Co-founder of Rainbow Blonde Records and spectacular artist in his own right, José James is often referred to as the jazz singer for the hip-hop generation.
Source: José James -Rainbow Blonde Records
Vince Score – The Vince score consists of scoring based on the topics below.
Total points attainable: (100 pts)
- What’s the genre – The Genre is heavily based in jazz, with a bit of gospel and blues influence as well.
- Are the arrangements interesting? – For the most part, yes, while some arrangements are a bit sparse and dare I say simplistic, they are interesting. I did find myself drifting on some songs, but there were several tracks that I enjoyed. (17/20)
- Is the lyrical content compelling? – Lyrical Content feels relatively standard. It’s not at all ignorant or mumble rap like a lot of current R&B, but it doesn’t have crazy, deep wordplay either. Pretty good overall. (16/20)
- Vocal performance? – Jose James’s vocal style is very smooth, much like the music behind it, which is good, but sometimes it can almost blend in if you aren’t paying attention. This is not the case on an album like While You Were Sleeping, where the vocal performance stood above the tracks. (17/20)
- Musicality? – Unsurprisingly, musically the album is strong. Later in the album the songs slow down but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing music wise (19/20)
- Standout tracks? – Turn Me Up, Baby Don’t Cry and Nobody Knows My Name
- Album low points? – I wouldn’t necessarily call it a low point, but the album slows down a lot after Take Me Home. Those expecting a fully upbeat album would probably be somewhat disappointed at the slower pace of the end of the album. (17/20)
- Bonus – Would I add it to my playlist? I have all of the standout tracks and a few others already added.
Additional notes –Nobody Knows My Name and Take Me Home both have some church influence, and are right next to each other, I imagine it’s intentional and is very interesting. I Found a Love sounds very familiar but I can’t quite pinpoint what it sounds like. The first two chords of the progression the piano plays are the same as the chords in John Lennon’s Imagine. Also, it doesn’t have a lot to do with the album itself but I think it’s important to mention that this is José James’s first album under his own label, Rainbow Blonde Records. He was under Blue Note records, but recently left the company to release his music under his own label.
Vince Score: 86
