Events
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I wish I could go back to the past like Marty McFly and check out what prom would be like during the 1960’s or early 70s. If they were playing songs like Big Easy off Raphael Saadiq’s latest album entitled The Way I See It (2008), I can see how Marty’s mom picked such a bonehead like Marty’s dad. It wasn’t about looks or even personality, it was about the music and the feeling that you get while listening to it. The music is so electrifying and so soulful, you can’t help but move and smile at the same time. And that in itself can make love spur and create the vibe for something serious. If I was born into this musical era, I would already be married and probably be on the path of poppin’ out babies! Even a white guy like you Dan could move to this without the drinks (no offense to all white guys, just the ones who were born with three left feet)! It’s just that melodic.
Raphael Saadiq gets absolutely creative on this latest album release. Though his previous albums have been soulful and a great listening pleasure, none of them have made me feel like I literally jumped eras in history.
I would never have predicted this album to do as well as it has on the Billboard charts and overall amongst non-Toni Toni Tone fans. Raphael Saadiq goes back old school and I’m not talking back to the 90’s. I’m talking 30 years even before that to when soul music and jazz were first starting to entwine. It even sounds like this album was produced alongside Ray Charles and Stevie Wonder. Shoot - he even gets Stevie Wonder to guest appear on a track with his harmonica (check out Never Give You Up)! It’s rare for any artists in this day and age to try putting something out as bold as this. Such a statement from such an obnoxious artist.
Why do I think The Way I See It is such an amazing album? Because it’s simple, it’s soulful, and it’s relatable. Simple because the music is not extraordinarily difficult or trying to be new. It has a few instruments that just blend perfectly with one another to create a very coherent sound. Soulful because of the smart lyrics and the incredible vocal range behind Raphael Saadiq. He’s always kept it conscious since his debut into the music world and his voice has always been very powerful since his days apart of Toni Toni Tone. And relatable because you can almost feel like you’ve heard the song before in some past lifetime. It has so many elements of our musical past from the past 30 years in R&B + Soul music.
I’m glad that someone as famous and main-stream like Jay-Z has managed to connect with Raphael to produce a track like Oh Girl. And I’m glad Raphael took the opportunity to reach out to a young soul artist Joss Stone. She’s a beautiful singer with some of the biggest pipes in the music game. There’s a lot of respect to be found and appreciated here, especially when music sounds this good has an outreach that goes beyond one genre.
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