lot during the verses, but the chorus is lacklustre. The next three songs are poppy with 'Keep Me From You' going for some EDM themes. Next, 'Wanna Be' returns to some harder stuff, and unlike a chorus ruining a song which is more frequently the case in rap, here it's the verses that are weak. Then Snoop takes off his rasta beanie and contributes on the chorus of 'Mama in the Kitchen'. It's an okay fun track. The next two songs are a mixture of hardcore beats with pop choruses. 'Forgive Me' has a Caribbean vibe, it's different, not much I'd play again in a hurry. 'Never Gone' is the first song in ten that I get thorough enjoyment of out. The glorious Christie Michelle hits the chorus and the beat is better than what has come before. To conclude then there's a remix of the second song.
As a rapper Eve is pretty good to listen to, which is why she is one of the more respected female rappers to have done it. She also comes across as a likeable person unlike the most popular female rapper going around these days. Lyrically a fair chunk of this is brag rap, while other songs show she has mellowed since earlier in her career, however, her lyrics are quite simple at times throughout the album.
Overall, I can generally like pop rap, but some are too poppy like 'Make It Out This Town' and most of the production doesn't do enough for me, in saying that, there is a slightly different/varied sound present than what we normally hear throughout a hip hop album. The songs closer toward general hip hop like 'Mama in the Kitchen' and 'She Bad Bad' don't have good enough production either to really stand out. This is basically how I felt when I heard the snippets.
Best Tracks: EVE, Never Gone
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