Let me kick it off like that: this is – hands down – the best Soul-album of the 2000s. No doubt. Anthony Hamilton just brought what it took to take the prize, LIKE THAT! The gutter, the pain, the struggle, the fuck – THE SOUL. Comin‘ from where I’m from is way more than a piece of music. It’s a mood piece. It’s a chapter in somebody’s diary. And it will become a chapter in yours, as soon as you’ve heard it for the first time.
Listen to the title track. Tell me this AIN’T what gangster rap is supposed to be! Tell me it ain’t what Blues used to sound like, back in the days. Tell me you DON’T feel reminded of a Spiritual. This one right here is pure. It’s some of the most honest music ever released. Ironically, this soulful and un-blingish masterpiece was published by Jermaine Dupri’s So So Def-label. Now who said, JD only knows how to handle kids and females?!
12 Tracks take you places. They take you to stations in the life of Anthony Hamilton. To the gumbo kitchen of the South. To the depths of Charlotte, North Carolina where Anthony resides from. This one funky – check Cornbread, Fish & Collard Greens. This does to R&B/Neo-Soul, what Goodie Mob’s Soul Food did to Rap!
It takes you to Anthony’s heartbreaks, as in I’m a mess. „I can’t eat can’t sleep. Bills are piling high ain’t worked in three weeks…“ – we’ve all been there. Yet, it feels so special, whenever this man raises his voices. Whenever he tells his painful tales of love and loss. Seldom have I heard a cover-version of a song, as good as Lucille. When Kenny Rogers did GREAT, Anthony goes fabolous.
This album won’t only make you cry – even though it will! Float is super-sexy, Better Days is an unbelievably heartfelt lovesong and Chyna Black is one of the most epic road tracks ever. But they all bond because of the incredbile production of Mark Batson, Jermaine Dupri, James Poyser and Mr. Hamilton himself. Hammond organs, acoustic guitars and this extra portion of analogue sound in a world of digital music make you feel like home.
You’re not convince yet? Well, listen to the best Neo-Soul song past 1999:
Charlene. You know that song. Don’t you?! If you didn’t, you do now. And I KNOW you’re gonna love it. You’ll find yourself replaying it every now and then. Whenever you‘ feel low, this will be your jam. This will be your sanctuary where you’ll just draw back to and let your soul breathe. I know it will be. It’s been mine. Time and time again.
Anthony Hamilton – best Soul singer since Marvin Gaye. And that you can qoute.