With its crappy cover art, scrapped together tracklist, uneven production and scant promotional budget, Ghostface Killah's rush-released new Apollo Kids might feel like a redheaded stepchild, but it doesn't suffer for it. Lean and taut at 12 tracks and 40 minutes, the disc has a raw edge that some fans will welcome after Ghostface's ambitious, divisive R&B album Ghostdini, and a back-to-basics, beats-and-rhymes urgency that always flatters Wu-Tang Clan's most consistent solo artist. Cash-in or not, there an abundance of great material herethe closer "Troublemakers," a Jake One-produced slab of unabashed fan service featuring Method Man, Redman and Raekwon, practically justifies the purchase by itself.
On her misguided second album, No Boys Allowed, the likable, girl-next-door R&B singer Keri Hilson reinvents herself in the worst way possible, casting herself as a vapid, money-chasing pretty girl coasting on her looks. As No Boys Allowed's "Rude Boy"-aping dancehall tracks hint, Rihanna is the model for this makeover, but Hilson is no Rihanna. Serious to a fault, Hilson lacks the inviting flirtatiousness to sell put downs as come-ons the way Rihanna doeswhen Hilson tries, she just sounds spiteful and stuck up. If nothing else, though, her transformation is a convincing one. When Hilson boasts "Don't hate me 'cause I'm beautiful," it's pretty much impossible not to hate her.
Also out this week:
* Jamie Foxx continues his embrace of the flossiest sounds in crossover R&B on his new Best Night of My Life.
* Keyshia Cole, on the other hand, eschews crossover antics on her back-to-basics fourth album, Calling All Hearts.
* And Duran Duran follow up their reviled 2007 comeback album Red Carpet Massacre with All You Need Is Now, which receives its digital release today in advance of a February physical release.
